Costa Rica and Tortuguero wildlife

The Tortuguero rivers and canals

 

 

Standing by the river bank at the 'Evergreen Lodge' was a spiritual experience in the early morning. The mighty river is about 300m wide at this point. It flows laconically at around two or three miles an hour; a river of chocolate coloured water with small eddies and back currents. Sodden rounded coconuts bob by as do assorted sizes of wood flotsam. Some are mere small branches. Others full sized tree trunks. Across on the far bank is an impenetrable green barrier rising to 60m in height. It's a mixture of giant palm trees which bend low towards the river like huge green slides; and tall emergents, boughs bending under the load of orchids and epiphytes. Vines and lianas form tangled webs. In a few places extensive beds of lush green river grasses form carpets interspersed with fallen branches, the perfect perches for river birds and turtles to bask in the sun. As I study the wonderful vista on the far bank I have the sense that a thousand eyes are watching me back just as intently!

 

 The river cruise

 

Take one small boat that has an outboard on the back (115hp for the nautically minded), 15 plastic seats in rows of three; one extremely talented river boat captain and an equally talented guide and throw in narrow twisting rainforest wetland river channels and you have the perfect recipe for wildlife enthusiasts.

Caimen, snappy turtles, spider monkeys, brilliant bottle green and silver kingfishers, herons, egrets, iguanas, Jesus lizards and crocodiles....all were on the list and seen.

 

The boat creeps along at a speed that just overcomes the current. Tracking close to the forest edge but not underneath the overhanging branches....to avoid the wayward snake, spider or creepy crawly dropping in on your hair!

We stare into the dank gloom between the tangled web of buttress roots, lianas and ground layer shrubs. The forest floor beyond that river edge wall is a dark place of erie silence where little sunlight penetrates and the glistening streams run a deep 'tannin laden' brown. Don't get me wrong. The water is clear to the bottom but just stained a translucent brown.

Occasionally lurking behind a tree root, a heron, a scuttling crab or a caiman sitting brooding lay or even ominously on a pile of washed up twigs. It's face an exquisite portrayal of 'menace'. It made my son's day coming face to face with a wild caiman six feet away from where he sat. The gunnel of that boat felt sooooo low! In fact it was a mere 6" above the water!

 

Costa Rica

Tropical storms

 

Storms are impressive in the tropics. The rumbles of thunder are huge. Lightening forks across the sky in crazy patterns. The sky lights up and the huge downpours that follow bring branches crashing to the floor. I sometimes wonder how tin roofs withstand some of the impact. With the rain comes a refreshing and much welcome breeze which relieves the intense humidity for a few precious minutes. The ground is saturated......huge pools merge and trickle into one another. Everything at ground level sparkles in the merging daylight, glistening like a thousand scattered gemstones.

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The trees sway ominously. In their competition for life, the race for light against their neighbours, many trees have learned to grow straight and tall with slender trunks which sway great distances in the stormy breezes. With all their branches up high, they are top heavy. Whilst I sit here hoping that their roots go deep, in truth I know it is not the case. Tropical rainforest trees are notorious for being shallow buttress rooted and forever toppling down.  Costa Rica brings with it a real sense of Adventure and exploration!

Costa Rica and my children

My children

 

You learn a huge amount about your kids when you do adventurous travel with them. Take my son for example. Standing, waiting for a boat, he suddenly announces that he has just been bitten on the back of his neck and that he has the offending bug between his forefinger and thumb. He doesn't wish to kill it but would appreciate someone identifying it for him just in case he is about to drop dead from dengue fever. He'd like to know what his imminent future holds for him! My son's humour is so dead pan and dry. He is genuinely a funny person. As it was, a rather large ant like creature with a HUGE proboscis like affair had taken to snacking on him. A rather itchy and nasty lump appeared which number one son responded to with his normal laid back humorous distain. He was slightly crestfallen however, when having released the bug to the floor, the conservationist guide trod on it with glee!

My daughter has barely contained her excitement. To watch her on a frog hunt is a deep pleasure. She has an extraordinary eye for them. She sudden stops, crouches down, becomes stock still and then with the tiniest hoop of glee and triumph, points to another highly camouflaged frog. They may be vibrant colours but these little suckers know how to hide. My daughter's passion for the wee beasties shines through as she launches into a little description of them and their lifestyle. She also has an extraordinary knack for finding stick insects as well

 

I can share my daughter's enthusiasm for stick insects.....but the other creepy crawlies she loves? I'll pass on those!

 

There can be nothing more pleasurable for a dad than to watch his children in action........I'm proud of my kids. They are growing into caring, intelligent and inquisitive adults. They are both good people. They take after their mother. I just wish all three of them could have some sense of time and organisation!!!

Steve

Costa Rica

We have returned from our family adventure to Costa Rica and we are all in one piece, somewhat surprisingly, given what we achieved. Although this blog is about Arwen and my voyage in her, I do occasionally post other things not nautical. ‘Stacey’ our motovespa 125 super scooter gets an occasional look in.

Over the next few days I am going to take the liberty of posting about Costa Rica. If you are just interested in boats then tune out for a few days and normal service will be resumed at the start of next week. If you have a sense of adventure, like travelling or are into nature, then I hope that the next postings over the remainder of this week meet with your approval.

Getting to Costa Rica

A lesson learned the hard way!

 

Never shop around for the cheapest flights because then you get the itinerary from hell outward and return. London Heathrow to Toronto; Toronto to Houston; Houston to San Jose……24 hours outward flight. Return -  Liberia to Houston; Houston to Newark; Newark to London…return flight and journey home 28 hours!  Lesson learned? Pay the bit extra!

 

Tortuguero National Park

 

The incessant rain hammers down on the tin roof. Not a trickle but a noisy perpetual drumming. Outside, accompanying this pitter-pattering rhythm is the night time orchestra, a full symphony orchestra,  a cacophony of insect sounds. The original ugly bug ball!

 

Only these bugs are not ugly. They are wonderful. Frogs lead the way creating the loudest sounds, singing their hearts out with high pitched chirps and warbles. Crickets create that grating whirring sound. Birds sing in high pitched notes and whistles. The volume of this orchestra cannot be adequately conveyed or described in words. It has to be heard to be appreciated. And those who have difficulty in sleeping......bring ear plugs!

Welcome to the Tortuguero national park and the 'Evergreen Lodge' in wonderful Costa Rica.    It's 0240. It fell dark at 1800. I slept from 2000 and now I'm wide awake staring out of the mosquito net over our bed into a tropical wetlands. It is the wet season and don't we know it. Yet this is no bad thing. The rain brings a continual refreshment. The thick, vibrantly green foliage glistens and drips. At ground level everything is water; swamp like with masses of tangled roots and fallen branches. Huge trees rise up like natural skyscrapers, covered in epiphytes; natural motorways from floor to canopy and alive with insects and frogs. Their buttress roots dwarf anything nearby. Ground foliage is a mass of vines, ferns, large leaved plants which alas I've yet to learn the name of.

And the frogs......colours of the rainbow. Bright scarlet reds; brilliant deep blues; fluorescent greens. As dusk descends they crawl from the shaded nooks and crannies onto the leaves to start their night time songs. The forest floor maybe wet and gloomy but it is alive. Every so often a ripple appears in a floor pool; a fish? A frog? A snake? Night time exaggerates sounds.....some of these ripples and their accompanying splashes sound loud and look BIG! Too loud and too BIG!

When it rains here, the sheer weight of the water on the upper canopy brings weak twigs and branches falling to the ground. You are under a constant assault from above. The heavier the shower, the more debris covers the trails and paths afterwards. A small constant stream of water on the pathways acts as a natural sluice, washing the debris into the swamp. Twigs covered in their own individual micro world of insects and small plant life; fascinating seed pods both small and large.....all move slowly like some invisible conveyor belt.

The lodge is located right on the water's edge of one of the "canals" that flows through this wetland reserve. As we speak, water levels are rising and the hotel is in danger of being flooded. But it is no problem. Every building here is on stilts. Pathways are raised; wellie boots provided free of charge; umbrellas at every hut should you wish to use them (they are useful for preventing stray twigs and branches hitting you on the head).

Entry to the park was by long boats. Fast outboard propelled they weave their way through the narrow canals from the drop off point, delivering you to your ‘eco-lodges’. The sheer variety, size and shape of the riverside vegetation is breath-taking. Huge palms the size of small houses; large leaved shrubs with leaves the size of beds. Flowers......pinks, reds, oranges and yellows hang down from branches. And beyond, that impenetrable tangled web of plants and the perpetual ground gloom. It is so humid and damp.

 

There are no roads into Tortuguero. It is a water transport environment although there are scattered small airstrips. Locals tell me their greatest fear is that roads would be built into the national park. Here, in my tin roofed hut on stilts right in the middle of the wetland swamp, I hope and pray that Costa Rica's government has the sense to leave this wilderness park as it is.

 

And now it is time to lie back down under my white mosquito net and to listen and appreciate God's wonderful night time ‘ugly bug ball’.  And talking of ugly bugs........before the wife wakes I have to contend with two......one is a very nasty looking but exquisite spider..........about 8cm in leg span circumference......the legs a pattern of alternate brown and white sections leading to a large black body. The other? It just has to be the biggest cricket I have ever seen in my life. This little imp would terrify African locusts! Both have taken up residency on the slope of our mosquito net..............and I am desperate for the loo!  Ho-hum, time to plan a conservationist led battle plan! Me vs. spider and cricket......this should be interesting because right now I'm not sure which terrifies me more!

 

Steve

Where did the sun go?

After weeks of heat wave ..........fog, cool breezes and definitely no sun. This morning a steady breeze and some activity from the Royal Marines as entertainment .....cool landing craft lads......like em. It felt damp and clammy but warm albeit significantly cooler than we have experienced of late. With winds directly from the south it was a series of tacks down to the breakwater and Arwen and I took time out to practice a little 'self sailing' I.e. Arwen sails herself.

Then a phone call from my friend had me scurrying back to the pontoon to collect her. She had all her gear and was keen to sail. We headed out and raised sails........and no wind. No wind, no sun, no porpoise.......nothing. Some jumping mackerel kept us entertained for a few minutes but we just languished around drifting nowhere except back towards shore as the spring tide increased in strength. The afternoon wore on and eventually winds did pick up enough for an hour or so of decent sailing but fickle wind shifts kept us on our toes. It was good to catch up with an old friend and I have promised her another sail.....when the sun is out, breezes are steadier and there are porpoise back in the sound. No pressure then!

Steve

Today and tomorrow

Well I was hoping to go sailing this afternoon. Phone my friend Dave, mosy on down across to Cawsand; but it wasn't to be. Strong winds and the need to get a new car radio installed put paid to such plans.

However, tomorrow is looking better and an old friend from school has asked to come sailing, collecting on a promise made a couple of years ago. She is really looking forward to it so I'm hoping the weather will hold. It should be cloudy but clearing, around 20C and maybe the odd shower. Thunderstorms will have hopefully passed over during the night. Winds should be from north east swinging southerly, starting force six but dropping to force three as the afternoon progresses.  Tides are near springs with low water around 12.15pm and 0.8m in height rising to 5.5m around 18.30pm.

I suspect that she will be happy to helm and I vaguely remember that she has done a little sailing before but on bigger boats. We will try for Cawsand and a stop on the beach. We may be able to run along the inside of the breakwater as well.

I'm looking forward to it

Steve

A new navigator is approaching a launch

And very hopefully, Joe will allow me to post pictures of his great day when it arrives in August. In the meantime, marvel at Joe's workmanship and seaman like arrangement of various spars etc on his boat. I'm really looking forward to his launch report. Good luck Joe

Steve

Or even this........

A summer's night down the Barbican

Looks a bit like this.........

She won't forgive for this but........

My not so little girl in her gowns.......I use the excuse that she will Facebook photos but I'll sneak it on here for a little while before she demands I take it down. Well done number one daughter, I'm really proud of you

Dad