DAY 3 Monday 2 April 2018

Today was all about Tortuguero National Park and the Tortuguero village.

After breakfast, the entire group boarded 3 open air boats and glided through some of the canals and waterways of the protected wetlands around Tortuguero.  Each boat had a local driver and guide -- our guide was Donnie and he was great!

The first thing we saw was a small pod of Bottlenose dolphins.  Even though they are salt water mammals, they come into the lagoon in the early morning to feed.  They were heading back out to the Caribbean. We followed them to the place where the two waters meet but our flat-bottomed boats couldn’t go into the ocean, so we turned around and headed into the Tortuguero waterways.  I wasn't able to get a great picture of them because you never knew when or where they were going to surface, but there appeared to be about 4 of them swimming together. 

Bottlenose Dolphins

We had to stop to register and get tickets at the park entrance.  The area is protected and they monitor how many boats are in the park and how long they stay.

Tortuguero National Park Entrance

After lunch, more exploration of the waterways was offered, again by boat.  However, since the morning was quite hot and sunny, only the die hards participated in the afternoon boating and we only had 1 boat with Donnie as the guide.  Butch and I were two of the die hards but Joan rested and shopped at the resort gift shop.  The afternoon turned out to be great as Donnie had the driver stay near the shore, more in the shade.  There was also a slight breeze which made it cooler, so it was very pleasant.

Overall, the boating was a great adventure and we saw lots of cool critters.  That was thanks to the eagle eyes of the local guides and drivers and Victor.  I've included a couple of photos to give you an idea of the kind of jungle foliage they were spotting things in.

Believe it or not, there was a sloth in these trees

This reminded me of the jungle ride at Disneyland!

Then there were places like this where crocs might be lurking

So the critters we saw today included the dolphins, a tarpon, which is a big fish people come to Costa Rica to fish for, several kinds of turtles and caimans, which are smaller relatives of the crocodile.

Close up of a caiman

For me, one of the highlights of the whole trip was seeing 5 or 6 sloths, including a mom and a baby.  The sloth moms keep the baby with them until they are about 5 months old.

Mom and baby sloth hanging out.  The baby is the light colored blob in the center

All of the sloths we saw today were 3 toed sloths (3 toes with claws in front and 3 toes in back).  There are 2 toed sloths (2 toes with claws in front and 3 toes in back) in Costa Rica, but they are nocturnal and harder to spot during the day as they are snoozing and not moving around much.  Butch researched sloths before we went on the trip and discovered that they only eat every couple of weeks and because their metabolism is very slow, they only come down out of the tree once a week to poop!  This is a huge advantage for the guides who are sloth spotting for tourists.  If they know where one is today, it is highly likely it will be around the same spot tomorrow!

The stripe down this guy's back indicates he is a male

SO CUTE!!

Butch sent me this link to a video about a baby sloth sanctuary.   Adorable -- now we want to go back and go to this sanctuary💑

Baby Sloth Sanctuary Video

We also saw several big iguanas in trees.  How anyone spotted them is beyond me.  The driver had a laser pointer and used it to help point them out to us.

 

This is a very large iguana sitting in a tree - it's amazing how they blend in

Another highlight of the day was seeing 3 of the 4 species of monkeys that live in Costa Rica.  We didn't see a squirrel monkey and the howler monkey we saw was a dark blob in a tree.  Apparently, they sleep in a shady spot in a tree during the heat of the day.  However, the spider monkeys and the white-faced capuchins (best known as the organ grinder's companion) were quite entertaining.

The spider monkey is the largest Costa Rican monkey and has long arms and a long prehensile tail, which can support the monkey's entire weight and is essentially used as an extra limb.  They live in large societies of between 20 and 40 members. These guys were swinging by their arms in the trees and making long leaps from one tree to another.  Their acrobatics were amazing to watch, but not easily captured in a photo as they were moving very quickly.  Here is a link to a National Geographic video about spider monkeys if you're interested:

Spider Monkey Video

The white-faced capuchins, which are one of the most intelligent monkeys in the world,  travel in troops of around 20 members and are not thought to be particularly territorial. They spend most of their time on the move and travel about 2 km everyday.   We saw them climbing in the trees, walking along the shore and just generally being cute.

White-faced capuchin monkey

Another amazing critter we saw was the green basilisk, aka Jesus Christ Lizard.   This bright green lizard earned this nickname because it can run across the surface of the water.  We saw one sitting on a log and Donnie had one of the ladies on the boat splash water in its direction.  Sure enough, it ran across the water and safely to the shore.  Amazing!  

Basilisk Lizard

Here is a link to a National Geographic video that shows one running across the water.

https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/deadliest-jesus-christ-lizard

We also saw many different birds on the shores and in trees.  We saw a huge bird called a curassow, which is something like a wild turkey or a pheasant to us.  We saw vultures, egrets, herons, ibises, kingfishers, tropical mockingbirds that look a lot like the curved bill thrashers in AZ and tons of others that were pointed out to us either because Donnie or Victor recognized their song or actually spotted them.  They are too numerous to mention individually not to mention too numerous to remember!  I did spot a rainbow toucan and was quite proud of that fact!  However, it flew before we were able to get close enough for a good look and a picture.  

One really cool bird, mostly because of the amazing nests it builds, is the oropendola.  They are 15 to 20 in. long, mostly chestnut colored with a black head and a tail that is bright yellow except for two central dark feathers.  The nests are something else!  They are tear-drop shaped hanging, woven nests constructed by the female from fibers and vines and can be up to 70 in. long.

Not a great picture of the bird, but you can see several of the amazing nests

After the morning boat ride through the canals, the boats stopped in Tortuguero village for about an hour.  There are no roads leading to this village, so all access is by boat and all supplies are delivered that way.  When we got on dry land, Butch took off in a hurry to see the village (or find a bathroom) and left Joan and me in his dust!  She and I went into some of the shops and after the hot morning on the boat, we decided we needed a little refreshment, so we stopped at a couple of the sidewalk vendors.  I bought a beer at one and at another, Joan bought a coconut water with some rum added to make it tastier!

Joan and the Nicaraguan gentleman who served it up

So it was a day of unique adventures and wonderful jungle experiences.  After a nice dinner at the lodge, we were all ready to turn in for the night.