Manuel Antonio National Park & Osa Peninsula
During the night, we sailed south from Herradura, past the old banana-exporting town of Quepos and dropped anchor in the bay just off Manuel Antonio National Park.When we came out of our cabins, we were impressed to see the beautiful and pristine rain forest and the white sand beach of this national park. Manuel Antonio National Park is well known not only for the beauty of its landscape but also for the richness of its tropical wild life.
So with all these expectations in mind, we started going ashore by Zodiacs early in the morning when the tropical forest is more active. Very soon, our efforts were well rewarded and coati mundis, spiny tailed iguanas, and agoutis started to be seen. We were lucky enough to find several three-toed sloths, and one of them turned to be a female with its offspring on her back. Right next to her, there was a male, quite active climbing down another tree. We were surprised to see that they can move relatively fast when they wanted it. While we were on the trails, a troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys came to the beach to check out our beach station, making a show to some of our guests that happen to be there.
Before coming back aboard after our rain forest explorations, some of us went swimming on the white sand beach of Manuel Antonio. What a morning! Can there be anything that will come close to these experiences of this morning?
During lunch on the ship, the Sea Voyager started moving south in our way to the Osa Peninsula, and that gave us some time to do some marine life observation. It did not take long before spotted dolphins show up. Federico, one of the naturalists, gave us a presentation named “Rain Forest Connections” where we understood some of the very complicated links among all the living creatures on these wonderful ecosystems.
During the night, we sailed south from Herradura, past the old banana-exporting town of Quepos and dropped anchor in the bay just off Manuel Antonio National Park.When we came out of our cabins, we were impressed to see the beautiful and pristine rain forest and the white sand beach of this national park. Manuel Antonio National Park is well known not only for the beauty of its landscape but also for the richness of its tropical wild life.
So with all these expectations in mind, we started going ashore by Zodiacs early in the morning when the tropical forest is more active. Very soon, our efforts were well rewarded and coati mundis, spiny tailed iguanas, and agoutis started to be seen. We were lucky enough to find several three-toed sloths, and one of them turned to be a female with its offspring on her back. Right next to her, there was a male, quite active climbing down another tree. We were surprised to see that they can move relatively fast when they wanted it. While we were on the trails, a troop of white-faced capuchin monkeys came to the beach to check out our beach station, making a show to some of our guests that happen to be there.
Before coming back aboard after our rain forest explorations, some of us went swimming on the white sand beach of Manuel Antonio. What a morning! Can there be anything that will come close to these experiences of this morning?
During lunch on the ship, the Sea Voyager started moving south in our way to the Osa Peninsula, and that gave us some time to do some marine life observation. It did not take long before spotted dolphins show up. Federico, one of the naturalists, gave us a presentation named “Rain Forest Connections” where we understood some of the very complicated links among all the living creatures on these wonderful ecosystems.
