Casa Orquideas & Rio Ricon, Golfo Dulce
Today we had our last day in Costa Rica. It was a striking way to say good bye to this beautiful country and its wild life and nature. We started our morning dropping anchor deep into a gulf known as Golfo Dulce which is a very deep gulf formed by tectonic falls. This area has a shallow exit and it is surrounded by mountains covered with green lush tropical rain forest. A truly breathtaking scene!
After breakfast we ventured ashore to explore what could be best described as an open botanical garden named Casa Orquideas, or Orchid House. This place has been put together by a couple with over twenty-five years of living in the area and collecting native plants as well as exotic plants into their property. They have arranged them over beautiful manicured trails.
So we had a great morning to see orchids with the flowers and bromeliads, medicine plants and a lot of wild birds that come to feed on the garden such as chestnut mandible toucans, scarlet macaws, cherrie’s tanagers, hummingbirds, flycatchers and even tent making bats roosting under their palm leaf tents. Just when the day was getting warm we went back to the ship to enjoy a refreshing swim from the stern before lunch.
After lunch we listened to a lecture while our Capitan repositioned the ship to the mouth of the Rincon River. In this region we were able to explore the mangrove forest which is the third richest ecosystem of the world in biodiversity. We got to explore it in a handfull of options such as kayaking, Zodiac rides and a birding walk. We found a good amount of birds and we finished our day spotting a two-toed sloth and a troop of white throated capuchin monkeys.
What a nice way to say good bye to Costa Rica.
Today we had our last day in Costa Rica. It was a striking way to say good bye to this beautiful country and its wild life and nature. We started our morning dropping anchor deep into a gulf known as Golfo Dulce which is a very deep gulf formed by tectonic falls. This area has a shallow exit and it is surrounded by mountains covered with green lush tropical rain forest. A truly breathtaking scene!
After breakfast we ventured ashore to explore what could be best described as an open botanical garden named Casa Orquideas, or Orchid House. This place has been put together by a couple with over twenty-five years of living in the area and collecting native plants as well as exotic plants into their property. They have arranged them over beautiful manicured trails.
So we had a great morning to see orchids with the flowers and bromeliads, medicine plants and a lot of wild birds that come to feed on the garden such as chestnut mandible toucans, scarlet macaws, cherrie’s tanagers, hummingbirds, flycatchers and even tent making bats roosting under their palm leaf tents. Just when the day was getting warm we went back to the ship to enjoy a refreshing swim from the stern before lunch.
After lunch we listened to a lecture while our Capitan repositioned the ship to the mouth of the Rincon River. In this region we were able to explore the mangrove forest which is the third richest ecosystem of the world in biodiversity. We got to explore it in a handfull of options such as kayaking, Zodiac rides and a birding walk. We found a good amount of birds and we finished our day spotting a two-toed sloth and a troop of white throated capuchin monkeys.
What a nice way to say good bye to Costa Rica.
