Manuel Antonio National Park
How many times can we hear the words: wonderful, magnificent, charming, unbeatable, passionate, unexpected, and more? Well my dear fellow expedition travelers, those were just a few of the expressions heard from our guests during an early encounter with Squirrel Monkeys at the beautiful beach of Manuel Antonio Park. For the staff and the guests, you can never get enough of the unspoiled beauty displayed by these active critters of the rain forest. Everyone, for a few minutes, forgot all about the walk we were about to take, frozen in a surreal moment in time.
Soon after we all got over the amazing impact of such a rewarding wildlife encounter, we reorganized and started on our different walks. However, it seemed we would never get to more than 3 or 4 hundred yards away from our station. Just as we started to walk, the radio from the staff announced “hey guys, we’ve got a sloth here, and it is perfectly located for some good pictures. Come and take a look!” Faster than the hermit crabs find a slice of coconut on the beach, our dear group of walkers made its way to the sloth! Yes, it was a gorgeous two-toed sloth indeed. Being a more nocturnal than diurnal animal, it did not move an inch since first sighted up on a beach-almond tree.
The morning continued with more sightseeing, exercising andrelaxing on our comfortable beach chairs. Other guests who I suspect were mermaids reincarnated as National Geographic Sea Lion guests; could just not be taken out of the water. The soothing warm waters of Manuel Antonio were more than inviting and we cannot blame anyone for that, right?
Lunch time was more than welcomed by everyone who had participated in this sensational adventure in the National Park. This small but highly visited park opens at 0700, so we are always first to arrive from our most convenient location floating in front of it. Since the outing started a little earlier than usual, our guests were absolutely delighted with the great food served at the dinning area on board National Geographic Sea Lion.
The afternoon was great. Many guests decided to go back to the beach for their own personal experience; m ore animals, more swimming and more fun before sailing towards Herradura for a final day. All too soon, National Geographic Sea Lion got ready to sail again and meet the sun setting in the quiet waters of the Pacific Ocean!
