Casa Orquideas and Golfito
Early this morning we awoke at the serene waters of the bay of Golfo Dulce, on the southern edge of the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.
Golfo Dulce or “sweet water” in Spanish, perhaps got its name because in contrast to the rough salty water of open ocean, its calm waters resemble more to Costa Ricans of a small body of freshwater. It is also said that the numerous streams flowing into this protected bay lowers significantly the salinity of the water.
We had an incredible morning today visiting the botanical garden of Casa Orquideas. Casa Orquideas is nestled inside of the primary rain forest, and it is an extraordinary collection of tropical plants. It has been created over the past thirty years by Trudy and Ron McAllister, American expatriates who have made this remote place their home.
It was a morning full photographic opportunities, of magnificent and colorful birds and flowers.
All of our guests had great opportunities to enjoy the warm and tropical weather on an easy stroll through the garden.
For the afternoon we relocated National Geographic Sea Lion to the nearby Golfito port town, for some Zodiac cruises among the mangrove forest adjacent to ocean, and to take care of the final immigration paperwork in preparation to leave Costa Rica and head to Panama tomorrow.
The afternoon was hot but also rewarding, on the Zodiac cruise rounds, lots of birds like yellow crowned night herons, ruddy turnstones, white ibis, yellow-headed caracaras, royal terns, sandwich terns, magnificent frigate birds were observed and photographed, plus very good and close sightings of troops of white faced capuchin and mantled howler monkeys.
These past few days in Costa Rica have been indeed very successful, tonight we’ve left Golfito, Costa Rica while enjoying dinner, and tomorrow we have great expectations for a new country, with beautiful islands and beaches and of course this masterpiece of engineering full of history that is the Panama Canal.
