With luggage and camera gear packed in the van by 8 in the morning my new friends and I on my photography tour are off to our first destination, promising to be an outstanding adventure. The excitement is high with everyone getting to know each other and talking cameras and pictures on this their first day.

Arenal, an active Costa Rica volcano, is our destination but first there are a couple of photography stops along the way. We go first to the little Tico community of Sarchi where brightly colored, decorated oxen carts are made in an old water powered factory. The second stop is nearby Zarcero, which has, as its focal point, an old wooden church and a double row of lovely topiaries leading up to it. Many memory cards are filled just photographing these two places with the magnificent colours and patterns of Sarchi and the incredible shapes of the topiaries in Zarcero.

Along the way, the potholes in the roads are many. Our Tico driver, Luis, knows this and so drives extremely cautiously to avoid them. However, it seems like everyone else on two or four wheels pass us. Those passing us seem to believe that they are Formula One contenders and in Costa Rica there is even a bus driver who is known to have passengers find God while on his bus.

Lunch in La Fortuna follows and we are now approaching our lodge in Arenal. The road up to the Lodge is a continuous pothole because the rainy season has just ended and most roads are in horrible condition. Our road is unique because it was constructed with crushed lava.

We round a curve and a come to a clearing at a river and there is Arenal Volcano! Most have never been face to face with a volcano before and it is truly an awesome sight to see, a perfectly shaped volcano.

The point of the cone is cloaked in puffy white clouds with a beautiful blue sky as a backdrop. We immediately stop and quickly leave the van attaching cameras to tripods. Some of us wade into the river for a better image while some shoot from the riverbanks getting a different perspective.

Who is to say how dangerous being this close to an active volcano can be? Fortunately, Arenal is very predictable and today is closely monitored so there is a very low risk of a serious, catastrophic, unexpected eruption. Only 1 km away from the base of the volcano and 2 km to the top of the cone is the lodge where we stay and without a doubt any activity attracts the attention of everyone.

Getting settled in while we are unpacking mighty Arenal speaks! It roars as smoke and gas billow hundreds of feet into the sky and we hear the rocks tumbling down the slopes. The Mantled Howler monkeys are extremely vocal following the eruption, however, we do not know if this is in protest of the roar or if they are just responding to its call.

We all sit in the lodge dining room enjoying our dinner as the volcano erupts again. I had told everyone that there are photo opportunities in Costa Rica but no one imagined anything like this could happen, certainly not while you are eating dinner. And this was only the first day of the photo tour!

For the next two nights most of us get very little sleep as we find comfortable chairs in the common area outside our rooms, mount our cameras on tripods and attach a cable release. I had already decided to use an 80-200mm lens set at 80mm and an aperture of f8, the camera shutter set at “B” for time exposure.

With the activity of the small flare-ups at the cone and the lava flowing down the opposite side I think a time exposure of more than twenty minutes will produce an ugly yellow blob of light, so if there had been no eruptions after this length of time I will close the shutter and start another exposure. Using a cable release makes these exposures very easy and Arenal puts on quite a display while we are there.

What a magnificent first day of the tour in Costa Rica. Eight more days of photography to go and everyone is anxiously looking forward to what exciting adventure tomorrow will bring.

Tags: Adventure Holiday

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