At 6:00 a.m. this morning, the National Geographic Sea Lion was cruising in really calm waters, which meant that we had reached the Golfo Dulce. By this time there was already a crowd on the sundeck enjoying the spectacular sunrise and taking astonishing pictures as the sun arose over the highest mountain range in Costa Rica.
After a delicious breakfast, our expedition leader call us to gather and begin the day’s activities. Before us was an amazing tropical garden sitting on the side of a mountain and surrounded by tropical rainforest. This is the home of the McAlister family who started making this garden 35 years ago and today is a jewel in the middle of the jungle. It is only reachable by boat, making it one of Costa Rica’s well-kept secret.
Strolling through the gardens, not only did we get to see an amazing collection of tropical plants, but also the colorful tropical birds such as scarlet macaws, toucans, tanager, honeycreepers and euphonias. The name of the garden is Casa Orquideas, or “House of Orchids” in English. And of course, there you can find a great number of orchids in bloom, there were also many other plants in bloom such as anthuriums, hibiscus, gingers, bromeliads and the famous heliconias, not to forget the great amount of tropical fruits and eatable plants.
The calm waters of the golf and of the warm day invited us for a refreshing swim. The staff of the National Geographic Sea Lion brought down the paddleboards as an optional water activity. Some just went for a good swim and other decided to try the new toy. Some guests were well experienced in using these boards while others had hardly even heard about this type of recreation, but decided to give it a try… laughs and flips made out for a perfect ending of our morning.
We repositioned the ship during a delicious lunch and arrived near Rio Tigre. We had the opportunity to visit this site in Kayaks or in the exploration landing crafts- there was an overwhelming response to a quiet paddle though the mangrove forest. All the guest that were more interested in birding and photography went on the exploration landing crafts and saw sea turtles, kingfishers, roseate spoonbills, terns, egrets, herons and the strange common potoo.
As we left this site the sun was setting and giving a show of colors and shapes. The bottlenose dolphins were greeting anyone who was on the deck, the perfect way to finish not only the day, but also the visit to Costa Rica, tomorrow we embark on a new adventure in Panama.
