Costa Rica: Resort (Part 2)

While at the resort, we decided to keep ourselves busy, because realistically Jason can only spend so much time reading at the beach.   For our first adventure we decided to go on a snorkeling tour.  In hindsight, this was not a good use of our time as we spent a lot of time waiting or driving and only snorkeled for about 45 minutes.  Our boat took us to an island about 40 minutes out to sea.  The first 30 minutes were enjoyable, but then I became quite seasick.  The snorkeling was okay, but I became very sick again, giving up and heading back to the boat after feeding the fish on several occasions.  The highlight of this trip was seeing two giant manta rays jump from the water within 10 feet of our boat.  These rays can be up to 25 feet across and are on the "nearly endangered" list.  Even the scuba and snorkeling guides were excited to see these graceful, magnificent creatures.  We did not take our camera on this adventure, so no pictures.

Our second adventure was another boat ride, an estuary tour. I was a bit leery as I was so sick the day before on the ocean, but the water was smooth as glass and made for a very enjoyable excursion.



Our boat for the tour.



This heron is nocturnal, so was sleeping during our tour.

Blue heron and other smaller water birds



White Ibis

One of several crocodiles we saw

The tour was about 2 hours long. After about an hour in the boat, our guide landed the boat and took us into the mangrove forest to find the family of monkeys that makes it home in the trees.


One of the little howler monkeys



You can see this monkey howling. Only the males make the loud howling sound.



Hanging out.




This is a termite home built in the trees. These are common in most forests in Costa Rica.  Note the hole at the top. Parakeets make these holes and lay their eggs inside. 


 

One of the many crabs that live along the river through the mangrove forest




One of the smallest crocodiles we saw. Probably about 9 months old.



One of the larger crocs we saw.  The large crab was being devoured as we floated past.  Watching the croc chomp down its powerful jaw to crack through the crab's shell was very interesting.

 
 The mangrove tree is unique in that its branches grow up and down.  It's roots start as a branch, then grow down into the water.  It was very interesting to the maze of roots growing down toward the water.   <> 

We saw several iguanas sunning themselves in branches over the river.

 Seeing so much of God's creation was a highlight for me.