Manuel Antonio National Park
Early this morning, we arrived at the final stop of our journey, Manuel Antonio National Park.; the small but precious jewel on the crown of Costa Rica’s National Parks.
Even though it is connected by road and you can drive from Costa Rica’s capital San Jose, Manuel Antonio is from a biological point of view, an island. It has around it, farming land (mostly palm oil plantation) development (mostly hotels) and of course Pacific Ocean. It is for no small reason, that Manuel Antonio is one of Costa Rica’s most visited national parks; blessed with gorgeous beaches, and above average animal life.
So! Early as usual, we disembarked on the lovely beaches of Manuel Antonio. While walking along the edge of lush tropical rainforest, we were rapidly rewarded with good sittings of the slow moving sloths, asleep and lethargic on their live tree hammocks, (Such is life in the tropics!) It’s a good thing they depend more on camouflage than their ability to move quickly. As we continued walking and enjoying the ocean breeze of this lovely morning, we were surprised by a troop of monkeys, jumping and swinging through the forest canopy. After a closer look we were able to recognize the smart looking faces of the white-faced capuchin monkeys. Yes! Smart indeed! These monkeys have the largest brain size for their body size, and are considered the smartest animal in the forest, this combined with their excellent eye sight, hand to eye coordination, and social organization often gets them in trouble, with us humans, particularly small hotels on the periphery of the park. So no troubles with us, quite the contrary! The white-faced monkeys put on a nice show for us, jumping and moving around the forest with their usual ease, but stopping occasionally to look around for a juicy grasshopper, the perfect opportunity for a snapshot photo.
After a productive morning full of great viewing opportunities, we returned with satisfaction to the beach, to our station by the ocean, to enjoy an afternoon of relaxation, to “chill out” on the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean, enjoying the scenery, the perfect setting for this last day.
Later in the day, as we started our way to our final dock for disembarkation, we saw a humpback whale. We could clearly see spouts, several flukes and flipper slapping just before finally disappearing. Great thing we had some time beforehand to relax on the ocean, and let all that has happened during this successful trip settle down in or minds and memories!
