Yesterday we had a great day at Drakes Bay and Corcovado National Park. During the night the National Geographic Sea Lion lifted anchor and sailed around to the other side of the Osa Peninsula, towards the southwest coast of Costa Rica, for our last day in this beautiful and peaceful country.
Very early in the morning we entered the very deep quiet waters of Golfo Dulce. Sailing into this bay is always breathtaking. The water is very calm with hardly any waves, and in almost every direction you look, there are only low mountains covered with very dense green vegetation.
Our first activity today consisted in visiting after breakfast the Esquinas River by expedition landing crafts and kayaks. It was very interesting to see and learn about the mangrove forest at the mouth of the Esquinas River. It is truly a very important ecosystem to protect. By filtering the sediment that the river carries, it takes away from the ocean and creates more land aside from being home to many things that live here, above and beneath the water. During the expedition landing craft rides we observed many of the birds that like to live here, such as whimbrels, white ibis, snowy egrets, and ospreys, among many others.
In the afternoon we relocated to the nearby botanical garden named Casa Orquideas, a must-visit place in this area. Trudy and Ron McAllister have created this “Garden of Eden” over the last 30 years they have been living here, collecting tropical plants from all over the world. Indeed Casa Orquideas is one of our special places to visit. It is an easy leisure walk full of flowers of many shapes and colors, fruits and spices, with occasional sightings of birds like the iconic black-mandibled toucans, colorful scarlet macaws flying high above our heads, and several species of tanagers, like the velvet black and bright scarlet red cherries tanager.
It was a great last day in Costa Rica, and tomorrow we’ll find ourselves in Panama, on our way to the Panama Canal.
