Manuel Antonio National Park

The sky opened up this morning with vivid pink hues breaking through the clouds beckoning early risers to record with cameras or memory, while warm tropical air hugged a few eager stretchers on the upper deck!

What a glorious last day of our voyage and perfect start for a visit at the popular Manuel Antonio National Park! This place is known for preserving vital ecosystems, including an extensive tropical rain forest. Beautiful sandy beaches are also part of the attraction, as well as interpretive hikes while looking for wildlife, the first order of our visit today.

Some chose a strenuous trail up to scenic views over the ocean, a real tropical stair-master as our Expedition Leader described. Others chose the sloth valley walk, not so difficult, but providing great opportunities to see mammals, and that we did. We had many wonderful spottings of the Hoffmann’s two-toed and brown three-toed sloths moving around in their high perches of the canopy, giving us full-bodied views as they seemed to be finding the better spots for drying out after last night’s rains. Quite active for sloths, and perfect opportunity for photo ops! Monkeys were also on the move, both white-faced capuchin and howlers. Along the way, we also spotted various basilisks lizards and the distinctive ctenosour iguana. Agoutis, crab-eating raccoons, osprey and great egrets, were some of the other highlights today.

Some of us chose to return in the afternoon for strolls along the beach, playing in the waves, or simply resting and reading on shore, a perfect temperature for all! It is our last day for more memories and connecting to new friends. When asking some guests about the highlight of their week, some very different results were revealed:

Ken: “Snorkeling at the reef and beach on the preserve at Coiba. Exceeded my expectations!”

Lynn: “Kayaking in the mangroves, lots of opportunities for the imagination and quite mystical.”

Beth: “Sitting up here in the crows nest of the ship and knowing there are thousands of species below us, and we might be lucky to see a few.”

Jody: “Botanical gardens. I loved all the flowers and varieties, and appreciated all the work put into it, and the practical uses of many, taught by the interpretive staff.”

Christian: “Snorkeling with the white-tipped shark and seeing the sloths today.”

Carol: “The excitement of the Panama Canal, beauty of the primitive areas and camaraderie of the group.”

That golden orb beckoned us back to the bow for a spectacular sunset and the possibility of a “green flash” which teased us with a hint it seemed, nevertheless, offering up a grand finale to the closing of our day and trip. Topped off by the rising of the full moon, we couldn’t ask for more to end a perfect week!