Corcovado National Park (Drake Bay)

We are now almost to the Panamanian border on the Osa peninsula. We landed on a sandy beach with some rocky outcroppings on either side. Drake Bay curved around and was rimmed by rolling blue tinted hills.




From the beach we took a hike into the jungle. At points along the way we saw Toucans, Trogans, Mangrove Hawks, a Yellow Naped Woodpecker, a Caracara, some Falcons, a Tropical Flycatcher, and a Striped Heron fishing serenely in a stream. There were also spider and the white faced Capuchin monkeys. Our naturalists were uncanny in spotting birds and then focusing their spotting scopes on them so we could see. I was less successful, even with my 300 mm lens, catching them. The undergrowth is heavy and seeing a tiny bird and managing to photograph him while walking along a jungle path are two different things. I was more successful with the monkeys.

Although the yellow naped woodpecker and the striped heron were exceptions.

Down a path along the shore we came upon the government school. Nothing fancy as you can see, but it gets the job done. Children from smaller villages who wish to go beyond elementary school have board in larger towns.

Some of the plants are extraordinary as well. Below is a walking palm.

Our lunch was a great picnic brought in from the boat and you might better call it a dinner with BBQ'd ribs, chicken, tilapia and a full complement of fruit and salads. In the afternoon some folks took another hike while many just took in the beach. Had another swim and have found that your mustache tastes like salt for some time after you emerge.

Back on board we had another nice dinner, a nature program, and another spectacular sunset.

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Slept like a baby as the ship purred along to our next port of call.

A Stop at Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica

Our first night aboard the Pacific Explorer was lovely. We had an assembly before dinner to meet the crew and try out our life jackets. Then good eats and settling into our cabins. The ship seemed to just purr along with a gentle whrring sound and a pleasant rocking that seemed to encourage sleep rather than a need to pop the dramamine.

The wakeup call was early and loud. There was a horrendous clank and then a grinding sound that seemed to be coming from directly underneath my bed. It was as if the entire innards of the ship were being ground up and dumped into the sea. Turned out to have been the anchor chain--a sound we would get used to in the ensuing days.

We awoke in a little bay to a sunny day and a sand beach spread out in a crescent before us.


On the Pacific side were scattered some little hummock islands, which seemed pretty much uninhabited by anything other than birds.



By 7:45 A.M. we were on a zodiac and heading for shore. Our walk revealed that we were on a little spit of land with beaches on both sides. In the next two hours we saw agoutis, monkeys, sloths, raccoons, iguanas, crabs, and a really wierd guy called a basilisk.

Your first job is to find the iguana. I like this picture because it does emphasize how these creatures can blend into the environment.

This guy was a bit easier to see. No disguise for him.

Monkey business

And this is the basilisk!


We lunched back on the boat on a salad, soup, and a fillet of salmon; then it was back to the beach for some relaxation, a read, and a swim in the crystal clear waters of the Pacific.




Back to the ship where dinner was marvelous but an after thought when compared to the sunset.

We Board the Pacific Explorer

After an afternoon coach ride over the mountain range that runs through the center of Costa Rica, we arrived at the humidity laden Pacific Coast. We boarded our cruise ship, the 185 foot Pacific Explorer, at a dock located within a ritsy resort complex called Los Sueneos. I knew who fueled the golf course, the condos, and the private yachts when I saw a large billboard on the road that advertised tax consultations for expatriates.

Aside from short trips (the English channel, the Irish Sea, and the Milwaukee Clipper's old run to Muskegon on Lake Michigan), Jan and I had never really been a resident on an ocean going ship. The closest thing to a "cruise." we have been on was our week on the Nile in Egypt. That was definitely a cruise, but clearly minus any wave or tidal action. The Pacific Explorer is a neatly compact vessel. It accommodates up to 100 folks and our 92 Elderhostelers made up the entire passenger list. There were no elevators but the four levels were not difficult to negotiate. The public spaces were pleasant, the food superlative, and the cabins amply sized. Our bathroom was considerably larger than the one on our Nile cruiser. We did have some bouncing and jouncing when cutting across the swell patterns on open sea runs, but by and large this was the ideal choice for off-shore traveling. We could enter bays that larger ships could not approach and anchor close enough to shore to make the zodiac trips to land quick and efficient.

Our cabin.

We meet the captain. We have a lifeboat drill.


We get to visit the bridge.



We get a nice view from the observation lounge as well


The dining room is pleasant The bar gets a lot of traffic as well


Our zodiac ferry service back to the mother ship

On to Elderhostel #9206

We met our Elderhostel group some 92 strong in a meeting room at the Casa Conde and then shortly boarded coaches for our initial Costa Rican experience at the INBIO park just outside of San Jose.
INBIO is a former coffee plantation that is now run as a created habitat for Costa Rican flora and fauna. The trails are hard surfaced and our guide was a lovely young lady who spoke superlative English. As the pics show we had a constant show of animals and birds.

A Trip to Downtown San Jose

The National Theatre sits on a large square in the downtown and was modeled on the Paris Opera House. The interior is magnificent and main lounge opulent as the pictures below will indicate.





The National Museum is located on a hill overlooking the central city and features historical exhibits, a lovely central courtyard, and a delightful butterfly garden.



Inside the central courtyard are a grouping of large multi-sized round stones. They date from the Pre-Columbian period and noone appears to know their significance. Do you have a guess?

I'm not quite sure why a national history museum would have a butterfly garden, but it does and it was well worth a visit.

Deep Six January with Costa Rica

We offer in the next several days a marvelous plan to deep six January. Spend it in Costa Rica!

This may not be practical for the working stiffs of the world, but for the retired it is an ideal way to avoid the practical northern terror of slipping on the ice and snow in your own front yard. Taking a tumble on a patch of ice that was only foggily apparent because of your tri-focals is embarrassing; better to strain something leaping off a zodiac to the beach or tripping on the walking root of a jungle tree. That is a badge of honor for the intrepid senior citizen.

So we offer you a summary of our mostly glorious Elderhostel to Costa Rica and Panama aboard Cruise West's intrepid little ship--the Pacific Explorer. Our journey started with a pleasant flight from Moline to San Jose via Atlanta. There was a bit of a snafu at the San Jose airport when our hotel transport was among the missing, but some frenzied negotiation with a taxi tout did manage to get us to the Casa Conde.

We were three days early for the start of our Elderhostel and intended to use the time to do some sightseeing in San Jose using the Casa Conde as our base. Other than the quixotic hot water supply and the occasional lapses of communication with the staff caused by our insufficient command of Spanish, our stay was delightful. Note we could complain that the staff didn't always seem to understand our English. But let's face it folks, that is one of the most often voiced and perhaps least justified tourist complaints in the world. Whose country is it and whose language difficulty is at the root of the problem? You do have to remember that even four year olds in foreign countries speak the native language quite well.

And let it be said that you could easily fall in love with the Casa Conde in spite of the tepid showers. As the following pictures show, it was a visual delight. The stairs were striking; the rooms were well appointed; the beds comfy, the pool gorgeous, and the food both delicious and reasonably priced. We took our every meal under the awning by the pool.

We've Been Gone!

What can one say? We escaped from the Illinois Winter by taking a trip to the tropics. It was a boyhood dream of mine to travel the world and one book, read when I was eight years old, has always been the initial crystalizer of the dream. Richard Halliburton's Book of Marvels took you on a tour of the great wonders of the ancient and modern world and I read and reread it. A copy still sits in my bookcase today. One of those wonders was the Panama Canal and most wonderful was the fact that Halliburton declared himself a ship and swam through the canal in the 1930's. At thirty-six cents his remains the cheapest ever passage through the canal. The toll for our little boat was $22,000. Our entire route took us first to San Jose, Costa Rica. From there we traveled to the coast and boarded the Pacific Explorer. The ship took us down the Pacific coast (with stops at National Parks in Costa Rica and Panama) and finally to and through the Panama Canal. In the Carribean we made short visits to Portobello and the San Blas Islands before returning to Panama City for the flight home.

There will be more coming as some of the almost 2000 photos are tweaked and downloaded, but for now we are back home and trying to get caught up.