Casa Orquideas & Rincon River, Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica
After cruising the whole night we found ourselves in the beautiful Golfo Dulce, on the southern Pacific shore of Costa Rica. After clearing customs, because we were coming from Panama, the Sea Voyager sailed farther into the northwestern end of the gulf, where an amazing tropical garden named Casa Orquideas was waiting for us.
The 70 acre property belongs to Ron and Trudy MacAllister, a marriage from USA that made their living in this area since the seventies. They started by bringing some of the plants from the tropical forest that surrounds their property into their garden. Little by little they added more plants from other tropical areas of the world.
For all those plant lovers, this place was a treat, from miniature orchids to 70 foot tall palm trees, from cocoa trees to papayas, from hibiscus to heliconias. The place is like having an ornamental plant book, but alive. Different groups dispersed themselves on the diverse trails accompanied by naturalists who explained the intricate life of tropical plants.
But the day had a lot more for us, so after lunch the Sea Voyager cruised to the western corner of the Golfo Dulce for our second outing of the day, which brought us to the Rincon River, which at its mouth is colonized by mangrove forest.
The first ones to start the exploration were the kayakers, followed by the Zodiac cruisers. Despite of which kind of transportation was used, we had great views of white ibises, mangrove hawks, green herons and even a greatly camouflaged two-toed sloth.
With the sun softly sinking behind the mountains, another great day came to its end.
After cruising the whole night we found ourselves in the beautiful Golfo Dulce, on the southern Pacific shore of Costa Rica. After clearing customs, because we were coming from Panama, the Sea Voyager sailed farther into the northwestern end of the gulf, where an amazing tropical garden named Casa Orquideas was waiting for us.
The 70 acre property belongs to Ron and Trudy MacAllister, a marriage from USA that made their living in this area since the seventies. They started by bringing some of the plants from the tropical forest that surrounds their property into their garden. Little by little they added more plants from other tropical areas of the world.
For all those plant lovers, this place was a treat, from miniature orchids to 70 foot tall palm trees, from cocoa trees to papayas, from hibiscus to heliconias. The place is like having an ornamental plant book, but alive. Different groups dispersed themselves on the diverse trails accompanied by naturalists who explained the intricate life of tropical plants.
But the day had a lot more for us, so after lunch the Sea Voyager cruised to the western corner of the Golfo Dulce for our second outing of the day, which brought us to the Rincon River, which at its mouth is colonized by mangrove forest.
The first ones to start the exploration were the kayakers, followed by the Zodiac cruisers. Despite of which kind of transportation was used, we had great views of white ibises, mangrove hawks, green herons and even a greatly camouflaged two-toed sloth.
With the sun softly sinking behind the mountains, another great day came to its end.
