Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica
Today was our first day in Costa Rica. We entered Golfo Dulce the southernmost gulf of the country early this morning and complied with the immigration authorities in the port of Golfito, thus we were legally in Costa Rican territory. As soon as the paperwork was completed, we weighed anchor and moved a little bit north from Golfito, and onto our first destination of the day: Casa Orquidea – the Orchid House – botanical garden. It is the home of Ron and Trudy McAllister, and represents their labor of love over the past past thirty years.
Ron and Trudy left the United States many years ago, when they decided to take adventure into their own hands. They drove from the eastern part of the US, south to Central America. They fell in love with the southernmost region of Costa Rica and have called it their home ever since. Seventy some acres of forest and a couple of acres of garden compose their abode. They share it with plants such as bromeliads, orchids, palm trees, heliconias and vines, along with animals such as tent making bats, insect eating bats, tanagers, hummingbirds, toucans and macaws, and us. This is a haven that most of us would not acclimate to easily if we decided to live there. Whether we found it too isolated, too quiet or too remote, we had a chance to share it with the McAllisters; to share their life for a while, and wander one of the most luscious sites Costa Rica.
Back on board for a filling lunch, our Captain repositioned the ship onto another beautiful spot. The mouth of the Esquinas River on the northeastern part of the Gulf, offers a fantastic opportunity to see mangrove estuaries and scenic riparian forest like we never imagined before. Spooky yet engaging, the mangrove tree roots resembled long, skinny arms reaching towards us. It remined me of the ghost forests I used to hear of in fairy tales or scary cartoons when I was a child. Those of us who ventured into the rainy afternoon were rewarded with sightings of large numbers of white ibis, roseate spoonbills, herons, egrets, flycatchers and common tree boas. We can only hope that the rest of our trip will remunerate us with more exciting days like today.
