Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Our awakening this morning was a little cold and cloudy. However, before we even noticed, the sun’s rays started filtering through clouds as Manuel Antonio National Park slowly started to become active. The temperature and conditions at the park could not have been better for exploring the various trails. As one guest said, “... we won’t have to worry about sunburn today!” We asked the long hikers to disembark first and realized that about half of our guests had decided to take some extra exercise and the satisfaction to conquer the “Punta Catedral.” Very soon, we sent our three naturalists with a joyful group ready to discover new things. The staff is a valuable aid for locating a well-camouflaged critter in the forest as well as viewing it with spotting scopes.
The groups that decided to do a slower walk were fully rewarded by close views of different species of monkeys, like howlers and capuchins. It is always funny when, after walking the trails for hours, the monkeys show up at the beach right over our heads.
The sloths were abundant this morning and everyone had the chance to take a peek through the scope. After some time, the sloth started to move, which is such an event! We stayed at the park for a good three hours until it was time for lunch, which was great and invigorating, with marvelous mahi-mahi fish served by the galley. Our group had the chance to pose for a group photo on the bow, and soon after everyone was possibly looking for a brief siesta.
Close to midafternoon we went back ashore for more swimming, relaxing, or taking photos at this magical place. Later on, our guests got together for a briefing about the next leg of the trip: the Monteverde Cloud Forest land extension. On this expedition, all our guests are participating in this unique opportunity to extend their adventure in Costa Rica for a few more nights. Social hour could not be more cheerful and all sorts of anecdotes came alive, accompanied by good wine and excellent food on board National Geographic Sea Lion.
