After navigating all night from Golfo Dulce, National Geographic Sea Lion arrived, at the crack of dawn, to Caletas Reserve. A gorgeous sunrise welcomed us while a group of guests gathered at the upper deck for the stretching class. A lush tropical rain forest began to be revealed to our eyes as the sun began to warm the morning.
Right after breakfast, we grabbed our gear and went ashore. We landed in the property of a gentleman whom we kindly call Ban Ban, due to the fact that his name is complicated to pronounce. As a plan of conservation of Costa Rica, many land owners have decided to protect the forest that belongs to their properties. This is the case with Ban Ban’s land. It’s a buffer zone that, together with other private lands, connects with Corcovado National Park.
Several activities were offered: horseback riding, long hikes and short hikes. The naturalists began to point out the different forest interactions that could be seen along the trails. The horseback riders had the chance to explore along the coastline in order to reach Rio Claro. Here they met a local gentleman that runs a program for the conservation of turtles. Those who went on the hikes enjoyed the majestic emergent layer trees that are found in the property.
It was just a great morning! At noon we return back on board and weighed anchor. National Geographic Sea Lion repositioned in front of San Pedrillo Ranger Station at Corcovado National Park. One of the main attractions of this place is the hidden waterfall inside its forest. After hiking through a challenging and uneven terrain, we finally arrived to our reward! The San Pedrillo waterfall was just a great photo opportunity. We had sweated a bit reaching the waterfall so our reward was to take a cool dip in a lovely natural pool that was further down the waterfall.
The desire was to stay there forever, but there is still one more destination to cover in our trip, Manuel Antonio National Park. So as soon we got back to the ship, we weighed anchor once more to reposition to Drake Bay. As we navigated to our anchorage area in Drake’s Bay, we all gathered in the lounge for cocktails and to enjoy the sunset.
After dinner, Celia and Napoleon from Drake’s Bay performed some Latin American music in the lounge, capping off an intense experience with nature and culture in the Osa Peninsula.
