Curú Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica
We lifted anchor right after dinner for a 25 nautical mile trip north; our destination the southern Nicoya Peninsula. We decided to start our exploration early in the morning when the tropical forest is more active. Our destination is the privately-owned preserve of Curú, located at the eastern end of Nicoya Peninsula. Despite its small size, it holds a great variety of habitats: tropical dry forest, mangrove swamps, wetlands, coastal vegetation. A recent study rated Curú Wildlife Refuge as the ecologically richest reserve of the Nicoya Peninsula, protecting the remnants of the very threatened tropical dry forest left in the Americas.
In all the nature walks, tropical birds were spotted: colorful trogons, scarlet macaws, humming birds, parrots and parakeets, among many others. A swarm of army ants were spotted moving along the forest in a very well organized way, just like an army does. They were carrying with them larvae, eggs, and the latest prey they got from the last hunting raid.
In our nature walks we kept hearing the call of the howler monkeys coming from the tree tops. It took us a while to spot them. Some of them were taking naps in order to digest all the leaves they had eaten during the morning.
After spending some time at the beach, we went back to the ship, had lunch, a nap afterwards and later in the afternoon we disembarked on a white sand beach that turned out to be perfect for some beach activities.
Late afternoon we had a presentation on the Natural History of Costa Rica, followed by “recaps” given by the naturalists aboard. But Mother Nature still had some presents for all of us and lots of sting rays were spotted jumping out of the water right from the boat.
What a way to end our first day of the cruise in Costa Rica!
We lifted anchor right after dinner for a 25 nautical mile trip north; our destination the southern Nicoya Peninsula. We decided to start our exploration early in the morning when the tropical forest is more active. Our destination is the privately-owned preserve of Curú, located at the eastern end of Nicoya Peninsula. Despite its small size, it holds a great variety of habitats: tropical dry forest, mangrove swamps, wetlands, coastal vegetation. A recent study rated Curú Wildlife Refuge as the ecologically richest reserve of the Nicoya Peninsula, protecting the remnants of the very threatened tropical dry forest left in the Americas.
In all the nature walks, tropical birds were spotted: colorful trogons, scarlet macaws, humming birds, parrots and parakeets, among many others. A swarm of army ants were spotted moving along the forest in a very well organized way, just like an army does. They were carrying with them larvae, eggs, and the latest prey they got from the last hunting raid.
In our nature walks we kept hearing the call of the howler monkeys coming from the tree tops. It took us a while to spot them. Some of them were taking naps in order to digest all the leaves they had eaten during the morning.
After spending some time at the beach, we went back to the ship, had lunch, a nap afterwards and later in the afternoon we disembarked on a white sand beach that turned out to be perfect for some beach activities.
Late afternoon we had a presentation on the Natural History of Costa Rica, followed by “recaps” given by the naturalists aboard. But Mother Nature still had some presents for all of us and lots of sting rays were spotted jumping out of the water right from the boat.
What a way to end our first day of the cruise in Costa Rica!
