Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica
Early in the morning today, as Gustavo, our expedition leader, was giving the morning update, the first thing he said was “Welcome to Costa Rica.” I guess we all knew we had arrived to this country as soon as the rocky waters of the Pacific Ocean turned in to the calm waters of the Golfo Dulce.
As we came out of our cabins we could see a giant wall of emerald jungle surrounding the gulf and the small town of Golfito; but first, we had to start with a real Costa Rican breakfast, with the main dish of “Gallo Pinto.” This dish is made when you mix rice and beans and add garlic, onions and the special “Costa Rican salsa.”
The first outing was in the area of Golfito; we got in the Zodiacs and started looking for wildlife. Very soon the herons, egrets, kingfishers, falcons, and toucans started attracting the attention of the many long lenses of our photo enthusiasts. A tree boa came along but of course we knew what our main target was: monkeys. Finally, right before we were ready to go back, we found howlers and white-faced capuchin monkeys; after a few jumps and a thousand pictures we returned to the National Geographic Sea Lion, already thinking of the magnificent gardens that were waiting for us in the afternoon.
Before lunch, National Geographic photographer Michael Melford gave a presentation that was the perfect inspiration for the afternoon outing to the botanical gardens. But first we had to: eat a delicious lunch, take a siesta and swim from the stern; what a hard life. As we swam in front of the botanical gardens, we could see scarlet macaws flying back and forth, inviting the photographers to get their gear ready.
And there came the time to visit the gardens of Casa Orquidea, a secluded private garden of the McAllister family, full of all kinds of colorful tropical plants and birds. The welcome committee was a group of scarlet macaws. The atmosphere was filled with their loud vocalizations mixed with the sound of hundreds of camera clicks! The group spread along the gardens finding all kind of exciting flowers and plants along with a wealth of information by the naturalist about everything in the gardens. The result of this was memory cards filled with photos to choose from and faces lined with smiles and annatto dye.
A little afternoon rain was the perfect excuse to sit at the corridor of the McAllister’s and conveniently a bird feeder with some bananas as we waited for the rain to stop. Finally we had a boardwalk of colorful birds getting to the feeder as if their main idea was showing off instead of feeding. The birds that came to the show were: blue-gray tanager, palm tanager, golden-hooded tanager, Cherrie’s tanager, red-legged honeycreeper, green honeycreeper, golden-napped woodpecker, red-crowned woodpecker, spot-crowned euphonia, yellow-throated euphonia and the great kiskadee. In other words, a great party on a great day.
