Danger!!! Crocodile on the Beach!

At the end of a beautiful day exploring the rainforest in Manual Antonio, we arrived at the beach in the park and were enjoying an amazing afternoon of swimming and playing in the sand. Suddenly, we began to hear a whistle and we saw a park ranger running along the shore telling all of us to get out of the water... because..... there was a crocodile swimming towards us! Seriously.... not a joke.  

Maddie says: It was such a surreal experience.... it seemed impossible that a crocodile was swimming toward us. I was actually very excited to see what was going to happen. I loved being a part of the crowd that got out of the water and was watching to see what the croc would do!

Ethan says: The reason you don't see me in these pictures is because I ran straight to the trail with our stuff and was ready to leave. I grabbed all our bags and ran, trying to force my family to come right away. But, some of them were so excited they stayed on shore and watched the croc. I was especially nervous for Mason because he was walking so slow and I did not want the crocodile to come ashore and get him. It was the scariest moment of my life... that I will never forget. 

Mom says: It was amazing to see each kid react to this situation. Ethan went into command and control mode, grabbed our stuff and started directing all of us to leave immediately. Amelia and Mason listened to him... (as did I!) but Dad, Maddie and Josh were captivated by the crocodile and stayed on shore (frustrating Ethan greatly!).  As Ethan left the shore to the trail, I was still on the beach trying to see if there really was a croc... when Joshua yelled, "there it is!" Mac replied... "No way, that is a piece of wood." And then the croc opened his mouth... He was huge! He quickly disappeared under the water... and I quickly joined Ethan on the path out of the park!

Josh says: It was AWESOME! I loved seeing the crocodile swim through the ocean. It was so exciting!

Amelia says: It kind of freaked me out and I was shaking when Dad took my picture by the sign.

Dad Says: I loved that our family was able to see a scriptural lesson from the eventful day.  The fact that danger is lurking everywhere in the form of temptation,  attracting the world was insightful for the whole family.  Just as the crocodile was lurking... More to come in future blog posts when we include parables from Costa Rica written by our kids.

The beautiful ocean we were swimming in....

This sign reads... "Danger, Crocodile on the beach. Do not swim"

The sign looks old... so we are guessing this wasn't the
 first time a croc has come ashore!