Welcome to Costa Rica and Happy Valentine’s Day! In Costa Rica we celebrate the day of love and friendship. On our first day in our second country, we were welcomed by wildlife, amazing scenery, and a shining sun. Bright and early, we entered the Golfo Dulce, the southernmost gulf next to the border of Panama. While customs was processing our entry, we had the chance to pick between two excursions: kayaking or Zodiac cruising. Both offered great sightings: roseate spoonbills, capuchin and howler monkeys, three toed sloth, dolphins, egrets of many kinds, and mangrove trees.
In the afternoon, the ship repositioned to Dolphin Quest, a privately owned protected area just a few miles north of Golfito. Long hikes, short hikes, premises walks, and just hanging around the soccer field were rewarding. We saw scarlet macaws galore, strangler fig trees, spectacled caiman, toucans, leaf cutter ants, and many more birds and insects.
We returned to National Geographic Quest happy and filled with expectations of what tomorrow might bring.
