Manuel Antonio National Park
Our first day of exploration began with a beautiful sunrise, while the National Geographic Sea Lion sailed its way to our first destination. We were sailing towards Costa Rica’s most beautiful and bio-diverse area, Manuel Antonio National Park. It’s the smallest national park that covers an extension of 683 hectares loaded with stunning beauty and diversity of wildlife. The park has a combination of rain forest and beautiful beaches. It was established as a national park in 1972 with the purpose to preserve it for future generations. It is part of the Central Pacific Conservation Area. Nonetheless, the park is too small to sustain a healthy and viable population of certain animals and major predators. The areas outside the park have been taken up by private investments, so that the park has, in recent years, become an island. If the animals do not have access to areas outside the park, the population will decline because they cannot breed. Biological Corridors are being created to allow animals access to other protected areas, in order to assure their preservation.
We had finished breakfast when we heard the anchor being dropped. The National Geographic Sea Lion had arrived at its destination. We went out on deck and to our surprise; a beautiful beach lined with a lush forest invited us to go ashore to explore it. Our guests landed with all their gear possible to handle. Cameras, binoculars, scopes, tripods, bottles filled with water and many other items just expressed the desire of enjoying every second of our visit to the park. Networks of wide trails were available and every few step was a photo opportunity. Spiny tailed iguanas froze to allow their picture to be taken. Crab-eating raccoons raided unprotected backpacks looking for something different to eat, not minding the snapping sound of the cameras when their photo was taken. Long nosed coatis were foraging and didn’t mind the presence of the explorers as they took several pictures of them. The major features of the day were the two species of sloths and the intelligent white face capuchin monkeys. It is so good to have digital cameras!
At their return from the walks, our explorers cooled off by taking a refreshing dip at the beach. It had been a spectacular morning. Back on board, the National Geographic Sea Lion weighed anchor and sailed in search of more adventure. As they made their way through the ocean, pods of pantropical spotted dolphins escorted the vessel. What a way to finish our first day of exploration!
