Costa Rica – Fondest Travel Memories

Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica

Today we had a tour and had to be at the World Stage at 9:00 a.m. We ordered room service breakfast to be delivered at 8:00 and it arrived on time. Holland America still provides a hot breakfast delivered at no charge although the choices have been reduced. As I have heard some cruise lines charge for any room service, I am grateful that HAL still provides this service.

We have taken several tours in Costa Rica before including one similar to this but did not include a butterfly garden. This one seemed like it would be at a relaxing pace.

Our tour today is titled: Jungle Crocodile Safari & Butterfly Garden

ABOUT THE EXCURSION: This eco-adventure is ideal for those who prize nature in its most pristine state, uninhibited by anything but its own biodiversity.

Enjoy a leisurely panoramic drive along scenic coastal and country roads, past quaint towns and villages. You’re headed to the Jungle Crocodile Safari dock on the Tarcoles River, famous for its mangrove forest and home to one of the largest populations of American crocodiles. More than 50 bird species live here, including the endangered scarlet macaw, and are also protected in the neighboring estuary.

Board a riverboat; then, sit back as your expert guide leads you on a fantastic journey to see the astonishing variety of wildlife.

Your tour concludes at El Jardín, where you’ll explore a butterfly garden and enjoy a refreshing tasting experience featuring tropical fruits, natural drinks, and Costa Rican coffee. There’s also time to shop for locally made souvenirs before heading back to the pier with lasting impressions of Costa Rica’s rural heritage. This is ideal for nature lovers looking for a relaxed and enriching experience.

Notes: Wildlife sightings are likely but are not guaranteed. Boats are covered and with open-air seating, offering shade and unobstructed views. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Shade is limited; to avoid sunburn, wear light, long clothing suitable for use as a cover-up. Bring a hat and sunglasses; wear biodegradable/reef-safe sunscreen. Bring bottled water.

We boarded a tour bus. It was comfortable and the air conditioning was working, thank goodness. It was another hot and humid day.

The guide’s English was pretty good and the sound system worked well but he spoke so rapidly that we missed some of the words. But he was very knowledgeable and happily answered any questions. One question was about butterflies. He said that Costa Rica is home to over 1500 butterfly species, so I was really looking forward to going to the butterfly garden.

Our bus did not follow the exact schedule as printed above. There were a lot of tours that included floating on the Tarcoles River, so I assume they were trying not to overload the area.

Our first stop was El Jardin. We were greeted by servers with plates full of sliced fruit and cups of fruit juice. You could also go to another area and have small cups of Costa Rican coffee. The tour guide said that Costa Rica produces the best coffee anywhere because of the soil produced by the many volcanoes.

This was a good place for a bathroom break and to buy souvenirs. I already had souvenirs from Costa Rica on previous trips so I didn’t purchase anything, but many people did.

We were then allowed to go to the “butterfly garden.” Now, I have been to several butterfly gardens, and they were large with meandering paths and many species of butterflies to view. This one was not like that.

The path was one circular stone walkway from the entrance to the exit. You could walk the whole way in a few minutes if you wanted. If you wanted to linger, you just had to be sure you weren’t standing in the way of others. You also needed to constantly watch where you stepped so not to crush a butterfly. They seemed to love landing on the stone path.

Maybe there were other butterflies that I didn’t see but the only ones I encountered were the Blue Morphos, which is considered the most famous of the Costa Rica butterflies. They were everywhere. I took many photos but not many came out very well. I loved how the brown outer wing camouflaged their brilliant blue inner wing.

So I was disappointed in the venue but I loved what butterflies were there.

It was time to load the bus and leave for the river. The guide counted heads and we were missing someone. A husband spoke up and said it was his wife. The guide went back inside to look for her. We waited. We waited. After about 10 or 15 minutes, he comes back with her as she is sipping her coffee with not a care in the world. I assume she ignored the glare from the rest of us or really just didn’t care.

It was a short ride to the Jungle River Ride area. There were several buses there as well as some private tours. We had time for a quick bathroom break before boarding our boat. He said we could shop here afterwards if we wanted. The boat had a cover which was nice but the seats were very hard. I was glad there was a breeze but I had brought our cooling towels that get cold when you snap them. They felt good around our necks.

We pushed off from the pier and the guide was starting his spiel when he suddenly stopped and said we were missing 2 people. Yep, you guessed it – the same husband and wife. We all just said – leave them. We all had the same instructions and the rest of us made it. Nope. He went back and they came strolling down the pier – she with her shopping bags. Some people booed. They got on and the only seats left were the ones in the back next to the smelly motor. Served them right. Rude people.

The guide gave out a bird identification brochure which was helpful. We saw birds, crocodiles, monkeys, lizards, and iguanas. It was a nice river ride.

Yes, that dark blob in the middle is a monkey

Loved this little guy – looks like he is frowning at us – “Get off my River”

After the tour and a bathroom break and/or shopping, we headed back to the ship. The heavy traffic, exasperated by a bad wreck, and all the road construction was terrible. I knew we weren’t going to make it by all-aboard time. I wasn’t concerned since this tour was a HAL tour and they guarantee the ship will wait or they will pay to get us to the next port. We were 30 minutes late, but we weren’t the last bus to arrive. The last 3 buses didn’t arrive until 6:00. We were supposed to have left at 5:00. We set sail at 6:30. The sky was pretty.

Next Up – Acajutla, El Salvador

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Monday, February 10, 2025

The day started out as overcast and rainy. First time this trip that we’ve had rain.

Since our excursion was not until 12:30, we had plenty of time to eat breakfast in the main dining room this morning and spend some time on the balcony once it stopped raining.

The Cruise Director had announced that there was a delay from the port authority so passengers could not yet disembark. The announcement allowing people to leave came about 8:45.

Our HAL excursion was The Tortuguero Canals – 12:30 pm (3 hours)

ABOUT THE EXCURSION – The Tortuguero Canals are known as Costa Rica’s Amazon because of the surrounding rain forest. Heavy annual rainfall fills the area with an extremely rich flora and fauna.

A 25-minute ride from the pier brings you to a dock in Moin. Board a jungle pontoon boat specially designed to cruise in comfort through the jungle canals that form part of a river system running parallel to Costa Rica’s Caribbean coastline.

Watch for orchids and water lilies, birds, monkeys, crocodiles, sloths, and toucans in this unique system of natural and man-made canals, used for transportation and exploration. Wonderful views of the lush jungle foliage mirrored in the canal’s waters will delight you.

Wave to friendly natives in dugout canoes and watch women scrubbing their laundry at the river’s edge while children swim along the bank or dive from tall trees.

After this exciting boat tour, enjoy soft drink and tropical fruits.

Notes: Wildlife sightings are likely but are not guaranteed.

The sun was out in all its glory by the time of our excursion and it was hot. I went to check us in with the Shore Excursion staff only to be told that our bus was not here yet. We were told we had time to walk through the market. We didn’t find anything we needed.

We kept waiting. One of the Shore Excursion staff finally got on the microphone and announced that because of the delay this morning for disembarking, the morning excursions were delayed. Since the afternoon excursions were using the same buses, we were going to have to wait for them to return. I was thankful that there was a little bit of shade and a breeze.

About 45 minutes after the scheduled departure time, our bus finally showed up along with two others. We had enough people to fill up 3 buses. The guide gave information as we were traveling to the canals but since we were sitting in the back, we could only catch a few words. He needed a better microphone or a quieter bus.

Once we got to the canals, we were given a chance to use the restroom and then we were directed to the pontoons. We were provided with chips, a banana, and a bottle of water.

The first animal we saw was a sloth hanging conveniently in the first tree posed just perfectly for photos. I know they are slow, sleepy creatures but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a stuffed sloth, or a live one put there before the tour to get people excited about the tour. Just seemed too coincidental.

We did see some birds, lizards, and a couple of crocodiles. I was never able to get a decent photo of the crocodiles. The guide also pointed into the trees and said there were monkeys, but I never was able to see them. And we never saw any people in the river though there were some buildings along the canal.

We packed bug repellent but didn’t need it. We also packed our neck cooling cloths and they came in handy.

Once we got back to the pier, we had time to look at the gift shop. We could sample some fruit juice or some coffee. The coffee was very good. We didn’t try the juice.

Back on the bus, the guide tried to talk some more on the way back, but his microphone completely broke down. He even moved to the middle of the bus to try and talk without the mic; however, he couldn’t speak loud enough for us to hear anything in the back. We arrived back at the ship with a few minutes before the all-aboard time.

Once we got back to our cabin, we found a nice tray of candy from the Casino.

We had dinner in the main dining room with our friends from a previous cruise. I was so busy talking, I forgot to take photos of the meal. I had a NY strip steak and a baked potato.

We went to one set of the BB King band and then went to the main stage to see Song and Dance. It was a good show by the HAL singers and dancers.

After the show, Chuck went to play cards, and I went to the last set of the BB King band.

When we got back to the room, we found a letter from the Shore Excursions staff acknowledging the delay of the excursion and having to stand so long in the heat. They applied a $30 credit each off of our onboard account. Nice gesture. 😁 They didn’t have to do anything as it was not HAL’s fault that all the excursions were delayed.

We also found the “Clocks Forward” card. 😣

Tomorrow – Sea Day

PC – Day 10 – Costa Rica

Sunday, November 11, 2018 – Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

I got up at 5:30 to be dressed in case the room service steward was right on time at 6:00. Glad I was because he was 10 minutes early. We were scheduled to be in the main stage area for the only tour we took this trip – Wildlife Rescue Center & La Ceiba Private Reserve. It was to be a long tour – 7 hours but it did include lunch.

I went outside to gauge the weather. Partly cloudy and very humid. What a surprise (sarcasm). We were docked alongside a very large Celebrity ship. I was never sure of its name but it dwarfed our ship.

At 7:40 we joined the line of people getting into the main stage as there were several different tours leaving at 7:45. We got our stickers and waited for our number to be called. There were only about 12 people on our tour so we found our guide and were directed into a large van. There was a tour that was called right before us that involved a train ride and about 100 people got up to join that one.

Once we were on the pier, we located our guide and the van driver. The guide’s name was Roy. He was very informative as he talked about his country on our 50 minute ride to the Rescue Center. The van was air conditioned but we were packed in there. Narrow seats – big Americans – do not mix well. His native language is Spanish but he spoke English well. He said the children are taught both English and Spanish at home and in the schools.

What I learned – Costa Rica means “Rich Coast.” The first Spanish explorers thought that Costa Rica was full of gems and gold since they saw natives with jewelry so that is why they gave it that name. However, they found no gold or jewels after settling. But our guide still considered his country rich. Costa Rica is home to a variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.03% of the world’s landmass, it contains 5% of the world’s biodiversity. Around 25% of the country’s land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentage of protected areas in the world.

He talked about coffee, bananas, and cacao as big exports. He showed us a banana plant and a cacao pod. However, as suspected, tourism, and more specifically eco-tourism, is the biggest money-maker for Costa Rica. Birders are especially interested in coming to Costa Rica because over 840 species of birds have been identified here.

The climate is considered tropical. Since we were on the Caribbean side of the country, we had higher humidity than the Pacific side. The temperature was in the 80’s so we could have been in Georgia in the summer. Again, I was glad for the cooling cloths and the bug spray. Costa Rica’s seasons are defined by how much rain falls during a particular period. The year can be split into two periods, the dry season (December to April) and the rainy season (May to November). He told us that this rainy season had been particularly rainy and we should be happy to see the sunshine today.

We passed by a couple of beaches and the waves were high. He talked about how popular surfing is and there are several international tournaments held in Costa Rica. Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of people on the beaches, enjoying the nice day.

As we left Puerto Limon and when we passed through a couple of small towns along the way, I noticed several piles of trash/garbage on the sides of the road. Someone commented on it and he said they would be picked up the next week. I guess they just don’t use garbage cans.

The roads were narrow and at times only cars going in one direction at a time could go over the small bridges. At one point on the road, we had to swerve to miss electrical lines that were down as well as a big tourist bus which was over too far in the road. I was glad to get to the preserve.

The Rescue Center guide was from Spain and she had lived in Costa Rica for several years and loves working with the animals. They try and rehabilitate injured, sick, or abandoned animals so that they can go back to the jungle. If they can’t go back to the wild, they can live out their life at the Center.

We got to see sloths (they get injured from power lines a lot), crocodiles, monkeys, an anteater, ocelots, and a margay. Since this facility was a rehab facility, they don’t let tourists handle the animals. It is a good thing they don’t as I wanted to put a baby sloth in my backpack and bring it home.

From the rescue center, we took a short ride over to the preserve. There is only a small portion of the preserve open to tourists to hike. The rest is left natural and that is where the workers start introducing the animals back to the jungle. We took a short hike so she could tell us about some of the plants. At the end of the hike, we were offered a ginger/mango drink and some pineapple on a skewer. I liked it. Chuck didn’t like the drink. We did see some howler monkeys way at the top of some of the trees, making noise as howler monkeys do. Also saw one of their largest butterflies – a Morpho. It is a bright blue. I could not get a picture but I got a video of it flitting around.

On the drive back, we stopped at an open-air restaurant for lunch. They prepared a traditional Costa Rican lunch of black beans and rice cooked in coconut water, chicken, and fried plantains. We had lemonade or water to drink. Everyone enjoyed the lunch and the nice breeze supplied by the fans.

All aboard was 3:30 and we got back right before 3:00. Gave some of the people time to shop in the gift shops at the port area. Of course, some people had spent money at the gift shop at the rehab facility. Since Chuck had brought me Christmas ornaments from his previous Costa Rica trip with Michael, I didn’t need anything so we headed on back to the ship. We were met at the ship by stewards who were handing out cool washcloths and cups of lemonade. HAL had done this nice touch at Aruba and Curacao also.

It was 3:30 and the Captain had not yet made the announcement about getting underway soon. I went out to the deck and saw 3 large busses pulling in and people piling out of them. They were met by some of the ship personnel, I think to make sure the people kept walking to the ship and didn’t veer off to the souvenir shop. If they wanted to shop, I know they were ticked getting back late. The Captain has to keep a good schedule. We were able to leave a little after 4:00.

After we got cleaned up for the evening, we stopped by the Gallery Bar. As we were sitting there, the cruise director, Sabina, stopped by to ask us how our trip was going and was there anything we needed? The cruise director is very busy from morning to late at night. She and her team do everything from daily announcements, hosting special events (I saw a couple doing a vow renewal), hosting daily Q/A sessions between ship personnel/performers and guests, emceeing the main stage productions, etc. I thought it was nice that she stopped by to chat. We told her we were having a great time. I know she must hold her breath every time she asks guests how they are doing because I know some will do non-stop complaining (I have heard them).

We had dinner with 2 other couples. One couple was from Canada and we see them out on the dance floor at the BB King quite a bit. They are good dancers. The other couple was from Florida. We enjoyed the conversations. The whole table ordered the oysters Rockefeller for the appetizer. I had the eggplant parmesan for the main course. I usually love eggplant parmesan but this one was kind of tough to chew. Chuck enjoyed his steak.

We went to see the late show of the mainstage performance. Tonight was a magician by the name of James Cielen. He was very good. Unfortunately, I was very sleepy and kept nodding off periodically. Thank goodness I didn’t snore.

We called it a night. The next two days are sea days before our arrival in Ft. Lauderdale. We set our clocks Forward one hour tonight. I am all messed up. Glad I don’t have to set an alarm. Tonight’s towel animal is a dinosaur I think.