After spending these last passed four days exploring the Panama Canal and the coast of Panama, we entered last night to neighboring Costa Rica.
Almost as if magic, we woke up at dawn attached to the rusty old dock of Golfito, Costa Rica for immigration paperwork.
Golfito was an important port for the exportation of bananas by the United Fruit Company for many years, it decided to move its entire operation to the Caribbean coast, leaving the old dock as just a memory from those years of economic bonanza. Nevertheless, the natural beauty of this remote bay of Costa Rica is just, breathtaking: the sky full of reds, oranges, and blues, and the sun peeking behind densely forested green hills.
After a short stop at Golfito, National Geographic Sea Lion continued out and into an even more pristine section of Golfo Dulce. Out on deck we enjoyed the fresh air and the very calm waters of the bay, while being escorted by several grey-breasted martins to our destination for our morning activities at the Rio Tigre Mangrove. Right at this location we explored this important ecosystem by kayak or expedition landing crafts.
Among the many interesting things we saw in the mangrove was a two toed sloth hiding close to the water among the mangrove roots and a common potoo with a chick. Both of these creatures are extremely well camouflaged, but not well enough to elude being spotted by our experienced boat drivers.
Upon return onboard, after a delicious lunch, we repositioned to the other side of the gulf for our activities at famous Casa Orquideas botanical garden.
Only accessible by water, Casa Orquideas is always one of the highlights on Costa Rica. Two American expatriates, Ron and Trudy McAllister have created an incredible assortment of tropical plants over the last 37 years of living here. Within their perfectly groomed and easily walkable property, they have a great variety of tropical fruits, leafs of all sizes and shapes, spices, flowers of all colors, and many birds visiting from the adjacent surrounding virgin forest.
What a place, to end our first day in Costa Rica!
