Curu Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica
Our leader told us last night that we were going ashore at 6:30 a.m. the next morning and would not have breakfast until 9:30! Is she insane? 6:30 a.m. our time is 5:30 a.m. Costa Rica time, will there even be sunlight? But, that’s how it is… In the Tropics: the earlier, the better.
We woke up before the break of day and loaded the Zodiacs to go into Manuel Antonio National Park while the southern cross still shown in the sky. We were welcomed by the calls of birds, the sound of the breaking of the waves and the gentle morning breeze. Bird-walks, short walks, and long hikes were in the morning’s menu. We didn’t walk too long before we found our first sloth sleeping away in a treetop; then, white-throated capuchin monkeys, pale-billed woodpeckers, and squirrel monkeys performed for us along the trail.
Back on board, we cruised north towards the tropical dry-forest of Curu Wildlife Refuge. The difference was very obvious. Little humidity, trees without leaves, ants living inside the swollen thorns of acacia trees, howler monkeys, coatis on palm-trees…
WHAT A DAY!! Could we have done any better? We closed this day, our last on board the Sea Voyager, by visiting two of Costa Rica’s natural jewels: Manuel Antonio National Park and Curu Wildlife Refuge.
Our leader told us last night that we were going ashore at 6:30 a.m. the next morning and would not have breakfast until 9:30! Is she insane? 6:30 a.m. our time is 5:30 a.m. Costa Rica time, will there even be sunlight? But, that’s how it is… In the Tropics: the earlier, the better.
We woke up before the break of day and loaded the Zodiacs to go into Manuel Antonio National Park while the southern cross still shown in the sky. We were welcomed by the calls of birds, the sound of the breaking of the waves and the gentle morning breeze. Bird-walks, short walks, and long hikes were in the morning’s menu. We didn’t walk too long before we found our first sloth sleeping away in a treetop; then, white-throated capuchin monkeys, pale-billed woodpeckers, and squirrel monkeys performed for us along the trail.
Back on board, we cruised north towards the tropical dry-forest of Curu Wildlife Refuge. The difference was very obvious. Little humidity, trees without leaves, ants living inside the swollen thorns of acacia trees, howler monkeys, coatis on palm-trees…
WHAT A DAY!! Could we have done any better? We closed this day, our last on board the Sea Voyager, by visiting two of Costa Rica’s natural jewels: Manuel Antonio National Park and Curu Wildlife Refuge.
