Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
The first day of our trip through the wonders of Costa Rica and Panama, brought us to one of the most beautiful protected areas in Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park. It blends turquoise waters with white sandy beaches, bright green exuberant forest with dark basalt rocks that date back from 50 to 80 million years ago.
The park is located in between two major areas of influence, the tropical dry forest from northern and the tropical rain forest from southern Costa Rica, making Manuel Antonio a blend of both forests. Tall towering trees with smooth barks, limbs that branch out over 50 feet high and leaves with drip tips to avoid keeping water on them, typical from rain forest. On the other hand, twisted trunks with rugged barks, rounder leaves to keep moisture and umbrella crown trees from the dry forest.
To explore this park we had two well contrasting options, the “stair master trail” for the ones that wanted to exercise, which lead us to the top of a mountains with amazing views of the shoreline, and the “sloth valley trail” a more leisurely stroll. In spite of the option, everyone saw everything there is to see. The first ones in this fauna parade were the white-faced monkeys performing great acrobatic tricks; howler monkeys showing off their vocal virtues as they made clear which their territory was. As a guest said: “it sounds like a gorilla is coming our way and then this small monkey shows up”.
The list of mammals was enlarged by a mother white-tailed deer with her two young babies, several agoutis which are a medium sized rodent, coatis (a Central American version of raccoons) and the cutest looking tiny bats hanging from a tree trunk. But the stars of the day were the several three-toed sloth seen through the different walks, this spoiled creation of Mother Nature, who lives its life upside-down, for whom the words fast food, speed and stress have no meaning at all.
After all these great sightings and the appreciation of a new adventure the idea of a swim in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean was a well deserved treat. Later on, as we all were back on board, the Sea Voyager lifted anchor in pursuit of tomorrow’s destination.
The first day of our trip through the wonders of Costa Rica and Panama, brought us to one of the most beautiful protected areas in Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park. It blends turquoise waters with white sandy beaches, bright green exuberant forest with dark basalt rocks that date back from 50 to 80 million years ago.
The park is located in between two major areas of influence, the tropical dry forest from northern and the tropical rain forest from southern Costa Rica, making Manuel Antonio a blend of both forests. Tall towering trees with smooth barks, limbs that branch out over 50 feet high and leaves with drip tips to avoid keeping water on them, typical from rain forest. On the other hand, twisted trunks with rugged barks, rounder leaves to keep moisture and umbrella crown trees from the dry forest.
To explore this park we had two well contrasting options, the “stair master trail” for the ones that wanted to exercise, which lead us to the top of a mountains with amazing views of the shoreline, and the “sloth valley trail” a more leisurely stroll. In spite of the option, everyone saw everything there is to see. The first ones in this fauna parade were the white-faced monkeys performing great acrobatic tricks; howler monkeys showing off their vocal virtues as they made clear which their territory was. As a guest said: “it sounds like a gorilla is coming our way and then this small monkey shows up”.
The list of mammals was enlarged by a mother white-tailed deer with her two young babies, several agoutis which are a medium sized rodent, coatis (a Central American version of raccoons) and the cutest looking tiny bats hanging from a tree trunk. But the stars of the day were the several three-toed sloth seen through the different walks, this spoiled creation of Mother Nature, who lives its life upside-down, for whom the words fast food, speed and stress have no meaning at all.
After all these great sightings and the appreciation of a new adventure the idea of a swim in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean was a well deserved treat. Later on, as we all were back on board, the Sea Voyager lifted anchor in pursuit of tomorrow’s destination.
