This nature journaling trip has been many years in the making. Last year’s trip went great. The following itinerary gives you a really good idea of the trip. However, because of nature and because of travel some parts might need to be adjusted. Especially anything having to do with the sea turtles.
Day One: December 1st
Arrival Day Fly into the Liberia Airport and get transported to nearby Hotel Villa Hermosa. Since people are arriving at different times including later in the evening we don’t have a set dinner plan.
Optional gear review and itinerary review.
Optional trip into Liberia to eat traditional food and do urban sketching (for early arrivals).
Team building game.
Time to settle in or relax.
Day Two:
Wake up early, breakfast and private bus to Hotel Playa Negra. Welcome to our home for the next six days!
Settle into rooms. Team building game if everyone is there.
First class: Capturing the essence of tropical landscapes on your pages. After lunch and siesta we will have an optional beach exploration walk. You can stay behind and relax in the hammocks by the pool. Meet for cocktails and sunset painting before dinner.
Day Three:
Wake up to the sound of the ocean. Optional pre-breakfast nature journaling session with coffee in hand (Marley’s favorite!). Group breakfast. Today’s class: Botanical sketching and nature journaling plants. Rest of morning spent nature journaling the tropical beach plants. We will do a citizen science component using iNaturalist and surveying the beach plants which are crucial for the health of beaches around the world. Choose your specimens for afternoon. Lunch and siesta. Afternoon session: work on your own plant illustration from the comfort of the hotel. Meet for cocktails and sunset painting before dinner.
Day Four:
Wake up to the sound of the ocean. Pre-breakfast session. Group breakfast. Today’s class: Landscape painting level two. Marley will help you make your landscapes even better. Lots of one-on-one instruction. Rest of the morning spent practicing painting watercolor landscapes from the beach. We might hike up the beach a ways to look for more landscape options with white beaches contrasting against dramatic black volcanic rock stretching out into the waves and tropical green vegetation dangling off the seaside cliffs. Lunch and siesta. Afternoon session: choose your own adventure or relax. Meet for cocktails and sunset painting before dinner. Optional night time nature journaling TBD.
Day Five:
Wake up to the sound of the ocean. Pre-breakfast session. Group breakfast. Today’s class: Amphibious nature journaling in the tide pools at nearby Playa Blanca. Marley will instruct on different approaches to nature journaling the biodiversity and beauty of the intertidal zone. There will be various options depending on your ability. From snorkeling and waterproof paper, to sitting in “jacuzzi” tidepools sketching shells, to sketching collected specimens from the comfort of the hotel restaurant with a cappuccino at your side. Once again, we will go beyond nature journaling just for our own enjoyment. We will do a survey of the organisms we find and contribute to citizen science by uploading the survey to iNaturalist. Lunch and siesta. Afternoon session: choose your own adventure or relax. Meet for cocktails and sunset painting before dinner. Optional night time nature journaling TBD.
Day Six:
Wake up to the sound of the ocean. Pre-breakfast session. Group breakfast. Today’s class: All about sea turtles! We will visit a sea turtle conservation project and learn about how they have helped thousands of turtles. If we are lucky we could see a hatching day or adult turtles laying at night. Night time hike looking for sea turtles coming in to lay? Last year some people in our team found sea turtle tracks on the beach right in front of the hotel!
Day Seven:
Wake up to the sound of the ocean. We might be recovering from a late night looking for nesting turtles. Group breakfast. Today’s class: Botanical sketching and illustration level two! Are you ready to go more in-depth with a polished plant illustration? Now is your chance. Marley will provide one-on-one instruction and we will have all morning to work on our specimen. Lunch and siesta. Afternoon session: Marley will provide tips for wrapping up your pages, adding maps, more detailed illustrations, and even some scrap-booking techniques. The idea is to get the most out of your journal pages from the trip. If you are feeling adventurous Marley might lead a few people to nature journal crabs in the nearby mangrove. Meet for cocktails and sunset painting before dinner. This is our last dinner together at Playa Negra so we will de something special to honor the time we have spent together.
Day Eight:
Departure Day. This is your last day waking up in your cozy beach-side cabin. Say goodbye to Playa Negra’s beautiful waters. Those who are flying out today will be taken to the airport by our driver at the time that works for most people. If your flight is much earlier or much later you can decide to take your own transportation directly to the airport. Those who are going on the Palo Verde Extension will go in a separate vehicle to Puerto Humo to catch a boat to go up the river to the Palo Verde Reserve.