Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Today we started our expedition through the Wonders of Costa Rica and Panama. After sailing four hours the Sea Voyager dropped anchor in the protected bay of Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the most visited in Costa Rica. It is among the smallest protected areas. Despite its size, it is an idyllic wildlife paradise.
The morning walks were almost like opening a nature magazine and watching the animals become alive! There was no need for powerful telephoto cameras, as the animals were already there, up close and personal. The first ones to put up the show were a troop of young white-faced capuccin monkeys, this species is omnivorous and therefore anything is good food, from fruits to snails, lizards, leaves, crabs, insects, bird eggs etc. Capuccins are very agile and fast learning, reason why they are common Hollywood stars or just trained to help people with disabilities.
The second chapter of this nature play was taking over by a mother three-toed sloth and her baby; both were hanging upside down, chewing on some cecropia leaves. The mother gives to her offspring chewed leaves to pass the bacteria that will be required to digest the hard cellulose of the leaves. It was truly an awesome view of the baby and the mother scratching their fur in unison. It seemed as if the baby was following all its mother’s movements. After enjoying this unforgettable intimate time with this Neotropical mammal, we started heading back. Soon a couple of Howler Monkeys broke the peace of the forest with their deep barking sounds. These primates differ the white-faced capuccins since they are leaf eaters and therefore are slower paced tree-dwellers. The males have the ability to howl so loud and deep that their sound can be heard for over a mile across the forest.
This wildlife parade was enlightened by agoutis (large rodents), spiny iguanas and land crabs among others. All this show took place just in the morning hours. The afternoon saw us navigating on a smooth blue ocean toward the southern pacific shore of Costa Rica, where we had a constant show of brown boobies catching the wind wave from the ship and flying fish popping up all around. The closing curtain at the end of our show was formed by the colors of the sunset, finishing our first day of exploration in this tropical paradise.
Today we started our expedition through the Wonders of Costa Rica and Panama. After sailing four hours the Sea Voyager dropped anchor in the protected bay of Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the most visited in Costa Rica. It is among the smallest protected areas. Despite its size, it is an idyllic wildlife paradise.
The morning walks were almost like opening a nature magazine and watching the animals become alive! There was no need for powerful telephoto cameras, as the animals were already there, up close and personal. The first ones to put up the show were a troop of young white-faced capuccin monkeys, this species is omnivorous and therefore anything is good food, from fruits to snails, lizards, leaves, crabs, insects, bird eggs etc. Capuccins are very agile and fast learning, reason why they are common Hollywood stars or just trained to help people with disabilities.
The second chapter of this nature play was taking over by a mother three-toed sloth and her baby; both were hanging upside down, chewing on some cecropia leaves. The mother gives to her offspring chewed leaves to pass the bacteria that will be required to digest the hard cellulose of the leaves. It was truly an awesome view of the baby and the mother scratching their fur in unison. It seemed as if the baby was following all its mother’s movements. After enjoying this unforgettable intimate time with this Neotropical mammal, we started heading back. Soon a couple of Howler Monkeys broke the peace of the forest with their deep barking sounds. These primates differ the white-faced capuccins since they are leaf eaters and therefore are slower paced tree-dwellers. The males have the ability to howl so loud and deep that their sound can be heard for over a mile across the forest.
This wildlife parade was enlightened by agoutis (large rodents), spiny iguanas and land crabs among others. All this show took place just in the morning hours. The afternoon saw us navigating on a smooth blue ocean toward the southern pacific shore of Costa Rica, where we had a constant show of brown boobies catching the wind wave from the ship and flying fish popping up all around. The closing curtain at the end of our show was formed by the colors of the sunset, finishing our first day of exploration in this tropical paradise.
