We have six groups on course this week! Read below for details on what each course has accomplished and what’s ahead for them:

GIRL SCOUT DESTINATIONS

Scuba & Sea Turtle Adventure (Session #2)

After soaking up the rays in Playa Rana Roja, the community development project began! The group brought a large collection of books to a local school and distributed them to a small crowd of eager children. They then stayed the night with their hosts on Isla Solarte before heading out to start the scuba portion of their course. The next morning, it was time to learn some basic scuba theory in shallow waters. This lesson helped provide the foundation for later dives. They learned the essentials like safety checks and communication to ensure that they can enjoy the beauty of the ocean with confidence. Toward the end of this week, the girls applied what they had been learning to their scuba certification exam! They are now on their way back to base where they will have a chance to reflect on their experience and purchase souvenirs before their trip back home.

Service Challenge (Session #2)

The Service Challenge group has continued to help the Bribri community by painting one of their buildings. Painting structures helps beautify the village and also brings the benefits of mitigating insect damage and increasing weather resistance! After an awesome paint job, the group transferred to the Panamanian village of San San Pond Sak to learn about the area’s active turtle conservation projects. Their orientation taught them how to apply conservation methods such as nightly patrols, nest cataloging, and releasing newly hatched baby turtles to the shores around their village. The leatherback turtles they are working with are listed as a vulnerable species by the WWF and it is heartening to see these girls take active steps to help the turtles. The next phase of course brought the girls back to Costa Rica. They stopped in Cahuita National Park for lunch before spending the night back at our home base outside of San Jose. Today, they headed out whitewater rafting to take on some class III-IV rapids! Tomorrow the group will have the chance to experience the artisan market of San Jose and see the different ways in which the Ticos creatively express their culture. Tomorrow they will board their planes and be on their way back home. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to host these awesome girls!

Catching Waves

The girls have continued their surfing along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. They have also continued their education about the culture of Costa Rica, ecotourism, and coastal development. They put those concepts into practice when they helped local lifeguards by donating a stretcher to the community and cleaning the shoreline—removing two whole bags of trash and a tire! Efficient recycling has been a challenge for surf towns, but these girls lent a hand to clean and repaint barrels to have a recycling station at Playa Dominicalito. Each of these girls are drawn to surfing for unique reasons, but they all shared that incredible feeling of connectedness with the natural world and becoming more comfortable surfing. The girls just finished up their last sunset afternoon at the beach and headed back to our rainforest base. Today they are exploring an artisan market and tomorrow they will be heading out whitewater rafting before heading back to base to discuss their experience, eat some delicious home cooked Costa Rican meals, and prepare to fly home. It has been a pleasure to host these girls and see how much they have progressed in just two weeks!

OPEN ENROLLMENT

Caribbean Scuba and Service and Surf Service & CPR (Session #2)

This group of 8 students enjoyed short stay at our base in San Ramon de Tres Rios and then loaded in a van and headed down to the border of Panama! Upon arrival in Panama, they boarded a boat taxi which escorted them to the island of Isla Solarte, nestled in the Caribbean archipelago of Bocas del Toro. The next morning they woke up early to begin their first scuba theory lesson. Over the past few days, the group has been honing their scuba skills in preparation for their certification exam! This group has had the unique opportunity to also visit some of the Panamanian beaches for surf lessons throughout this trip too! They learned fundamental concepts like board selection, beach safety, paddling techniques, and standing up. Over the nextfew days, the group will venture on a sea kayak expedition around the Bocas del Toro islands and meet remote communities with whom they will engage in service projects. More updates on their adventures to come next week!

19+ Panama Scuba & Service 

 Shortly after their planes landed, this group exchanged introductions and conversation before arriving to our base. They woke early to cross the Panama border and took a boat to the Caribbean archipelago of Bocas del Toro. They then stayed the night with their host family on the Isla Solarte and rested up for their first scuba lesson the following day. The group learned the basics of scuba safety and equipment operation in the morning and then received an orientation about their community service project. Spectacular tropical reefs awaited the participants on their first dive! Along with diving, the group had the chance to serve a local Bribri indigenous school and wakeboard through the islands of Bocas del Toro. They will be testing for their certification in the next few days and will celebrate with  a night dive through glowing bioluminescent waters. The group enjoyed a final stay with their host family on Isla Solarte before they returned to base at San Jose today. Some members of this trip will fly back tomorrow while others will continue the adventure in Costa Rica for another week!

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Submit an inquiry or contact our Enrollment Manager at 800-676-2018 or emailing [email protected].