2012-5 Tortuguero Canals, Costa Rica
Hello
All,
After cruising through the night our ship arrived at the dock in Limon, Costa Rica early the next morning. Limon sits on the Caribbean Sea located south of Nicaragua and north of Panama. Christopher Columbus landed near Limon in 1502 but the town wasn’t officially founded until 1854.
Limon is tropical and is normally hot year round with temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s. More than 200 inches of rain falls in Costa Rica each year. The wettest months are November through January with rainfalls averaging 15 inches per month. The driest months occur from February through April. Since it was April 3rd we felt like it was an ideal time for a visit to the area.
Costa Rica is the only country in the Western Hemisphere without an army or military of any kind. It prides itself on being the “Land of Peace” as they have had over 100 years of political stability. However, this is coming with a price as our local tour guide informed us that the drug cartels are moving into the area and becoming a serious problem. The government is working in concert with the U.S. Coast Guard to address the issue. Our advice for anyone visiting the area is for them to stay on organized tours and not venture out on their own.
Our prime objective was to experience the Tortuguero Canals—hailed as Costa Rica’s Amazon. We booked an excursion that provided a good overview of the Limon area and then a boat tour through the lowland rainforest via the Tortuguero Canals, including a visit to a private reserve that featured a guided walking tour in the rainforest, and then a stop at a butterfly garden. Following all this would be a tour of a banana plantation. We were stoked and excitedly looking forward to these adventures.
We found the Tortuguero Canals to be everything we had hoped for. It was a true jungle experience. Foliage was dense right down to the shoreline with lots of vines hanging down to the beautiful green water. It was really quite beautiful in its own way.
After cruising through the night our ship arrived at the dock in Limon, Costa Rica early the next morning. Limon sits on the Caribbean Sea located south of Nicaragua and north of Panama. Christopher Columbus landed near Limon in 1502 but the town wasn’t officially founded until 1854.
Limon is tropical and is normally hot year round with temperatures in the 80’s and 90’s. More than 200 inches of rain falls in Costa Rica each year. The wettest months are November through January with rainfalls averaging 15 inches per month. The driest months occur from February through April. Since it was April 3rd we felt like it was an ideal time for a visit to the area.
Costa Rica is the only country in the Western Hemisphere without an army or military of any kind. It prides itself on being the “Land of Peace” as they have had over 100 years of political stability. However, this is coming with a price as our local tour guide informed us that the drug cartels are moving into the area and becoming a serious problem. The government is working in concert with the U.S. Coast Guard to address the issue. Our advice for anyone visiting the area is for them to stay on organized tours and not venture out on their own.
Our prime objective was to experience the Tortuguero Canals—hailed as Costa Rica’s Amazon. We booked an excursion that provided a good overview of the Limon area and then a boat tour through the lowland rainforest via the Tortuguero Canals, including a visit to a private reserve that featured a guided walking tour in the rainforest, and then a stop at a butterfly garden. Following all this would be a tour of a banana plantation. We were stoked and excitedly looking forward to these adventures.
We found the Tortuguero Canals to be everything we had hoped for. It was a true jungle experience. Foliage was dense right down to the shoreline with lots of vines hanging down to the beautiful green water. It was really quite beautiful in its own way.
It
was overcast the majority of the time and rained off and on. Luckily our boats
were covered so the rain didn’t bother us. The biggest problem was keeping our
camera lenses dry. Occasionally a little blue sky would show but that didn’t
last long.
Rainforests
are a paradise for bird watchers. These are just a sampling of the many
different birds we snapped photos of. This first photo is of a Great Egret.
They are common along the sun belt of the United States, most of the tropics
and easily identified by their white plumage, yellow bill, and black legs.
We’ve
all seen Great Blue Herons in our travels. But, this photo is of a Little Blue
Heron. It breeds from the Gulf States of the USA, through Central America and
the Caribbean south to Peru and Uruguay.
Their bluish colors almost seemed to glow.
Any
of us that have lived or visited Florida have seen Anhinga sitting on a branch
with their wings spread out to dry their feathers. However, this was the first
time we had observed one sitting on a nest. Unlike ducks, the Anhinga is not
able to waterproof its feathers. Consequently, feathers can become waterlogged,
making the bird barely buoyant. However, this allows it to dive and search for prey
easily underwater.
When
floating the Anhinga body will be submerged with only its long neck above the
water. It is easy to see why it is nicknamed the “snakebird.” And, aren’t their
markings unique and beautiful?
What
would a jungle be without monkeys? Most of them that we observed were Howlers
such as this little guy.
Hiding
back in the foliage in the following photo is a White-faced Capuchin.
Our
next stop in the rainforest was at a private reserve. The mission of the
reserve was the care and protection of sea turtle eggs laid along the coast,
and the nurturing of orphaned or injured animals. Once healthy they would release
animals back into the jungle. Most of the reserve staff was made up of volunteers.
Many were college age students from the Netherlands and Germany.
A guide took us on a walking tour through the rainforest. They had wood trails and bridges built to keep us up out of the muck of the jungle floor. It was quite interesting as she would explain the many different plants. We tend to fall behind on walking tours as we get sidetracked taking photos! It is a hard choice between learning about an area and stopping to get an awesome shot—we enjoy both.
There were strangler fig trees and numerous flowering plants in bloom such as orchids, hibiscus and in the following photo red ginger.
A guide took us on a walking tour through the rainforest. They had wood trails and bridges built to keep us up out of the muck of the jungle floor. It was quite interesting as she would explain the many different plants. We tend to fall behind on walking tours as we get sidetracked taking photos! It is a hard choice between learning about an area and stopping to get an awesome shot—we enjoy both.
There were strangler fig trees and numerous flowering plants in bloom such as orchids, hibiscus and in the following photo red ginger.
Here
is a photo looking up into the canopy that we particularly liked.
However,
what really got our attention was the Emperor’s Cane. The flower of the plant
sits on a single stalk that is two to three feet high. It is also known as
Torch Ginger. It was a new first for us and we found them fascinating.
First
an ugly pod forms on top of the stalk that looks like it is dead and decaying.
Then it bursts open into the most unusual flower.
Our
walking tour ended in the area where they housed the animals. It was wonderful
seeing all the animals they were caring for. This young lady had a baby howler
monkey that had been orphaned. It was so cute!
This
young girl showed us a baby three-toed sloth.
There
seemed to be sloths everywhere. They were climbing up on the bridges and
surrounding us in the trees. The way they slowly climb while hanging makes it
hard to get a good photo of their little faces. Here is one that we were able
to snap between leaves and limbs. As you can see their hair gets much coarser
with age. And look at those claws meant for climbing trees.
Our
next stop was to a banana plantation owned and operated by Del Monte. It was
most interesting seeing how bananas are harvested in the fields, transported to
the plant, cleaned, sorted, and packed for shipping. We’ll pick up on that
adventure in our next little blurb.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns