Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica
Welcome to Costa Rica! Our day started in Golfito on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. This section of Golfo Dulce has a town with the same name. It is home to what used to be the most important port on the southern Pacific side of Costa Rica. We admired the colorful town of Golfito from a distance and realized that it was a very quiet town, but with very much to say. This town was founded in the 1930s with banana plantation activities that initiated an exportation boom that dramatically decreased in the 1980s and affected the economy of the town. Currently the government of Costa Rica has established a free zone in Golfito, Costa Ricans come from other parts of the country to buy cheaper goods. This has now become the main base of the economy for the people from Golfito.
We left Golfito early in the morning and made our way approximately ten nautical miles towards Casa Orquideas. During our navigation we saw a group of magnificent frigatebirds, laughing gulls and terns flying above the water trying to fish their prey for the morning. Once we arrived at Casa Orquideas our eyes were delighted by the colorful heliconias, orchids, araceas and bromeliads found in this beautiful garden. We enjoyed the most amazing plants, several groups of scarlet macaws, toucans and other birds. We observed their wonderful colors and behavior. As the day continued the sound of mantled howler monkeys announced their presence and gave us the chance to witness their unique behavior.
In the afternoon after a great time in Casa Orquideas, we went back to Golfito to explore the mangroves in Zodiacs and kayaks. We were fortune enough to find two groups of howler monkeys, one group of white throated capuchin monkeys, little blue herons, great egrets and more.
It was a perfect day, with many beautiful sightings at Golfo Dulce.
