Casa Orquideas & Golfo Dulce
Last night National Geographic Sea Lion navigated from the outer side of the Osa Peninsula to the inside of the peninsula, deep inside Golfo Dulce, the destination for our explorations today.
It was indeed a gorgeous morning; it always is here! But today at the break of dawn as we calmly navigated into this bay surrounded by low mountains covered with dense green forest, we had a full harvest moon on one side of our vessel, and on the other side a bright orange sun peeking up behind the hills into the blue sky patched with several heavy rain clouds. And, to make an even more dramatic entrance, we were escorted by a large pod of playful pantropic spotted dolphins.
Early this morning we disembarked on the pebbled beach of Casa Orquideas, the renowned botanical garden of Golfo Dulce. These gardens are the home of their creators Trudy and Ron McAllister; two American ex-patriots who have made this remote place in Costa Rica their home for the last 30-plus years. Their great love for plants blossomed into a full-fledged garden, with innumerable tropical plant species. There is a huge array of flowers, fruits, and spices from the tropics and sub-tropics that also attract many species of birds. Among the common resident birds at Casa Orquideas are the brilliantly-colored scarlet macaws and the chestnut-mandibled toucans with their unmistakable large bills.
Our guests today were truly delighted with the easy walks through the gardens, and particularly our photographers were quick to disperse into every corner of the property to work on their photographic skills in their quest for the perfect photo.
For the afternoon, National Geographic Sea Lion repositioned after lunch to the other side of the bay to visit the mangroves at the estuary of the Tigre River.
We had a well-spent afternoon exploring the multiple canals by Zodiac and kayak, maneuvering through the many stilt roots that are so characteristic of this important ecosystem. We had a great afternoon looking at many of the birds that inhabit the mangrove, like roseate spoonbills, white ibis, whimbrels, willets, snowy and great egrets, black-bellied plovers, tricolored herons, and more.
The highlights for the afternoon were probably a couple of scarlet macaws and a group of fiery-billed aracaris in their nest, and a troop of mantled howler monkeys on the move to the tree where they would spend the night.
This ended our last day in Costa Rica. Tomorrow we will wake up in a new country near the giant island of Coiba, Panama.
