Casa Orquideas and Rio Esquinas
Calm waters and a soft breeze greeted us as we awoke in Costa Rican waters and cleared customs to begin our day of adventure and fun. It is always a treat to go ashore and visit Casa Orquideas botanical garden, so abundant with flora and fauna, especially because of the amount of rainfall. Thus the name for this area-Golfo Dulce, or "sweet gulf. Trudy and Ron McAllister are expatriates who came here over 30 years ago and cleared this land to create a magical spot –a true labor of love. The results are obvious from the time you set foot on their beach front property. Enticed by the colors and smells, small groups explored in all directions, with each of the naturalists interpreting their specialty. Besides the gorgeous displays of various orchids and other numerous blooms and greenery, animal highlights included tent-making bats, scarlet macaws, orange-chinned parakeets, rufous-tailed hummingbirds and seldom seen when we visit here - capuchin monkeys! It is a great place to explore at a leisurely pace, with photo ops no matter what size your camera lens.
The day heated up, and we sought refuge again off the ship exploring the waters of the Rio Esquinas via kayak or Zodiac. This river empties into the northeast corner of Golfo Dulce and yields dense mangrove thickets along the river’s banks. Taking advantage of high tide, we headed out after lunch and were greatly rewarded with eye level views of the wild orchid called Brassabola. Binoculars were kept busy viewing a wide variety of many different species of birds such as wind-bells, willets, white ibis, Baird’s trogon, tanagers, herons, egrets, and kingfishers, just to name a few.
As if to bid us farewell before we pulled up anchor, bottle-nosed dolphins swam close-by the ship as the sun lowered and we readied ourselves for happy hour and re-cap. Interesting talks on the indigenous peoples, the tent bats and the comeback of the parrot populations here enlightened us about Costa Rica’s success in preserving this resource, truly some good news to end our day. How fortunate we were to be here exploring this lush wild coast. How sweet it was, indeed!
