Tamarindo and Playa Zapotal
This amazing rock formation was the scenario for our afternoon activities in the bay called Zapotal, a name straight from the indigenous dialect: Zapotle meaning the edible fruit.
Today was our last day in the northern part of the Nicoya Peninsula, one of the oldest regions in the country, where the geological complexity of Costa Rica is manifested in the variety of its surface terrains: steep mountains, volcanoes, long beaches and irregular coastlines.
The Pacific coast has been very active, usually the site of major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and ocean crust uplifting.
The Nicoya Peninsula was the first big volcanic island to emerge from the ocean around 60 to 80 million years ago; the constant volcanic eruptions and earthquakes produced enormous quantities of sediments which were dumped onto the ocean crust and compacted by the water pressure, eventually to rise up again. The reddish coloration and the yellowish blotches are proof of high amounts of oxidized iron within the rock.
The Nicoya Peninsula region was part of the small archipelago that allowed some animals and plants to start crossing from north and south temperate latitudes before the Central American isthmus was fully raised. It was not until 3 million years ago that the irregular Pacific coast was fully completed; and it now has a length of approximately 600 miles, extraordinarily irregular with bays, points, peninsulas, islands and volcanic and sedimentary rocks sneaking up everywhere.
Anyway, having this antique rock formation as our witness, we left this great bay unaware of what Mother Nature still had in store for us: a wonderful humpback whale and her calf were spotted breaching and lobtailing in the distance, and as the ship kept moving closer they just floated motionless, almost as though waiting for us to drift closer and closer. After about a half hour of watching them against the most spectacular of backdrops, a Costa Rican sunset, mom decided it was time to take a deep dive, and suddenly they were gone.
This amazing rock formation was the scenario for our afternoon activities in the bay called Zapotal, a name straight from the indigenous dialect: Zapotle meaning the edible fruit.
Today was our last day in the northern part of the Nicoya Peninsula, one of the oldest regions in the country, where the geological complexity of Costa Rica is manifested in the variety of its surface terrains: steep mountains, volcanoes, long beaches and irregular coastlines.
The Pacific coast has been very active, usually the site of major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and ocean crust uplifting.
The Nicoya Peninsula was the first big volcanic island to emerge from the ocean around 60 to 80 million years ago; the constant volcanic eruptions and earthquakes produced enormous quantities of sediments which were dumped onto the ocean crust and compacted by the water pressure, eventually to rise up again. The reddish coloration and the yellowish blotches are proof of high amounts of oxidized iron within the rock.
The Nicoya Peninsula region was part of the small archipelago that allowed some animals and plants to start crossing from north and south temperate latitudes before the Central American isthmus was fully raised. It was not until 3 million years ago that the irregular Pacific coast was fully completed; and it now has a length of approximately 600 miles, extraordinarily irregular with bays, points, peninsulas, islands and volcanic and sedimentary rocks sneaking up everywhere.
Anyway, having this antique rock formation as our witness, we left this great bay unaware of what Mother Nature still had in store for us: a wonderful humpback whale and her calf were spotted breaching and lobtailing in the distance, and as the ship kept moving closer they just floated motionless, almost as though waiting for us to drift closer and closer. After about a half hour of watching them against the most spectacular of backdrops, a Costa Rican sunset, mom decided it was time to take a deep dive, and suddenly they were gone.
