Off the coast of Costa Rica

Saturday and Sunday, Nov 29 and 30

Saturday afternoon we boarded the ship. The ship is small enough that they use a public dock in a marina that is used by pleasure boats. Rather rough ride down to the first stop.

Manuel Antonio National Park:
Sunday morning, it's raining. The walk through the rain forest is on anyway. Why stop for a little rain? I put my camera in the supposedly waterproof backpack, get on the zodiac and were taken in for a wet landing on the beach (you hop out of the zodiac in about a foot or two of water). The rain is a downpour. The rain lasts for the full 2 hours we are on the beach and in the forest. Of course; its a RAIN forest.

Didn't take the camera out once--way too much rain. Back on the boat, I pen the pack. The top of the camera is dry--hey, it is waterproof. Pick up the camera and discover it is sitting in water. Oops, not waterproof. Turn it on, doesn't work. Take it as far apart as I can and let it dry [Update--after 24 hours, the camera still isn't working.] Update 2--It did start working the last day of the trip--after putting the camera out in the hallway of the ship (less humidity than in the cabil)]

We are in one of many national parks in Costa Rica--this one is right next to a number of resorts and is the most popular national park in Costa Rica. It is also one of the smallest. They put a limit on the number of people who can be in it at any one time so we start early. Didn't really have to--the downpour has kept everyone else away.

We did see a two toed sloth and a three toed sloth. Both just looked like brown balls of wet fur up in the trees. The guide says you can tell what kind of sloth by the kind of fur.

The plan was to head south to a river we can kayak up during high tide. But it is still a downpour and they expect the river to be too fast for safe kayaking (sea kayaks). So they check the radar and head north west to a private reserve.

Cucu Reserve:
Through some very rough water for 5 hours. I think everyone on the ship is sea sick, on Dramamine or on Dramamine and sea sick. We get to the reserve and head in on zodiacs about an hour and a half before dusk. We were rewarded. A pair of macaws and a troop of white faced monkeys. Get back to the ship in the dark.