Gems of Costa Rica with Cruise West

NWC Costa Rican Cruise 2004 cont.
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Day 5-Golfo Dulce (The Sweet Gulf)

Day 5 found us back in Costa Rica, but suffering from the humidity.  No one seem to mind since it was one of our prettiest days.  In the morning our destination was Casa Orquideas Botanical Gardens, which is a privately own botanical garden of Ron and Trudy McAllister.  They started with fruit trees simply to survive and have slowly amass collections of tropical fruit trees, palms, heliconias, ornamental plants, and more than a 100 varieties of orchids.

The welcoming sign       Everywhere you look it was beautiful                 Forest trail

Our view of Casa Orquideas from the ship.

Just some of the beautiful flowers we saw.

Wildlife was also spotted

        Golden orb spider               Roadside Hawk               Toucan                     Spectral Owl

If the afternoon we visited Cano Blanca which is a privately run rehab center for scarlet macaws and monkeys.  Both these animals are fiercely protective of their young, which causes poachers to kill the parents in order to get the young for the illegal pet trade.  Carol and Earl Crew, owners of Cano Blanca, are working with park rangers and the Dept of the Interior to rehabilitate these animals and hopefully return them to the wild one day.

Day 6-Caletas Beach and Cano Island

Caletas beach is part of the Corcovado National Park, one of the most majestic forests in Costa Rica with habitats such as mangroves and tropical rainforest.  For some endangered plants and animals endemic to Costa Rica this is their last stronghold.  Over 368 species of birds are found in this forest along with 140 different types of mammals and over 500 species of trees.  On this day we also got the chance to enjoy a barbeque lunch that was wonderful.  In the afternoon we cruised over to Cano Island for more snorkeling.  Cano Island is one of the few places on earth where pre-Colombian artifacts can be found.  Some people also believe that this island was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

A troop of Spider monkeys was spotted on some of the hikes                    Hiking

                                                                                                      Caletas Beach

Day 7-Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio park is a very  popular park due to the fact that is only 2-3 hours away from San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.  It is also a relatively small park, which provides for more wildlife sighting.  Before starting the hike we were warned not to leave our backpacks unattended because they would get stolen.  Not by people, but by White-face Capuchin monkeys.  On this hike we saw iguanas, hummingbirds, sloths (which to me looked like big hairballs in a tree), Coati-Mundi, monkeys, insects, and many types of trees and plants.

 Beach at Manuel Antonio Park          Iguana                         Leafcutter Ants

Sloth road-well named      Three-toed sloth            Cathedral Point        Playful monkeys      

                                                   Can you spot the sloth?

Day 8-Con Dios

A wake up call at 6:00am ended our last morning on the ship.  By 8:00am we are a bus to San Jose to catch our flights.  The lucky ones were staying a few more days in various hotels.  

Check out more pictures from our trip on a fellow traveler's website.

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