Manuel Antonio National Park
This morning National Geographic Sea Lion anchored in front of Manuel Antonio National Park. Before breakfast some guests joined the wellness specialist on the bridge deck for stretching and exercise.
As soon as the park opened, disembarkation began. This time the choices were to either walk up to Punta Cathedral or explore the Sloth Valley trail. While the walk I was leading yielded us a couple of pale-billed woodpeckers, agoutis, sloths and white-faced capuchin monkeys, other guests witnessed the passive behavior of mantled howler monkeys, several reptiles and amphibians like litter skink, Central American whiptail, black iguana, anoles lizard and the beautiful gladiator tree frog.
After our morning outings we all gathered once again to either have a refreshing swim in the warm waters of Manuel Antonio or to sit and enjoy the refreshing breeze under the shade of a guacalillo tree.
We all came back on board for lunch, and then had time for a well-deserved siesta. A second transfer service granted the possibility of coming back to the beach to spend the afternoon swimming, lounging and/or exploring a bit more the trails of the park. Late afternoon, National Geographic Sea Lion lifted anchor and sailed toward Herradura Beach.
The end of the day provided one last beautiful event as we were sailing north; we came upon two humpback mothers and their calves swimming gently. The calves were extremely curious at our presence and approached the ship when we were at a complete stop. Following the regulations in Costa Rica, we stayed with them for 30 minutes and as soon as we resumed our route one adult started raising its flipper into the air and slapping it down on the surface of the water.
We all have a great time observing their curious behavior and without a doubt we felt lots of joy for such a closing of our expedition in Panama and Costa Rica.
