Welcome back National Geographic Sea Lion to the tropics! For almost three decades Costa Rica and Panama have been one of the most important destination in the Americas. Their unique conservation initiatives -over 22 % of their territory protected-, distinctive social characteristics and in possession of almost 6% of the world’s biodiversity remarks the exceptional heritage of the area.
Today, it is our first full day discovering the Pacific side of southern Central America. The day started with a shroud of rain looking into the continental divide of Costa Rica. In the past few days, some heavy rains related to low pressure systems and hurricane Otto have covered different regions of the country. Today, despite the morning rain, our eager guests decided to join us for our nature walks at Manuel Antonio national park. Once on the trail, our attention focused in the wildlife of the area: sloths, agoutis, iguanas, hermit crabs, coatis and raccoons.
As we returned to the ship, the overcast conditions continued without any rain. That kept temperatures in the mid 70’s Fahrenheit or mid 20’s Celsius keeping the wildlife really active. At a certain point, after lunch, some of our guests returned the park’s beach for a swim or in search for another opportunity to see the slow moving three-toed sloth. Finally, many of us returned with a big smile in our face, after spending some extra time in this unique gem.
The rest of the afternoon and early evening we sailed south heading to Osa Peninsula. A short glimpse to a fin whale stopped us for a moment; nonetheless, their elusive behavior kept us waiting for this individual to surface again in front of the ship.
