Corcovado Natl Park Day 3
Corcovado Natl Park
Day 3 - Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - Drake Bay; Discover Corcovado National Park
We were up at 5:00 for our excursion to Corcovado National Park. The resort staff fixed us an early breakfast so we could meet Manuel at 6:30. Wendy and Doyne from Oregon joined our group just for the day. The temperature this morning was 75° and the humidity was 89%.
The tide was out so it took some maneuvering to get our boat away from the marina. As our boat men struggled, the tide slowly came in and we were finally on our way into the Pacific Ocean.
Jose and Edwin, our crew, navigated our small craft and their nine passengers heading south following the rocky coastline to the park. We arrived after about an hour’s trip. On our ride we saw flying fish, dolphins, and brown boobies skimming the water catching fish.
We made a wet landing at the San Pedrillo Park Ranger Station. We were required to sign the register and we had time to look at the maps and the exhibits in the patio next to the park entrance.
We began our adventure by crossing the Rio Pargo at a shallow point and Manuel immediately drew a map in the sand so we could get our bearings and realize the vastness of the park.
He told us the park is more than 108,000 acres and then gave us the hiking distances in days to cover the whole area. We settled on a day hike!
Right away Manuel told us the names and purposes of many plants and what wildlife we could hope to see today. It wasn’t five minutes into our walk when he set up his scope and pointed out a three-toed sloth sleeping in the high branches of a tree.
Although we did not see the scarlet macaws, famous in this area, we saw many birds, Aguti – a rodent like animal, bats sleeping in a hollowed out tree trunk, and a quartet of Great Curassows, a bird almost as big as a turkey.
Another very interesting creature we discovered was the Golden Orb Spider. She makes a web that is so strong; some cultures use it for fishing nets.
The highlight of the day was seeing so many spider monkeys as they played in the tree tops with their young offspring. Because of the power of Manuel’s spotting scope, he was willing to help many of us use it with our smaller cameras and even i-phones to take better photos.
After our five hour hike, we had a picnic lunch provided by the lodge. We had ingredients to make sandwiches, a palm heart salad, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The favorite item on the menu was the fresh cold water as we were all overheated from the trek.
A few people went swimming in the surf and Manuel took others to the jungle again as he heard a few more spider monkeys playing close to the Ranger Station. As all good things have to come to an end, we packed up everything we had brought into the park.
The government and the tour guides work very well together to preserve the unspoiled environment of the natural parks. All garbage and left over food was brought back on the boat to the resort.
At 3:30 we got back to our resort and we thanked Manuel, Jose, and Edwin for a wonderful introduction to the Costa Rican National Park System and Corcovado.
Adrian gave us our fresh laundry told us we still had time to get one more load of laundry done. We quickly showered and bagged our hiking clothes and took them back to the front desk. This is a much appreciated service as trying to do hand laundry in the cabins is impossible because nothing dries in this climate.
We had time to go through the photos and to write the journal before dinner at 6:30. We were treated to a Costa Rican downpour on our way back to the lodge and counted our blessings that it was not raining like this on our hike today.
After dinner we picked up the clean and dry laundry and then took our computers back to the office area to post the journal for our last day in Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park.
We took time to pack our bags and get ready for our flight back to San Jose in the morning to join the main OAT tour group.
Accommodations: Drake Bay Wilderness Resort --- Meals B, L, & D
OAT's Costa Rica: National Parks & Tropical Forests
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
Comments
So enjoying your journal as it brings back so many wonderful memories! We too saw the 3 toed sloth and also the orbed spider. When we first arrived at Drakes Bay we were greeted by another American (not our guide!) who introduced himself as a photographer for Fodor's Travel Guides. He was taking photos for the upcoming guide to Costa Rica so he hung around us the whole time - kakaking, on the hike etc. He was so excited to get the photos of the spider!
We will miss you tomorrow at bookclub, but it sounds like you're having quite an adventure!
Post a Comment!Day 3 wow - only one day in the Park?? no water access to other parts from OAT? Does it surprise you? well, better than missing it...
Squirrel Monkey, Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica (1:05)
Drake Bay Resort Marina
Brown Booby Fishing
Manuel, Our Guide
Golden Orb Spider
Gray Heron
Featured Journal
Day 13: Azores & Madeira: Portugal's Unspoiled Archipelagos
Day 13 - Saturday, April 22, 2022 - Depart for U.S.
The hotel prepared a box breakfast for us as we had to be in the lobby way before the breakfast room was open.
Last night we found out that our departure flight back to...
