Throwback Thursday - Costa Rica 2001

The fun of Throwback Thursday for me is going back and looking at one memory-jarring image after another, but the real purpose is to hopefully get you to do the same. As photographers and members of this amazing industry, we tend to forget the real power in the magic we're all involved with - capturing memories. 

And, for those of you who love to get irritated, because the expression "capturing memories" is so over-used, get over it! Better yet, come up with better expressions and I'll be happy to do a blog post just dedicated to a few new words describing the wonder of what all of you provide to your clients.

In the mean time, welcome to our Coco Island dive trip in 2001. It's a 36 hour boat ride from Costa Rica and while virtually none of you have ever been there, most of you have seen it on film. It's the lead in footage for the first Jurassic Park  at the very beginning when they're flying into the island. It's also where the I-Max movie, Island of Sharks was filmed and to this day represents some of the toughest diving I've ever done. A month or so after we were there, one of the boats lost two divers to strong currents. It's also one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on, best described as the most fun I don't want to do again.

It's an incredible place for diving, but today's Throwbacks are all on land, our last day. Typical of any dive trip, you always have to allow your body to off-gas and get rid of the nitrogen before flying. So, we finished diving on day six and on day seven, spent the day on land doing a zip line tour of the rain forest and then finished with a trip to the hot springs.

These images bring back so many great memories. This was a trip with my daughter, Jaime, pictured above. I remember being scared to death as I thought about where we were..."Okay, we're on the other side of the planet, in a country without any safety or OSHA laws and we're about to jump on a zip-line 800-1000 feet over the valley!"

As always, take a minute today and find one file or box of old photographs to share with a friend or your family. It's what Throwback Thursday is all about!

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