Costa Rica, Bahia Santa Elena
Santa Rosa National Reserve
10 Nov 2005

Imagine this, jade green clean waters.  Wind gusts that keep us cool and sometimes spinning on the anchor. But with winds, there are no pesky bugs. Hurrah! And even, a little rainfall, to add to our tanks, but not too much to bring Mr. Mold and Mrs. Mildew.

Only four sail boats in the bay and a nearby fishing camp is around the corner.

Greens, lots of variations of green vegetation, the full spectrum of the Prismacolor palette.
In this tropical deciduous forest that climbs straight up from the mangrove shoreline to the volcanic ridge line, with little in the way of shrubs below the trees, we see a few blooming trees during this start of the dry season. The geologic uplifting dramatic and intriguing. Life ashore is a curiosity to be explored.

Some of the trees looks spindly and lacy, but others have trunks three feet round. We read that there remains virgin hardwood in these tropical forest and we look forward to hiking among them.

The Santa Rosa National Reserve is known both for its historical significance in the establishment of Costa Rica, and for the lands, environmental significance as a place of virgin deciduous forest and reforestation breakthroughs.  I am curious.  I am hoping we will met a ranger or a naturalist who can share with us more about this habitat.

Already from our boat, we have sighted green parrots, black toucan, laughing falcon, hawks, pelicans, vultures, herons, and the common warblers, and tanagers.  Other cruisers, better birder watchers than we, have identified a dozen or more species. These same naturalist saw on shore, 100' from their boat, in the dawn light, the swinging white-faced Capuchin swinging and picking little yellow fruit. The Capuchin monkey is the monkey you remember reading or seeing that would dance with the  man who turned a hand crank organ; the monkey wore a red hat. We look forward to dawn so we can share in these sightings. We will let our ears guide us to their playful frolicking and feeding.

Late in the afternoon, after school, we lowered the dinghy and took a spin around the bay.  We scoped out good shore areas for beach combing and reefs for snorkeling.  I am reading up on the Caymens so, we can tread where they do not. It is the early dry season and we hope that the Caymens are aestivate (hibernating), but reports vary and we will just need to stay alert. Two out of the four of us are a little concerned and the other two are not at all concerned.  You can guess who is who and how we deal with our "concerns".

The fruit bats are suppose to be plentiful, but we have neither seen nor heard them. We are cautious as they are repudiated to be carriers of rabies. Rabies is high in this part of the world. Another good reason not to have a pet on board as we are told that pets are vulnerable to being bit.

So much to learn. So much to explore. Tomorrow is Saturday and we will go hiking with our fellow cruisers to find a natural waterfall and swim in a fresh water pond.  Ah, the glory of a weekend to tread on new lands.

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