Casa Orquideas & Rincon River, Golfo Dulce, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
The National Geographic Sea Lion arrived to the Costa Rican port of Golfito, where sunrise caught us. A red-billed tropicbird was rescued from the bridge deck, where it had been wedged at the stern. The juvenile bird took off and flew out of Golfito.
We repositioned to Casa Orquideas for our morning activities. This botanical garden offers a great variety of plants, both native and introduced. The tropical flowers are spectacular and they attract birds. Those birds attract larger birds of prey. As we disembarked, the toucans and the white hawk were in the grounds of the garden. Woodcrepers and different species of hummingbirds, such as the white necked Jacobin and the long tailed hermit, were flying close to our group. The scarlet macaws flew above as we were starting our visit and the king vultures soared high above the nearest mountain where we saw them while swimming from the ship.
The history of the world can be told around plants and their uses. There are great contributions to the European cuisine from the New World. Who could picture our diet without potatoes, corn, tomatoes and peppers? Who could live without vanilla and chocolate...?
During lunch we moved to the Esquinas River where we took Zodiac cruises up the mangrove estuary. Kingfishers, whimbrels, willets, snowy egrets, little blue herons and white ibises were seen along the shore. An elusive crocodile swam away from the sand bank as we approached. As we reached the rainforest area, we found a troop of red backed squirrel monkeys and a Boa constrictor on an Inga tree.
We turned just in time to enjoy the sunset on our way back to the ship and we weighed anchor for our next destination: Caletas and Corcovado National Park.
Our recap was postponed by the dolphins jumping in the Golfo Dulce.
