Playa Caletas & Corcovado National Park
Our day started with stretching exercises on the sundeck, under a colorful sunrise, anchored in front of the lush rain forest, with dolphins jumping in the distance.
Right after breakfast, our guests landed in Playa Caletas, a private reserve located on the Osa Peninsula, ready to explore the remote rainforest. The groups were divided in a longer, medium, and more leisure walks and we left in our expeditions. Among the species that we saw were the secretive pale-billed woodpecker, a couple of endemic yellow-naped woodpeckers and also red-crowned woodpeckers building a nest in a very tall coconut palm. A rare great tinamou crossed the trail and the black-cheeked Ant-tanagers were flying through the understory of the rainforest singing their beautiful songs. Later the scarlet macaws flew over us, revealing their beautiful colors against the blue sky.
After lunch, when many were considering the idea of a nap, a mother humpback whale and her calf showed up near Caño Island. Soon we noticed a third individual escorting them. During this time of the year, the North American individuals migrate to the safe tropical seas to raise their offspring. For a period of 4 months the calves will drink more than 100 gallons of milk per day whereas the mother will not eat at all. By spring, they will migrate up to the north where the calf will become independent and the mother will recover her weight and energy. For a while, the National Geographic Sea Lion followed the whales, so we all got a great look at them, while they were fluking their tails. A pod of pantropical spotted dolphins came very close to us, as if they were checking on us. Soon they left.
After the amazing encounter with the whales and dolphins, we left to San Pedrillo station at Corcovado. This National Park is the most remote and well preserved rainforest in Costa Rica. Its biodiversity is so high that we can find more than 100 different tree species per acre. Walking through the trails we saw howler monkeys, dot-winged antwrens, black-hooded antshrikes, red-capped manakins, white-shouldered tanagers, blue-crowned manakins, and a pair of black-throated trogons. Those who took the trail to the waterfall saw an American crocodile lying on a fallen trunk close to the mouth of the river. Up the stream, everyone had a great time cooling off in one of the waterfalls, surrounded by the rich vegetation. Just being in the water of such a pristine place was the highlight of the day for many, as they commented.
Another great day ended with hors d’oeuvres and recaps in the lounge.
