National Geographic Sea Lion sailed through the night past the old banana-exporting town of Quepos and dropped anchor this morning in the bay just off Manuel Antonio National Park. Wow – Costa Rica indeed! Blue skies and lush green forest provided a backdrop to the gorgeous white-sand Espadilla Beach on which our small black boats delivered us. We arrived at the moment the park opened to take advantage of the early morning less-crowded hour in this very small, very popular park. Various groups set out to walk two different trails – Punta Catedral, a scenic tropical stairmaster through the rainforest, and the Sloth Valley walk, a relatively flat trail connecting into a dirt road.
Today, a few steps into the forest off the beach revealed a two-toed sloth. Many more two- and three-toed sloths were seen further along the trail. Other wildlife sightings included raccoons, agoutis, white-faced capuchin monkeys, basilisk lizards, iguanas, hummingbirds, yellow-crowned night heron, rufous-sided wren, pelicans, frigatebirds and a sleeping tree frog! And in true National Geographic fashion, two natural occurrences not often witnessed… one group looked on as a crocodile snatched a raccoon from the water’s edge, while another group watched a monkey eat a snake. Seriously!
Those who remained at the beach station got their share of wildlife sightings as well. One unfortunate result of so many animals and humans sharing such a small territory… the animals have become habituated to the humans and human food. Shortly after the walking groups departed, a mama raccoon and her four babies paid a visit. And not long after their departure, we noticed shaking tree leaves further down the beach begin to ripple towards us... the white-faced capuchin monkeys were on their way. It is always fun to get close looks at animals we are unaccustomed to; however this can provide a challenging dilemma – observe and photograph them or claim our territory and chase them away? Some enamored visitors have watched their lunches get snatched away by these bold critters.
A delicious ocean swim punctuated the visit to Manuel Antonio for many visitors. And in the evening, after a gorgeous sunset, we gathered to recapitulate the day and have another tasty meal. What a beautiful first day of our voyage.
Pura vida!
