January 15-18
Wednesday, Jan 15 (Horseback Riding to a Waterfall – Quepos)
The tour for today started at 8:15am, so an hour later than yesterday, thankfully. After the tender dropped us off on the pier we were met by our guide for the day, Hugo. He escorted us to the van that would take us to the stables, which ended up being only a 15-20 minute ride from the pier. Before we got in the van Hugo spotted a red Macaw in a tree across the street – actually there were two of them. I did manage to get a decent picture of one, which was quite exciting.
Once we were at the stables Hugo provided us with basic instructions on horsemanship and guiding our horses. It’s not like we actually needed it though – these horses have done this so many times they knew exactly what to do. They didn’t need any further instructions from us. A couple of the family dogs escorted us all the way to the falls and back which was pretty cool. I’m not sure what kind of horses these were, but they seemed to be small compared to ours at home. Bob looked really funny on his because of his long legs – no way he could straighten them out. (You know how a kid looks on a bike that’s too small? Yeah, that’s what he looked like.) The trail was very rocky and muddy but the horses managed it pretty well. We probably rode for 45 minutes or so before dismounting and walk a little ways to the rest of the “falls.”
I’m not sure I would even call this running bit of water a waterfall. Now I know it’s the beginning of their dry season and it may not be what it is at other times but still. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty – I guess I just expected my definition of a waterfall. And after what we hiked to in Arenal last week, this didn’t remotely compare to that. Still, it was an adventure to ride the horse (even though they were clearly not excited about the trip based on their very slow pace). There really wasn’t any wildlife to see so it was just a matter of looking at the trees and such on the way down and back.
A lunch of barbecued chicken, rice and pico was served when we arrived back at the stables. Since it was around noon by then, we were pretty hungry.
Back on ship, we rested, went up on deck for sail away at 4. Came back to the cabin and got cleaned up for dinner before going down for the port talk at 6:30 in the lounge.
Had dinner a little after 7 with three other couples. Interesting conversation. And I’ll just leave that there.
Watched duo in the lounge until 10 (it was rock and roll night) and then went up to 4th deck forward for some star gazing that didn’t actually happen because of the cloud cover. Oh well.
Tomorrow is another early 7:15am excursion (imagine that) for a sloth walk.
Thursday, Jan 16 – Sloth Walk (Puerto Jimenez – Golfo Dulce)
Right after we landed on the beach we saw a toucan up in a tree by the restaurant. There were also monkeys, more of the capuchins. La Perica is a family owned business who prides itself on nurturing the natural habitat of the sloths and monkeys who live on the farm. Dennis was our guide and it is his grandfather who founded the farm. During the short ride Dennis gave us a history about this area and his family. The main crop grown here is palm trees for palm oil, which we had heard before. There was a police checkpoint (both ways) we had to go through before arriving at the farm. Dennis said they were most likely looking for drugs. Comforting.
The farm is rather small but there is plenty to see on the grounds. As with any nature walk, you can cover the same area multiple times and see different things. There were 12 of us and they broke us up into two smaller groups, which was nice. The first thing of interest Dennis found was a bat taking shelter under neath a palm leaf. So cool to see that! We found a sloth pretty quickly and, thanks to the scope, was able to get a neat shot of the hand/foot holding on to a limb. We saw at least three sloths I believe, lots of monkeys, some leaf cutter ants and were treated to drinking some fresh coconut water. I don’t do coconut, but this was really good. Nothing like coconut water we can buy in the store at home.
Once we were done with the tour part of the morning, we got to press fresh sugar cane through the “machine” and then drink it – some of us had a shot of local whatever it is they make with fresh sugar. LOL Next some of the other family members, including Grandpa, brought out a wonderful nosh for us with freshly made empanadas and fresh fruit (watermelon, pineapple, papaya & cantaloupe). We visited while we ate and enjoyed the area and company.
Back at the beach there were some local vendors set up around the restaurant. I found a beautiful pair of earrings for a very reasonable price. As we were discussing walking back down to the beach to wait for the zodiac I had to investigate an incredible racket coming from the trees behind the place. It ended up being quite a few of absolutely beautiful macaws hanging out having some major conversation. When they finally few away I counted nine of them. What a sight to see!! We saw one in a tree yesterday but to see that many of them just hanging out was incredible! They were very high up so the pics and videos aren’t the best quality but I’ll take it.
After grabbing a beer at the restaurant, Delphines, we caught the next zodiac back to the ship. Getting cleaned up was first on the list before we grabbed a snack at the Yacht Club and watched a local dance group perform in the lounge for us, then there was Diego’s lecture on hummingbirds at 3:00 we wanted to catch. By the time that was over I was so done I had to come back to the cabin and take a short nap. It’s been a long two weeks being on the go every day. I need to go home to rest.
Speaking of home, we’ve been watching the weather and it’s going to be a shock to our systems in a HUGE way. We’ve got some frigid temps the week after we get back. After melting all week in this heat and humidity that’s certainly not going to be fun.
Tonight is the weekly Deck BBQ and we always look forward to that. Windstar sure does put on a spread. We weren’t sure how they were going to make it work on a smaller ship but they did! And the crew line dancing afterwards is always so much fun and entertaining. We love seeing the crew out there dancing and letting loose.
Tomorrow is the crocodile boat tour. Should be fun! At least it’s not an early morning excursion!
Friday, Jan 17 – Crocodiles (Punta Leona)
Finally an afternoon excursion so we have time for a real breakfast this morning! We just moseyed until it was time to leave around noon. It was another water shoe day since it was a wet landing again. When initially planning this cruise we thought we’d try spending the day at the resort beach but for various reasons that just didn’t work out. Once we saw it, we were glad. One thing we’ve learned on this trip is that if you want a nice beach, Costa Rica probably isn’t the trip you want to plan. The beaches we’ve seen are black sand (from the volcanoes) and the water is much like the color of the Atlantic. Anyway, our guide met us right off the zodiac and we were on our way shortly after. It took a good 15 minutes to get off the resort to the main road (partially because it’s a big place and partially because the roads are such that you can’t go faster than about 20mph). We had no idea the Punta Leona Resort was that big!
It took another 15 minutes or so to get to the river where the boat was waiting. Sylvia (our guide) was very good and extremely knowledgeable about the area and the animals that live here. I don’t know if she’s a naturalist by trade but she is a wealth of information. Throughout the day she told us she does tours of all kinds in the area to keep from getting bored with the same tour day in and day out.
One of the things she pointed out that I forgot to mention earlier in the trip is the way a lot of places do their fencing. During their rainy season here (they have two seasons, rainy and dry) they can cut a branch from a tree, stick it in the ground and it will grow another tree. So instead of planting trees to cut down and make poles from the wood for fencing, they just plant branches during the rainy season and eventually they have a border of trees. It’s really incredible! We saw them all over the place. Why I didn’t take any pictures I have no reason. (I managed to take a few before we left on Saturday.
Eventually we arrived at the boat landing where we were met with locals who provided some pretty cool music and refreshments before we boarded. Sylvia informed us that this river comes from the city (San Jose). (Side note: The Tárcoles River is one of the most contaminated river basins in the country according to Wikipedia. That makes sense after what we saw.) The tide was very low today when we on it. It was obvious how high the water has been recently. There was a LOT of trash caught on branches on the shore, on higher ground and in the river. Sylvia was telling us that normally their rainy season starts in October and ends mid December. A normal rainy season rains for a couple of hours every night and maybe a shower during the day. This past October/November the rains didn’t start until November and it rained for three straight weeks – all day and all night. And then the rains continued into January – well we know all about that based on what we lived the first week we were here. So when it rained for three weeks straight the river overflowed so much more than during a normal rainy season. It’s also normal to bring the trash from the city, but they have various company sponsored group efforts for cleanup days. Since the rains just ended there hasn’t been time to organize and execute any of that. It was pretty bad.
It didn’t take us long to find our first small crocodile. Sylvia was very good at pointing out various birds and educating us on them. Emilio (our boat driver) had an eagle eye and could spot birds, crocs, lizards, iguanas and whatever else before anyone else could even think about seeing it. I don’t know how many crocs we ended up seeing all together but it was quite a few and a couple of them were really big guys. Emilio navigated that boat right up beside them too! It was crazy how close he got. Amazingly, neither one of them moved – they did blink, so we could tell they were alive – LOL.
After a couple of hours on the water checking the birds and crocs out we headed back to the resort. On the way back was had to cross Crocodile Bridge again – a very popular tourist spot for crocodile viewing.
Sylvia had her eagle eye out scouting for anything she could see. Lo and behold she found a set of nesting macaws in a tree on the resort right before we got to the beach. Our driver pulled over on the side of the road and most of us got out of the van to take pictures. What a cool way to close the chapter on this excursion.
It was 4:45 by the time we got back to the ship and I made it to the Yacht Club for my last scone of the week – which will have to last me for a whole year before we have another Windstar Cruise. Both of us showered and got dressed for dinner after our snack and headed up to the lounge for Bianca’s debarkation talk and the Captain’s farewell talk before dinner. At the end of his talk all the different crews came out to be recognized and sang a farewell song for us. It was pretty cool.
Our farewell dinner was buttered lobster with asparagus over spinach orzo. It was amazing. We were able to catch Arden after dinner to say goodbye to. Hope we see him again on a future cruise. Then we had to come back to our cabin and pack everything up for our journey back to the states tomorrow. We’re ready to go home I think. I’m ready to sleep in my bed. We may even be driving back home in snow Sunday morning – I hope not, but according to my weather app it’s possible. Back to reality. Good thing I love my reality.
Saturday, Jan 18 – Puerto Caldera
Since we had an excursion booked we were the first group off the ship this morning. Our flight didn’t leave until almost 3:30 so we had plenty of time to spend before we needed to get the the airport. From the ones we had to choose from, the Sloth Sanctuary and Brewery Tour (Costa Rica Brewing Company) seemed to be a good fit. We were off the ship at 7:45 and on our bus by 8am. Miguel was our driver, and boy did he know how to thread the needle with that big bus!!
The Sloth Sanctuary is a small rescue center for birds and animals that are either recovering from an injury and being rehabilitated, or pets that were given up, or orphaned babies. The hope is always that they will be able to be reintroduced to their natural habitat but that’s not always the case (like animals that have been domesticated and could no longer hunt for themselves). When that happens they will live out the rest of their lives here in this rescue center where they’re cared for.
From there we were about 30 minutes away from the brewery where we were given a tour, a flight of their beers to taste and a wonderful lunch. It was a great way to spend the morning instead of being stuck waiting around at the airport.
Thankfully, the rest of the trip home was uneventful. Everything went smoothly and we even beat the supposed weather home. (It turned out to be a nothing burger, but ya never know!) This wraps up another great adventure!
It's a Wonderful Life! 