Punteranas – Costa Rica

Today we disembarked in Punteranas Costa Rica, this was a slight change in plans based on tides and our cruise schedule. Originally we were supposed to sail to Puerto Caldera.
Once we got off the ship we boarded a tour bus to go to the Eco Tropical Mangrove River Cruise. The tour director was a young guy named Chris and the bus driver was Rolando…….. they were both very good at what they did and certainly helped make it an enjoyable day. For example Chris explained that Costa Rica has over 100 variety of snakes; but thankfully only 22 are deadly poisonous 🙂
Even though the distance wasn’t that far the bus ride took a bit over an hour, the last few miles were over a very bumpy and potholed gravel road.
As soon as we arrived they got us aboard the river boats and the Eco Tour started.

One thing that was real neat to see was the large termite nests that were in many of the trees. The first part of the river was very narrow and the vegetation was right to the rivers edge and it was very thick.

The Mangroves were very dense and it certainly helped hold the humidity in and around the river….. it was very warm and muggy.

Not too long into the boat ride we saw many species of birds and a crocodile. Then a little while later we heard a bunch of loud screeching and the guides pointed out a pair of Macaw’s. One was scarlet red and the other a brilliant blue, it was amazing and they were spectacular, but just too far away in the dense forest for our cameras to take a good picture.
We then headed out to the main river which feeds into the ocean. There we saw a few more crocodiles and one was a pretty good size at about 9′. These crocodiles can go to the ocean for a short while even though they are fresh water crocodiles, however after a few hours they must return to the fresh water as they cannot survive in the saltwater.
From here we headed back to the main Eco tour area and boarded the buses to head back to the ship.

Tonight after dinner we went to Showtime and the performer was Cecil Welch  who was a trumpeter that performed for 20 years with Henri Mancini. He was amazing and it was great to listen to the music and hear about his musical background/experiences.

Then at 10 p.m we went to the movie which was the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park Live……….. we stayed for a while, however it’s not the same as being there live.

Now, more animal art.