Today we spent our last day in Costa Rican waters and for our last day we explored the place known as Golfo Dulce or “Sweet Gulf.” This is a gulf that looks a bit like a tropical fjord but in reality is the result of a local fault that sank the land and allowed the ocean water to come in. This makes the gulf very deep but with a shallow mouth to the ocean.
We started early in order to make the most out of our day. First, right at the crack of dawn, we went on our exploration landing crafts to explore the mangrove forest, considered the third largest ecosystem in bio diversity. On our cruise, we were not only able to see this beautiful mangrove forest but also spotted some of the animals that live in it like scarlet macaw, parrots, toucans, and hummingbirds.
Once back on board National Geographic Sea Lion, we weighed anchor and reposition to another section of the gulf only accessible by boat. This place is known as Casa Orquideas, the house of the orchids. It could be better described as an open botanical garden carved right out of the rain forest.
The garden has a beautiful collection of native tropical plants and introduced species as well, which offer great opportunities for taking pictures of plants and close up of flowers. Being surrounded by tropical forest, the garden flowers and fruits attract a lot of tropical birds which increase the place’s beauty. Among those visitors were toucans, colorful tanagers, honey creepers, woodpeckers and many others. After our walks through the garden we took time for a nice refreshing swim in the warm water of the gulf.
During lunch, the ship repositioned once more time. This time at Golfito, which is a small gulf within the gulf which was once a shipping port for the banana company. In here, taking advantage of the calm waters, we divided between expedition landing craft cruises and kayakers for one more chance to explore this beautiful place.
It was just an excellent day in Costa Rica, before crossing over to Panama water, on our way to the Panama Canal.
