Corcovado Natl Park Day 2

Day 2 - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - San José; Fly to Drake Bay; Explore Cocolito Beach

The sun was bright when we woke up at 6:30! We have been watching the weather in Costa Rica for a few weeks and we were thrilled to see that we were not getting more rain.

After breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt, bread and cheese, we met the four other people on our Pre-Trip to Corcovado National Park and Drake Bay. We were allowed to take a small bag of no more than 25 pounds and then our back-packs.

Vic checked our large bags with the front desk as we will return to the same hotel in three days. A driver took us to the airport at 8:00 and we arrived at the small aircraft terminal.

All of our bags were weighed and then we had to get on the scales with our back-packs on. Control and distribution of weight is tightly regulated in these small planes.

At 9:30 the six of us boarded the single engine Sansa Regional aircraft for our flight over the mountains and out over the Pacific Ocean to the Osa Peninsula.

At 9,604 feet of attitude and traveling at 172 miles per hour, we had gorgeous views of the pristine environment that is Costa Rica. Our travel companions are Jan & Frank from near Austin, TX, Alana from California, and Resa from the Boston area.

We remembered our large tour on our recent trip to Spain and we are happy to be back with a small group of travelers and Overseas Adventure Travel.

After about 40 minutes flying time, we looked at the beach, then at the jungle, and wondered where we could possibly land. And out of nowhere, a short asphalt landing strip appeared!

We were greeted by a young man with a small push cart and a very small fire extinguisher. Our guide Manuel met us at the small shack that was the terminal and we put our bags on the top of their Land Rover. We were offered a drink of green coconut milk; just fresh from the palm tree near by.

Our overland trip lasted for about 30 minutes and when we arrived at the small village of Drake Bay, we transferred to a boat from the resort that took us across the bay to the isolated Drake Bay Wilderness Resort.

A young woman with a cool face towel and a delicious drink of fresh fruit welcomed us. Adrian, at the front desk (think cabin) gave us some of the rules about their 20 cabin hide-away.

The first two mandates were - do not drink the tap water and do not swim with the crocodiles. No one could remember the other rules!

There was just enough time to unpack our small bags in our quadplex cabin and freshen up. At 12:30 we joined our fellow adventures for lunch in the dining hall. After a delicious lunch of salad and rice with chicken casserole, banana chips, and dessert we had about thirty minutes to explore the compound.

At 2:00 Manuel took four of us for a long hike. Frank was already fishing and Jan enjoyed the salt water pool. With his professional spotting scope, Manuel guided us on a trek through the jungle. The temperature was 82° and the humidity was 84%.

As we hiked we learned just how important the rain forest is to our environment. Manuel was very knowledgeable about the plants and told us their specific individual uses as herbal medicines.

We made our way to Cocolito Beach and then took the trail back to our hotel. We spent almost two and a half hours covering only two miles with frequent stops for photos of white faced monkeys, a family of toucans, lizards, and butterflies.

Gennie started making a list of all of the birds and critters we see and will keep it up to date. We will not bore you with the hundreds of species we will see on this journey.

At 4:30 we arrived back in our cabana; thirsty and sweaty but very happy we made the effort to get out and enjoy the wonders of Drake Bay. As Vic always says, “we can sleep at home!”

It is amazing what a shower and bottle of cold water can do to restore our attitudes. We began our nightly ritual of culling photos and writing the journal.

At 6:30 it was time for our dinner at the lodge. There are a few other people here but in general, the resort is very isolated and quiet.

We found our way back to the room at 8:30. With out any light pollution from large cities, it is really dark on the bay and in the jungle.

There is internet access only in the office and in the bar so we trekked back to the bar to post the journal for the day.

We have a very early departure for Corcovado National Park at 6:30 am so we got to bed as early as we could.

Accommodations: Drake Bay Wilderness Resort --- Meals B, L, & D

To receive $50 per person off your first reservation with OAT, mention the following information when reserving your Overseas Adventure Travel Trip: Mr. Victor Garcia Customer #673062

Day 2 - does any of this remind you of Tortiguerro bay? or completely different?

It sounds to me that "don't drink the tap water" and "don't swim with the crocodiles" would be two of the most IMPORTANT guidelines. Glad you are following those admonitions! Stay safe! No snow here, and temperature is warming.

Manual was our guide also - but didn't find us until mid afternoon - in the meantime we fended for ourselves and had a great beginning to our trip!

Day 13: Azores & Madeira: Portugal's Unspoiled Archipelagos

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

Island Beauties

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Day 13 - Saturday, April 22, 2022 - Depart for U.S.

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