Golfo Dulce, Casa Orquideas & Rio Rincón
Today was our first day over in Costa Rica, and what a welcome we had!
To start with, just before any scheduled activity and right after our breakfast, while cruising over to our first destination, the ship was joined by a playful pod of pantropical spotted dolphins that basically escorted us to our anchor point. They seemed to have as much fun as we were having watching them play with the wave of the ship and bow riding!
On reaching our anchorage, we got on our Zodiacs to start the hikes over in an outdoor tropical botanical garden named Casa Orquideas, in other woods the house of the orchids, and what a garden we discovered there! We got to see miniature orchids, heliconias, mimosa plants, mango trees, bromeliads, Ylang ylang trees, ginger plants and we soon realized that we weren’t the only ones attracted to the garden: there were a number of spectacular tropical birds drawn to the area, among which we saw scarlet macaws, flycatchers, hummingbirds, tanagers, a white hawk and, even better, a king vulture! But the long list of our sightings did not end there, as we also saw some mammals: tent-making bats sleeping under some palm leaves that they had modified to make their own tents.
Once we finished our interpretive hikes, we had the option to stroll the gardens and the long black beach on our own, or to swim either from the beach or the platform at the stern of the ship. Our great team of Zodiac drivers also offered Zodiac driving lessons that were a huge hit with our younger guests!
After lunch we were ready for more adventures, and the ship repositioned over to a river named Rincon to explore one of the most rich ecosystems in the world: the mangrove forest. Once again options abounded, and believe me some of us had a hard time making our minds whether to explore by kayak, Zodiac cruises and hikes – all ended upstream in a local cantina, where over refreshments we exchanges our stories of what the various experiences had given us, before each choosing another means to get back to the ship.
Today was our first day over in Costa Rica, and what a welcome we had!
To start with, just before any scheduled activity and right after our breakfast, while cruising over to our first destination, the ship was joined by a playful pod of pantropical spotted dolphins that basically escorted us to our anchor point. They seemed to have as much fun as we were having watching them play with the wave of the ship and bow riding!
On reaching our anchorage, we got on our Zodiacs to start the hikes over in an outdoor tropical botanical garden named Casa Orquideas, in other woods the house of the orchids, and what a garden we discovered there! We got to see miniature orchids, heliconias, mimosa plants, mango trees, bromeliads, Ylang ylang trees, ginger plants and we soon realized that we weren’t the only ones attracted to the garden: there were a number of spectacular tropical birds drawn to the area, among which we saw scarlet macaws, flycatchers, hummingbirds, tanagers, a white hawk and, even better, a king vulture! But the long list of our sightings did not end there, as we also saw some mammals: tent-making bats sleeping under some palm leaves that they had modified to make their own tents.
Once we finished our interpretive hikes, we had the option to stroll the gardens and the long black beach on our own, or to swim either from the beach or the platform at the stern of the ship. Our great team of Zodiac drivers also offered Zodiac driving lessons that were a huge hit with our younger guests!
After lunch we were ready for more adventures, and the ship repositioned over to a river named Rincon to explore one of the most rich ecosystems in the world: the mangrove forest. Once again options abounded, and believe me some of us had a hard time making our minds whether to explore by kayak, Zodiac cruises and hikes – all ended upstream in a local cantina, where over refreshments we exchanges our stories of what the various experiences had given us, before each choosing another means to get back to the ship.
