So here I was on the way to Palau. Everybody said it's a great place to see sharks so I gave it a try. Arrival at 2am and pickup by the dive center Sam's Tours at 7:45am. Hoorah!
Well, I have to admit that the weather wasn't exactly the most recommendable as it's typhoon season but a few days turned out to be quite nice. The underwater visibility, however, sometimes was close to zero which was rather annoying. We couldn't head far out as outside the protecting reefs the sea was really nasty and even the sites we went to were sometimes quite hazardous considering the rough surface and the little experience some divers had in our group.
But man...when the visibility was good at my two favorite sites "short" and "big drop-off" I always had a blast. Sharks (grey, white, silvertip reef sharks, nurse), turtles, barracudas, octopuses(?) all over the place during almost every dive. Too bad we couldn't head out to Blue Corner or Shark City. But hey, what can you expect when you sit right in between the edges of two typhoons?
So now I'm on my "dry day" (no diving) as I'll fly out to Manila tonight and continue to Dumaguete on the Philippines with the first Cebu Pacific flight at 7am tomorrow. It will be great to friends and "family" like the staff of Sea Explorers in Dauin again. Very much looking forward to it. And it'll be great to finally get rid of all the chocolate, salamis, bread and whatever else I brought in for them from Germany. ;)
Pics can be found here.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Stage Two: La Leona Lodge (Oct 13th until Oct 17th)
And what a ride it was! The collectivo is no bus or anything. It's a truck and you feel like you're in a cattle transport. It takes off at 6am and 1:30pm going all the way to Carate. I have already written that the road is in a bad condition. But taking it on the back of a truck is far worse than in a rather comfortable 4x4. Anyway...we stopped at a soda where I made friends with a really cute little dog (aka the flea mothership) and then continued to Carate.
Shortly before we arrived and while passing the air field the driver stopped and showed us an ant eater approaching the vehicle. Ant eaters are really cool animals climbing trees to find -guess what- ants and termites which are their main diet. I took a short video which I can hopefully post soon. So we dropped our bags off and took the collectivo back for a couple of kilometers until we reached a farm where people had spotted an ocelot with cubs several times over the last few weeks. With all my camera gear, the humidity and the high temperatures it became a very intense hike. We went upriver where my rather low hiking boots proved to be the wrong shoes as I should have bought rubber boots instead. Next time I'll know better. :)
So we spotted lots of beautiful birds like several types of colibris, hawks and herons and, of course, a plethora of insects. No cats though which was a little sad but this is nature and it's good that way because you gotta be lucky. We spent the whole afternoon searching for traces of the ocelots and we found tracks but that was it. I guess the most exciting thing was that we (well, Roger) spotted a tapir which panicked and fled into the mangroves close to a very scenic laguna by the sea. These guys can dive and especially because of their impressive size they don't really fit into the rainforest setting where the major part of the fauna is rather small. Like ants which I seem to have a very special relationship with. I don't particularly like them but they on the other hand LOVE me. Every bit of me. Literally. I haven't ever been bitten by so many ants anywhere else. I must be an ant magnet if such a thing exists. Anyway...where were we? Yeah, on our way back to Carate. Thirsty as hell. And whats better to quench thirst than the liquid inside of a coconut. Or two of them. Or three.Well, we were happy to get a lift by the "afternoon collectivo" which took us the last couple of kilometres to Carate. We then had to walk along the beach for three kilometres to get to the La Leona Eco-Lodge which is a really nice thing if you aren't tired like we were. Well, at least our luggage was brought there via "horse car", a small trailer which gets pulled over the sand by a horse belonging to the lodge.
So shortly before we arrived at the lodge we found a few turtles which must have hatched just a couple of minutes ago and we tried to save them from the crabs waiting for a nice dinner along the beach. Kind of cruel but what can you do? We backtracked their traces in the sand and found the nest where lots of them had already died or been eaten by all kinds of scavengers. I guess the total number we were able to save and accompany to the sea must have been around 14 to 18. An exciting situation as I had never seen turtles hatching before. Last year I was a witness of a huge turtle laying hundreds of eggs in Tortuguero National Park but that was it so far. Anyway. We had a traditional rice&beans dinner, went for another short walk upriver to find glass frogs, lots of spiders and sweet water shrimps and then concluded the day since we were supposed to wake up at 3am to start our hike through the park. But sleeping in a tent, especially when it rains hard outside can make you quite an insomniac. I had hardly slept when Roger woke me up. And what can I say...it was still raining. So we postponed the start until after breakfast which we had at 6:30. Well, my 3 hours of sleep until then didn't really make anything better. The 8 hour hike which followed was really, really exhausting. And the humidity makes things even worse. But the cool things we saw really made up for the effort we took. Tiger herons, hawks, bats, ground anoles, dragonflies, toucans, pelicans, all three types of monkeys, a deer, another anteater, squirrels, a yellow-striped dart frog, golden orb spiders, yellow headed caracaras...you name it. Another Wow-day in Corcovado!
On my second day at La Leona Roger left and besides a 2 hours night walk which was a little creepy all I did was relax. Very nice for a change. Even today I only went swimming and hiked for two hours until the heavy rain and the darkness chased me back to the lodge. Hey, I'm on holiday. :)
I have updated the pictures again, please find them here.
Thanks for reading my little travel blog, cheers to you where ever you are...!
Stefan
Shortly before we arrived and while passing the air field the driver stopped and showed us an ant eater approaching the vehicle. Ant eaters are really cool animals climbing trees to find -guess what- ants and termites which are their main diet. I took a short video which I can hopefully post soon. So we dropped our bags off and took the collectivo back for a couple of kilometers until we reached a farm where people had spotted an ocelot with cubs several times over the last few weeks. With all my camera gear, the humidity and the high temperatures it became a very intense hike. We went upriver where my rather low hiking boots proved to be the wrong shoes as I should have bought rubber boots instead. Next time I'll know better. :)
So we spotted lots of beautiful birds like several types of colibris, hawks and herons and, of course, a plethora of insects. No cats though which was a little sad but this is nature and it's good that way because you gotta be lucky. We spent the whole afternoon searching for traces of the ocelots and we found tracks but that was it. I guess the most exciting thing was that we (well, Roger) spotted a tapir which panicked and fled into the mangroves close to a very scenic laguna by the sea. These guys can dive and especially because of their impressive size they don't really fit into the rainforest setting where the major part of the fauna is rather small. Like ants which I seem to have a very special relationship with. I don't particularly like them but they on the other hand LOVE me. Every bit of me. Literally. I haven't ever been bitten by so many ants anywhere else. I must be an ant magnet if such a thing exists. Anyway...where were we? Yeah, on our way back to Carate. Thirsty as hell. And whats better to quench thirst than the liquid inside of a coconut. Or two of them. Or three.Well, we were happy to get a lift by the "afternoon collectivo" which took us the last couple of kilometres to Carate. We then had to walk along the beach for three kilometres to get to the La Leona Eco-Lodge which is a really nice thing if you aren't tired like we were. Well, at least our luggage was brought there via "horse car", a small trailer which gets pulled over the sand by a horse belonging to the lodge.
So shortly before we arrived at the lodge we found a few turtles which must have hatched just a couple of minutes ago and we tried to save them from the crabs waiting for a nice dinner along the beach. Kind of cruel but what can you do? We backtracked their traces in the sand and found the nest where lots of them had already died or been eaten by all kinds of scavengers. I guess the total number we were able to save and accompany to the sea must have been around 14 to 18. An exciting situation as I had never seen turtles hatching before. Last year I was a witness of a huge turtle laying hundreds of eggs in Tortuguero National Park but that was it so far. Anyway. We had a traditional rice&beans dinner, went for another short walk upriver to find glass frogs, lots of spiders and sweet water shrimps and then concluded the day since we were supposed to wake up at 3am to start our hike through the park. But sleeping in a tent, especially when it rains hard outside can make you quite an insomniac. I had hardly slept when Roger woke me up. And what can I say...it was still raining. So we postponed the start until after breakfast which we had at 6:30. Well, my 3 hours of sleep until then didn't really make anything better. The 8 hour hike which followed was really, really exhausting. And the humidity makes things even worse. But the cool things we saw really made up for the effort we took. Tiger herons, hawks, bats, ground anoles, dragonflies, toucans, pelicans, all three types of monkeys, a deer, another anteater, squirrels, a yellow-striped dart frog, golden orb spiders, yellow headed caracaras...you name it. Another Wow-day in Corcovado!
On my second day at La Leona Roger left and besides a 2 hours night walk which was a little creepy all I did was relax. Very nice for a change. Even today I only went swimming and hiked for two hours until the heavy rain and the darkness chased me back to the lodge. Hey, I'm on holiday. :)
I have updated the pictures again, please find them here.
Thanks for reading my little travel blog, cheers to you where ever you are...!
Stefan
Stage One: Puerto Jiménez (Oct 9th until Oct 13th)
It was a really good decision to fly down to Puerto Jiménez. Really. No rushing through San José, no 8 hour+ bus drive, no bad roads, nothing. And I'll surely do the same next time I come here. 7 people on the plane, only locals. After 40 minutes we had a short layover in Drake Bay which is already situated on the Osa peninsula and then we continued to PJ for another 20. A beautiful scenery to see the rain forest of Corcovado National Park and the coastlines from high above.
When I arrived at the airport I felt a little lost cause everybody was gone in an instant except for me and 2 cab drivers. Which was kind of weird in a funny way. So I decided to make a little trip around downtown Puerto Jiménez with one of them. Didn't take us long cause there is only one main street anyway. I had looked up some recommendations in the travel guide but the best looking spot was one recommended by a friend of mine: the Cabinas Jiménez. A nice little guest house by the sea run by an american guy called John. And yeah, it has a pool, too. :)
Upon arrival and after I had my first pipa (coconut) I told them I'd need a guide for Corcovado and they sent someone in the same evening. His name is Roger Munos and I can tell you he's highly recommendable. I have met quite a few guides in my life and just by talking to him the impression I got was great and it was to be confirmed when we went out to the Corcovado National Park the next day. We were accompanied by an Israelian couple and they offered to take their 4x4 rental car. And what a ride it was. I have seen many bad roads in my life but this was by far the worst. No, not a road: the term "pot hole-mania" suits it much better. We had to cross several rivers which luckily weren't that deep so after a 3 hours drive we had managed to make the 42kms(!) to Carate. From there we had to walk the last 3 kms along the beach front. We passed by La Leona Eco-Lodge and I took a look at one of the most amazing arrangements I stumpled upon in Costa Rica so far. Situated right at the pacific coast beach with only rain forest surrounding it. I talked to the owner's son and after just a few minutes I had made my decision where to stay next after Puerto Jiménez.
Then we went to the park and what a hike it was! Spider-, howler- and capuchin monkeys, squirrels, aras (macaos), eagles, falcons, hawks, herons, ibises, poison dart frogs, iguanas, anoles, agamas, bugs, wasps, spiders and red crabs all over the place. Just like last year, only a little more intense. :) What a great, mind-blowing environment even though we didn't see a cat which I am so eager to encounter! What a good decision to hire a guide especially because Roger can pinpoint things so unbelievably precise.
So after a six hour hike we went back to PJ again. We made several stops along the road to watch parrots, monkeys and a sloth. Back in PJ we had dinner at a soda, a mini restaurant where you can get food at a very resonable price. The next day was to chill and recover from the rather exhausting hike with all my camera gear. An aching back and sore muscles are the down side, but hey...it's worth it. So I did some kayaking through the mangroves with a dutch couple I met at the guest house. At dusk Kenneth, a tico (local) took us for a short walk to the mangrove forest to show us a few caymans and crocodiles. We then had dinner at his restaurant and called it quits cause we were supposed to go on a whale and dolphin watching tour the next day.
Well. Boat trips in Costa Rica are something special, I can tell you. We managed to get Charly, a tico and supposedly a local tour operator who was willing to take just the three of us out while the other two companies wanted a minimum of four to five people. We would later find out why. Anyway...we saw several humpback whales, some were accompanied by their young and it was beautiful to see those massive creatures move so elegantly through the water. I felt an urge to jump in and get closer but the two guys leading the tour got really nervous so I decided to spare them the trouble. :)
After 2,5 hours they told us we'd try to find dolphins now and headed back to the direction of the PJ pier. so after another 40 minutes they said that they are sorry but that the tour would be over now. Which means that the tour we were supposed to go on for 5 hours finished after a little more than 3. What a turn-off, I can tell you. To make a long story short: after they were threatening to call the police and a bothering discussion at the tourist office we paid 50 instead of 60 bucks. We told them to think ahead before they try to rip tourists off next time. A bad choice in times of online reviews and their possible impact on a business. The aftertaste was still really bitter.
So in the afternoon I took daylight pictures of the crocodiles and caymans we had seen the night before and I really, really realized that I need to pay more attention to these guys next time I am close to them because while I was distracted by mosquitos one came crawling straight at me until our distance was far less than comfortable. Nothing happened but it was a lesson learned that day.
Right after this mini adventure I went to meet Kenneth again at Las Palmas hotel. He, like everybody else in town was watching the soccer world cup qualification game of El Salvador vs. Costa Rica which was eventually won 1:0 by CR. I had a delicious papaya shake and casado con pollo, the national dish containing rice, beans and chicken plus some yuca, a root that tastes a little like potato. Very tasty but fried like most of the other stuff. With all the greasy food they serve here I really wonder how the guys can stay in shape as most of them do. Amazing. :)
That basically concluded my last day in PJ cause on the next I would take off to La Leona Lodge with Roger in the so called "collectivo", a local transport. Take off at 6am. And I can tell you: that's when the real adventure started.
Just in case you are interested: here's a link to the pictures I took during those 3 days.
When I arrived at the airport I felt a little lost cause everybody was gone in an instant except for me and 2 cab drivers. Which was kind of weird in a funny way. So I decided to make a little trip around downtown Puerto Jiménez with one of them. Didn't take us long cause there is only one main street anyway. I had looked up some recommendations in the travel guide but the best looking spot was one recommended by a friend of mine: the Cabinas Jiménez. A nice little guest house by the sea run by an american guy called John. And yeah, it has a pool, too. :)
Upon arrival and after I had my first pipa (coconut) I told them I'd need a guide for Corcovado and they sent someone in the same evening. His name is Roger Munos and I can tell you he's highly recommendable. I have met quite a few guides in my life and just by talking to him the impression I got was great and it was to be confirmed when we went out to the Corcovado National Park the next day. We were accompanied by an Israelian couple and they offered to take their 4x4 rental car. And what a ride it was. I have seen many bad roads in my life but this was by far the worst. No, not a road: the term "pot hole-mania" suits it much better. We had to cross several rivers which luckily weren't that deep so after a 3 hours drive we had managed to make the 42kms(!) to Carate. From there we had to walk the last 3 kms along the beach front. We passed by La Leona Eco-Lodge and I took a look at one of the most amazing arrangements I stumpled upon in Costa Rica so far. Situated right at the pacific coast beach with only rain forest surrounding it. I talked to the owner's son and after just a few minutes I had made my decision where to stay next after Puerto Jiménez.
Then we went to the park and what a hike it was! Spider-, howler- and capuchin monkeys, squirrels, aras (macaos), eagles, falcons, hawks, herons, ibises, poison dart frogs, iguanas, anoles, agamas, bugs, wasps, spiders and red crabs all over the place. Just like last year, only a little more intense. :) What a great, mind-blowing environment even though we didn't see a cat which I am so eager to encounter! What a good decision to hire a guide especially because Roger can pinpoint things so unbelievably precise.
So after a six hour hike we went back to PJ again. We made several stops along the road to watch parrots, monkeys and a sloth. Back in PJ we had dinner at a soda, a mini restaurant where you can get food at a very resonable price. The next day was to chill and recover from the rather exhausting hike with all my camera gear. An aching back and sore muscles are the down side, but hey...it's worth it. So I did some kayaking through the mangroves with a dutch couple I met at the guest house. At dusk Kenneth, a tico (local) took us for a short walk to the mangrove forest to show us a few caymans and crocodiles. We then had dinner at his restaurant and called it quits cause we were supposed to go on a whale and dolphin watching tour the next day.
Well. Boat trips in Costa Rica are something special, I can tell you. We managed to get Charly, a tico and supposedly a local tour operator who was willing to take just the three of us out while the other two companies wanted a minimum of four to five people. We would later find out why. Anyway...we saw several humpback whales, some were accompanied by their young and it was beautiful to see those massive creatures move so elegantly through the water. I felt an urge to jump in and get closer but the two guys leading the tour got really nervous so I decided to spare them the trouble. :)
After 2,5 hours they told us we'd try to find dolphins now and headed back to the direction of the PJ pier. so after another 40 minutes they said that they are sorry but that the tour would be over now. Which means that the tour we were supposed to go on for 5 hours finished after a little more than 3. What a turn-off, I can tell you. To make a long story short: after they were threatening to call the police and a bothering discussion at the tourist office we paid 50 instead of 60 bucks. We told them to think ahead before they try to rip tourists off next time. A bad choice in times of online reviews and their possible impact on a business. The aftertaste was still really bitter.
So in the afternoon I took daylight pictures of the crocodiles and caymans we had seen the night before and I really, really realized that I need to pay more attention to these guys next time I am close to them because while I was distracted by mosquitos one came crawling straight at me until our distance was far less than comfortable. Nothing happened but it was a lesson learned that day.
Right after this mini adventure I went to meet Kenneth again at Las Palmas hotel. He, like everybody else in town was watching the soccer world cup qualification game of El Salvador vs. Costa Rica which was eventually won 1:0 by CR. I had a delicious papaya shake and casado con pollo, the national dish containing rice, beans and chicken plus some yuca, a root that tastes a little like potato. Very tasty but fried like most of the other stuff. With all the greasy food they serve here I really wonder how the guys can stay in shape as most of them do. Amazing. :)
That basically concluded my last day in PJ cause on the next I would take off to La Leona Lodge with Roger in the so called "collectivo", a local transport. Take off at 6am. And I can tell you: that's when the real adventure started.
Just in case you are interested: here's a link to the pictures I took during those 3 days.
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
San José reloaded
So here I am in San José after 20 hours of traveling. Got a noisy room in the Pangea Hostel and after 3 hours of bad sleep and the decision to get up at 4:30 I am not exactly in the mood to start early again, but it'll be for the better as at 8:30 I'll be flying out to Puerto Jimenéz close to the Corcovado National Park. No problems with my heavy camera gear so far, keep your fingers crossed. Man, am I cranky this morning.
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