Rio Esquinas & Casa Orquideas, Golfito
We woke up this morning, already anchored deep inside the Golfo Dulce, on the Southernmost bay of the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, for our last day in this beautiful country. The morning was planned so we could take advantage of the high tide. In order to explore by Zodiac, or under our own power in a kayak, the estuary of the Esquinas River and the very important ecosystem adjacent to it, the mangrove forest.
This morning there was a gentle breeze, absolutely calm waters and the densely forested hills were covered with a carpet of low clouds. Just right after breakfast we started our explorations through the river. Truly gorgeous scenery to our eyes! Frigate birds, brown pelican, and royal terns; at the mouth of the river and inside of the narrow meandering river we spotted whimbrels, willets, ringed kingfishers, white ibis, tri-colored herons, ospreys, white crowned parrots, southern rough winged swallows, great kiskadees and a pair of red-lored parrots in their nest. Indeed a great morning!
We even found what we believe could have been a bird eating snake coiled in the vegetation above the water, and the very elusive silky anteater, a rare nocturnal small mammal that loves to feed on the abundant termites that it finds in the mangrove forest. Silky anteaters are truly animals from the New-World tropics (they don’t exist anywhere else!). Upon our return to the National Geographic Sea Lion, and as a perfect finale for our morning excursions, we were playfully approached by a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins.
After lunch we repositioned the ship and we had some time to refresh in the calm waters of the bay and rest a little in preparation for our afternoon activities at Casa Orquideas. This botanical garden is an incredible place to stop at, lots of colorful tropical flowers and birds of all kinds, all concentrated in a small area that is easy to walk through.
Over the last 30 years, Ron and Trudy Mac Allister, the owners and creators of Casa Orquideas, have put together an incredibly beautiful and easy to see showcase of the tropics. We had some great sightings of many plants in bloom and our birdwatchers were also very pleased with the variety and high quality of the birds observed today, which included the large chestnut mandible toucan, brilliantly colored scarlet macaws, and the little and elusive red capped and blue crowned manakins. Great day! In preparation now for a new country tomorrow…Panama!
