Caletas Reserve & Corcovado National Park
After a gentle cradle-rocking overnight anchorage in Drake Bay, early risers were greeted with exquisite morning light to begin a full day of activities in the biologically diverse Osa Peninsula. Zodiac cruisers boarded at 0630 to catch the high tidal waters up through the mouth of Agujitas River. Wildlife sightings were plentiful: crocodile, chestnut-mandible toucan, white-faced capuchin monkeys, coatis, scarlet macaws, snowy egret, tiger heron, kingfishers, and iguanas.
After a brief repositioning, National Geographic Sea Lion anchored off Caletas, a small nature reserve. We spent the rest of the morning along the coast and in the forest, hiking, ambling, horseback riding, swimming and feasting our senses on all that Mother Nature’s bounty laid before us. Highlights included scarlet macaws, white-faced monkeys, spider monkeys, toucans and leaf-cutter ants. Our naturalists continued to point out and explain the interdependent web of life here in the forest, where plant and animal species have developed uniquely specialized survival strategies to take advantage of all manner of resources available. Nothing goes to waste in this jungle – everything is useful in some fashion to some species. Returning to our landing site revealed more of nature’s bounty… lunch! While we were traipsing around in the forest our galley and crew had brought ashore a picnic. Yum!
Then we were back onboard for a little R&R while the ship repositioned to Corcovado National Park. While some remained aboard the gently rocking vessel, others went ashore for afternoon explorations along two different hiking trails… one bordering the shoreline through the coastal forest, and the other following along a river to a lush waterfall spilling into a beautiful and refreshing natural swimming pool below… the perfect antidote to tired muddy feet and sweaty brows.
The final return to the ship brought us to showers and gathering in the lounge for cocktails and evening recap. Wow, what a fun, full day in Costa Rica – “rich coast‘‘ indeed!
