Curu Wildlife Refuge
This morning we could hear the sound of the anchor being lifted from our night spot and began our north bound navigation where we anchored facing the lush green color of the seasonally dry forest. Curu is a 3750 acre area privately owned by the Schutt family, of which maybe 5% is protected as a wildlife preserve. We disembarked on our Zodiacs on a dark sandy beach, where hundreds of ghost crabs moved on the sand with the coordination of ballerinas on a stage. We split our group into three optional activities. We could choose between taking a long walk in a loop trail through the forest, including crossing two very particular looking hanging bridges. Or we could take a shorter walk along a gravel road, which would allow us more time for looking around on an easier terrain. Or one could pick the infamous “stationary walk” and basically hang our around the landing area and rest, read a book or simply take a short walk to the living area of the Schutt family. As we could have predicted, the rainy season did what it does and we got to truly experience the “rain” forest. We were rewarded with great sightings of spiny tailed iguanas or ctenosaurs, howler monkeys, long-tailed manakins, vine snakes, and many other neotropical wildlife.
Around noon, we went back on board and repositioned the ship onto our afternoon’s destination. Isla Tortuga or Tortuga Island is one of the most popular one day trips for Costa Ricans. White sandy beaches, blue waters, lush forest and fantastic waves for boogie boarding or body surfing are just a few of the reasons we all go there. We decided to wait for all of the local tours to leave and in the middle of the afternoon, we disembarked to our own small private island. Out we went with our boogie-boards, our kayaks, frisbees, chairs and towels onto the white and soft sandy beach that the island offered. Alas, still some more rain, but most of us decided to make lemonade out of our lemons, and had a great afternoon at the beach.
As soon as we came back onboard we started voyaging toward our next destination, the far north of the Costa Rican Pacific coast.
This morning we could hear the sound of the anchor being lifted from our night spot and began our north bound navigation where we anchored facing the lush green color of the seasonally dry forest. Curu is a 3750 acre area privately owned by the Schutt family, of which maybe 5% is protected as a wildlife preserve. We disembarked on our Zodiacs on a dark sandy beach, where hundreds of ghost crabs moved on the sand with the coordination of ballerinas on a stage. We split our group into three optional activities. We could choose between taking a long walk in a loop trail through the forest, including crossing two very particular looking hanging bridges. Or we could take a shorter walk along a gravel road, which would allow us more time for looking around on an easier terrain. Or one could pick the infamous “stationary walk” and basically hang our around the landing area and rest, read a book or simply take a short walk to the living area of the Schutt family. As we could have predicted, the rainy season did what it does and we got to truly experience the “rain” forest. We were rewarded with great sightings of spiny tailed iguanas or ctenosaurs, howler monkeys, long-tailed manakins, vine snakes, and many other neotropical wildlife.
Around noon, we went back on board and repositioned the ship onto our afternoon’s destination. Isla Tortuga or Tortuga Island is one of the most popular one day trips for Costa Ricans. White sandy beaches, blue waters, lush forest and fantastic waves for boogie boarding or body surfing are just a few of the reasons we all go there. We decided to wait for all of the local tours to leave and in the middle of the afternoon, we disembarked to our own small private island. Out we went with our boogie-boards, our kayaks, frisbees, chairs and towels onto the white and soft sandy beach that the island offered. Alas, still some more rain, but most of us decided to make lemonade out of our lemons, and had a great afternoon at the beach.
As soon as we came back onboard we started voyaging toward our next destination, the far north of the Costa Rican Pacific coast.
