Cost Rica Journal Entry 1

After the sun had set and I cleaned up for dinner, I headed to the huge lobby/restaurant area. All of the guests were gathering for dinner. I learned that the majority was a youth group from Iowa. There was also an electrical engineer, Scott and his two teenage sons vacationing from San Diego. He was my age so we found many things to talk about before and during dinner. Afterwards we parted company as they were going stay poolside with a watchful eye on the Midwestern coeds.

I returned to grab my camera gear and hit the beach. I really wanted some shots of the crab I had seen out on the road. Earlier, when driving between the two hotels, I had my first encounter with this as yet unidentified crab. This mature specimen had been crossing the road and before I could get a shot, it ran under my vehicle. I didn't want to run it over so I chased it around the wheels for nearly 10 minutes before it finally headed for the hills and I got a decent image.

I had seen them scurrying to their burrows when I approached during my quick survey. I had noticed that all of their burrows were above the tide line. I found one that was feeding on grass. Fortunately, its occupation with food allowed me to get close to this beautiful creature. In the three hours I played, I found only two specimens that were within the tidal zone, one reaching into the burrow of a ghost crab on the sandy beach.

Gecarcihus sp.

When I arrived at the resort, I had taken a quick walk on the beach with the tide about half way out. When I returned, it had recently turned and the upper intertidal zone was hopping with activity. I was familiar with ghost crabs having seen them along the Florida panhandle and on many beaches on the Sea of Cortez. Ghost crabs are strictly nocturnal and like all crabs, are scavengers. These were engaging in foraging around grounded flotsam and interacting with each other.

While the ghost crabs were quite common in this habitat, only one of the red crabs was seen here. These two large hermit crabs were the only two specimens of the species I encountered. I speculated that its rarity might be because of home availability—this sandy beach having almost no shells at all. The tiger beetle was fairly common but I can't say whether it was nocturnal or that it just sits motionless on the sand after dark. I had not seen them on my quick look as the sun was going down.