Huevos Bay & Murcielagos Islands
This morning we woke up to a call from our Expedition Leader: humpback whale! As we stretched our sleepy muscles, a couple of whale backs crossed our paths. Though they turned out to be somewhat skittish and did not allow us to see them for a long time. We were accompanied by a feeding frenzy of black terns capturing small silver fish off of the surface of the water. We moved on towards our morning destination and finally reached the calm waters of Heaves Bay. We had to pick between two activities: kayaking or taking a Zodiac cruising up a narrow-tidal-dependant river. What ever activity we chose to do was rewarded with great sightings, but the highlight of the morning was drifting through spooky-long-legged mangrove trees. Three species of mangrove trees dominate most of the edges of the Costa Rican estuaries: red, white and black. Later during the morning we invested our time and energy in beach activities such as swimming, boogie boarding, lounging and more kayaking.
As we moved from the morning site towards the north, a small group of Pantropical spotted dolphins rode the bow of our ship. We reached the Murcielago (Bat) Islands during the early morning hours of the afternoon. Kayaks, chairs, coolers with water and soft drinks, snorkeling gear, towels and more were brought down to the beach for a great snorkeling and swimming afternoon and to enjoy the most perfect tropical islands of the Central American Pacific (I am a bit biased). Murcielagos Islands are small basalt islands that have been colonized by a few species of plants and reptiles, such as the ctenosaur or spiny tailed iguana, and where literally not even 1% of the Costa Rican population has ever been to. Talk about exploration! This place is magical! As many of us walked up to the top of the hill’s ridge, the afternoon began to die. With round tops and deep blue warm waters, these islands were the perfect end to an already perfect second day in the tropics.
This morning we woke up to a call from our Expedition Leader: humpback whale! As we stretched our sleepy muscles, a couple of whale backs crossed our paths. Though they turned out to be somewhat skittish and did not allow us to see them for a long time. We were accompanied by a feeding frenzy of black terns capturing small silver fish off of the surface of the water. We moved on towards our morning destination and finally reached the calm waters of Heaves Bay. We had to pick between two activities: kayaking or taking a Zodiac cruising up a narrow-tidal-dependant river. What ever activity we chose to do was rewarded with great sightings, but the highlight of the morning was drifting through spooky-long-legged mangrove trees. Three species of mangrove trees dominate most of the edges of the Costa Rican estuaries: red, white and black. Later during the morning we invested our time and energy in beach activities such as swimming, boogie boarding, lounging and more kayaking.
As we moved from the morning site towards the north, a small group of Pantropical spotted dolphins rode the bow of our ship. We reached the Murcielago (Bat) Islands during the early morning hours of the afternoon. Kayaks, chairs, coolers with water and soft drinks, snorkeling gear, towels and more were brought down to the beach for a great snorkeling and swimming afternoon and to enjoy the most perfect tropical islands of the Central American Pacific (I am a bit biased). Murcielagos Islands are small basalt islands that have been colonized by a few species of plants and reptiles, such as the ctenosaur or spiny tailed iguana, and where literally not even 1% of the Costa Rican population has ever been to. Talk about exploration! This place is magical! As many of us walked up to the top of the hill’s ridge, the afternoon began to die. With round tops and deep blue warm waters, these islands were the perfect end to an already perfect second day in the tropics.
