Manuel Antonio National Park
When you first glimpse the sea and the hills of Manuel Antonio, the word “paradise” might cross your mind. The lovely beaches here were made into a national park before they could be turned into another resort disaster. The National Park, one of the smallest in Costa Rica, is the area’s crowning glory.
On our early morning walks, one of our groups walked to the “Cathedral Point,” a wedge-shaped piece of land that was once an island. A neck of land, known as “tombolo,” connected it to the mainland. A tombolo is defined as a deposit of sand that builds up over thousands of years and finally connects an island to the mainland. Right from the top of the hill we could look down the vertical cliffs into the blue waters, and in less than half an hour we heard a noise coming directly from above us. A troop of howler monkeys were foraging on the leaves at this early time of the day.
Those of us going to other trails in the park were amazed by the wildlife sightings: mother howler monkeys with their offspring on their backs, large troops of white-throated capuchin monkeys, both types of sloths, and other animals like the spiny–tailed iguana, basilisk lizards and a lot of different tropical birds.
Right from the beach station where we rested after our walks, we happened to spot a yellow-headed caracara (falcon) being chased by two small flycatchers. We thought that they were making him fly away from a possible nest. Just before going back to the ship for lunch, many of us took a refreshing bath in the blue-green waters and the white sand beaches of Manuel Antonio.
After lunch on the Sea Voyager, the captain started cruising and we spent the rest of the afternoon cruising in calm water searching for marine life. It didn’t take long before we saw sea-snakes and turtles. Suddenly we heard one of the naturalists calling all of us to the open decks to see the Mobula rays that in large numbers were jumping out of the surface of the water close by the Sea Voyager. Ray “popcorn” called the attention of all of us; some of our naturalists had never seen such an event happening so close to the ship before. And if this were not enough we had a clear sunset and the “green flash’ was seen by our guests.
With the breeze and the turquoise waters, and all this in our memories, we said goodbye to this one-week trip. What a way to end a natural history cruise!
When you first glimpse the sea and the hills of Manuel Antonio, the word “paradise” might cross your mind. The lovely beaches here were made into a national park before they could be turned into another resort disaster. The National Park, one of the smallest in Costa Rica, is the area’s crowning glory.
On our early morning walks, one of our groups walked to the “Cathedral Point,” a wedge-shaped piece of land that was once an island. A neck of land, known as “tombolo,” connected it to the mainland. A tombolo is defined as a deposit of sand that builds up over thousands of years and finally connects an island to the mainland. Right from the top of the hill we could look down the vertical cliffs into the blue waters, and in less than half an hour we heard a noise coming directly from above us. A troop of howler monkeys were foraging on the leaves at this early time of the day.
Those of us going to other trails in the park were amazed by the wildlife sightings: mother howler monkeys with their offspring on their backs, large troops of white-throated capuchin monkeys, both types of sloths, and other animals like the spiny–tailed iguana, basilisk lizards and a lot of different tropical birds.
Right from the beach station where we rested after our walks, we happened to spot a yellow-headed caracara (falcon) being chased by two small flycatchers. We thought that they were making him fly away from a possible nest. Just before going back to the ship for lunch, many of us took a refreshing bath in the blue-green waters and the white sand beaches of Manuel Antonio.
After lunch on the Sea Voyager, the captain started cruising and we spent the rest of the afternoon cruising in calm water searching for marine life. It didn’t take long before we saw sea-snakes and turtles. Suddenly we heard one of the naturalists calling all of us to the open decks to see the Mobula rays that in large numbers were jumping out of the surface of the water close by the Sea Voyager. Ray “popcorn” called the attention of all of us; some of our naturalists had never seen such an event happening so close to the ship before. And if this were not enough we had a clear sunset and the “green flash’ was seen by our guests.
With the breeze and the turquoise waters, and all this in our memories, we said goodbye to this one-week trip. What a way to end a natural history cruise!
