Casa Oquideas & Esquinas River, 2/1/2017, National Geographic Sea Lion
Aboard the
National Geographic Sea Lion
Costa Rica, Panama & Colombia
On our first day in Costa Rica, we visited the famous botanical garden of Casa Orquideas, created by Ron and Trudy McAllister two American expats that 35 years ago, made the remote Golfo Dulce in Costa Rica their home. Out of their love for plants slowly created an incredible exhibit of the flowers, fruits, and spices of the tropics, imbedded into the surrounding pristine forest.
In the afternoon we visited the important mangrove ecosystem on the mouth of the Esquinas River. By kayak and expedition landing craft we explored the meandering canals while watching many birds along the way.
Nicknamed “Indio” (Indian) because of his powers of observation and quiet nature, José has almost two decades of experience working as a naturalist and photography guide; as well as being recognized as an expert birder and nature photographer in Cost...
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Today guests had the pleasure of being led by our local guides and shipboard naturalists on a plethora of hike and walk options in Caletas. This beach is located just south of Drake’s Bay. Guests were delighted at the chance to see mantled howler monkeys, spider monkeys, several species of birds, and even a tiger rat snake. In the afternoon we cruised into Agujitas River for a cool Zodiac ride to find more wildlife. All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend our last day of the expedition and to cap off an amazing Central American season aboard National Geographic Quest .
Today is the day we get to share with the Costa Rican locals! We disembarked onto lovely Playa Blanca, one of the large beaches on the western side of the Golfo Dulce. We could choose to do two out of four activities and a local family or person runs each one of these projects. Our choices were to visit a gold panning and sugar cane facility, visit Doña Eida’s hearts of palm project, hike the trails in Finca Danta, or visit Alex’s garden and cacao farm. Whichever activities we picked, we were sure to enjoy amazing stories and delicious food. Most importantly, we had the chance to learn a lot about the activities themselves and how these projects have changed the person’s life, their family’s lifestyle, and their need to continue with environmentally friendly activities. We went back on board happy for the experience and happier to make a change in peoples’ lives.
Today National Geographic Quest arrived to Golfo Dulce, and we craned down the kayak first thing in the morning to paddle along the beautiful coastline of the gulf. The mountains in this area offered a beautiful forest backdrop and our guests enjoyed the morning activities. We enjoyed our interactions with the white-throated capuchin monkeys that came right by the shoreline and were feasting on the fruitful trees that were readily available for them to eat. Having the gulf to explore the entire morning was a delight, and the bird life was plentiful, many of them migrants of the northern shore. We also had a great kayaking trip alongside the mangroves. Later in the afternoon, we repositioned our beautiful ship to the mouth of Rio Seco. This destination has a wonderful rainforest reserve that shelters a second growth forest in which we saw incredible tall canopy species of trees. We also saw many different nectar plants in the garden, scarlet macaws, yellow-throated toucans, blue ground doves, and scarlet-rumped tanagers among others. We also had many different drinks and pastries to enjoy, which made for a great ending to our day exploring the beautiful gulf.
