South America is now in our rear view mirror (do ships have rear view mirrors?), and today we made the first of two ports of call in Central America. Puntarenas, Costa Rica is located on a spit of land so narrow that in places you can see the river estuary to its north and the Pacific Ocean to its south just by turning your head. With 41,000 residents calling the peninsula home it’s not a large city, but the population density is very high.
Our day played out at a much more leisurely pace than many of those that preceded it. The ship didn’t dock until almost 9:00 am, and it was after 10:00 when we boarded our tour bus for the 80 minute drive to the Tarcoles River, our destination for the day’s adventure.
The quickest way I can describe what we did is to ask you to imagine Disney’s Jungle Cruise. We climbed aboard open air, flat bottomed boats and set off downstream toward the mouth of the river, where it spills into the Pacific Ocean. Our goal was to see as much wildlife as possible along the way, and we were not disappointed. What did disappoint me, though, was that I only had my trusty iPhone along to take photos of the native fauna. Today marked the first time I really felt like I didn’t get the shots I wanted to due to not having brought along a dedicated camera. Still, I got some decent photos and had a great time.
What we saw, and what you would see if you ever do this, are birds and crocodiles. The crocodiles are American crocodiles, one of the four extant species in the Americas, and we saw plenty of them. I know you’d like to know how to tell a crocodile from an alligator, and they won’t tell you themselves even if you ask nicely, so I’ll give you two easy ways to spot the difference. First, crocs have narrow, pointier heads than gators, whose heads are more rounded. Second, and a dead giveaway, is that only crocodiles display both upper and lower teeth when their mouths are closed. There, now you have a nice little factoid you can use as a conversation starter at your next cocktail party.
I’m rambling. Back to the tour. While the crocs were all of one species, we saw a lot of different birds, a few of which I was familiar with, but the majority were tropical species I’d never seen before. My favorites were the frigate birds, magnificent creatures with a large wingspan. I won’t list them all, but among the others were caracaras, kiskadees, and one macaw. I picked this excursion because I’m a backyard birder, and it was fun to see so many birds I’d never see back in Pennsylvania.
As I wrote above, we went all the way down to the mouth of the Pacific before turning around and motoring back upstream to our starting point. The boat ride lasted about 90 minutes, and there were few times we didn’t see something of interest. What was also nice was that the boat was stable enough that we were free to leave our seats and walk from one side to the other to get the best view of a bird or crocodile.
Upon returning we were given a few minutes to browse the tour operator’s inevitable gift shop, before piling into the bus for the ride back to Puntarenas. As has often been the case we had an excellent tour guide, who spent the rides out and back filling us with information about Puntarenas and Costa Rica. One fact (actually two) is that Costa Rica has a lot of earthquakes, but “only” five active volcanoes. The latter explains why they have black sand beaches.
We got back to the ship a little after 3:00 and grabbed a late lunch, before Michele and I walked down the pier to wander through the tourist shopping area located right at the pier’s end. Michele picked up a couple little items, while my big score was maybe the best Coca Cola I’ve ever had. Our guide had tipped us off that the Coke sold in Puntarenas was made with real sugar from locally grown sugarcane, and was available in glass bottles, like it used to be a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. My goodness, was it delicious.
Then it was back to the ship for dinner and much needed showers. At only eight degrees above the equator, the combination of heat and humidity, along with a liberal application of sunscreen, left us feeling pretty sticky by the time we were done with our excursions and walk into town. I said excursions, plural, because Michele opted for a different tour of a nature preserve, where she saw local birds and animals up close.
Tomorrow is a sea day, when I’ll probably get this post out, before we reach our next port of call, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, on the 5th. I’ll be back after that, hopefully with a review of some freshly made Guatemalan chocolate.
Our riverboat guide passed out these guides before we started out. He was amazing, as he not only knew every bird we saw, but knew without looking what number (there were 60 of them) we would find the bird under in the guide.
Egret. We saw lots of them.
Turtles. They sunbathe to burn off the algae and river gunk that accumulates on their shells.
Egret and crocodile. We watched them for a while, and they didn’t pay the slightest attention to each other. We were told the crocs prefer fish and rarely bother the birds.
Crocodiles open their mouths to aid in cooling themselves. As if they weren’t scary enough with their mouths closed.
These are frigate birds. They’re large, with long wingspans that remind me of albatrosses.
Frigate bird in flight. Almost pterodactyl-like. I thought they were really cool.
Brown pelicans. The same ones I often see in Florida.
Youngster fishing. By law all ocean and river waterfront in Costa Rica is open to the public and not subject to private ownership.
This macaw was more than 100 yards into the jungle. We were able to spot it because of its bright red color. I had no chance to get a photo on my iPhone, but one of the other passengers on our tour boat got this shot with her camera. Thanks to Laura Durland for letting me use it.
Our tour guide was fantastic, and whenever he would spot something of interest the boat captain would stop and inch us as close as possible to get a good look. We were also free to get up and walk from one side of the boat to the other to get the best looks.
Roseate spoonbills. I’ve seen these before, but never in the wild.
Mangrove roots. Mangroves are protected by law and are essential to maintaining the stability of the riverbank.
Large crocodile sunning on the riverbank. The tide was low, so we saw lots of crocs sunning in the mud like this.
We followed the river all the way to its mouth at the Pacific Ocean. That’s the Pacific in the background.
Yes, we really were this close to “Captain Hook,” one of the four or five alpha males on the river. The guides know them all and have given them nicknames. This 75 year old monster got his nickname because he’s missing a few claws that he lost in a fight with “Mike Tyson,” another alpha male, a few years ago. Our guide knew where to find him, and it was beyond creepy when he silently rose to the surface right beside the boat.
Sign on the way out. There are several companies running these river tours, but after comparing the boats of their competitors I’m comfortable recommending these folks.
This might just be the best Coke I’ve ever had, made with real sugar from locally grown sugarcane and bottled the old fashioned way in real glass bottles. No comparison to what we get at home.
I thought about buying an ice cream bar from this vendor, but I was still working on my Coke at the time.
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