Panama Canal Cruise - Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Continuing on our Panama Canal cruise, day 8 brought us to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. We spent a week in Costa Rica in March of 2018; but we had not been on the Pacific Ocean side, so we booked an excursion through the ship for a boat trip up a river where we were supposed to see crocodiles and lots of birds including macaws.

Remember those three hurricanes I mentioned we had been dodging on this trip. Well, one of them was again north of us, but the outer bands of it brought drenching rain to Puntarenas the entire day we were there. We did go on the excursion. They did their best under the weather conditions. Luckily, the boat had a cover, so we didn't get wet while on the river. 

Here was our greeting as we got off the ship. The only Scarlet Macaw we saw that day.

We did see some crocodiles, although most of them were just sticking their snout out of the water. We also saw some birds, but not the tropical birds I was hoping to see. Here are the group of boats out on the river. You can see how foggy it was. I'm sure its beautiful on a sunny day.

These two crocodiles were up on a sandbar.

Here are some of the birds I got a picture of. They gave us a color brochure with descriptions of birds we might see. I've done my best to identify them. These are all birds I've seen elsewhere, but it was all that was out there on this rainy day. My camera kept trying to focus on the rain, so it was hard to get clear pictures.

Great Egret

Green Heron

Roseate Spoonbill and Egret

Roseate Spoonbill

These cows were grazing close to the river full of crocodiles!

Wild banana plants were growing all along the banks. The purple and white shoot on the left is the flower. You can see a bunch of green bananas on the right.

We were pretty soaked by the time we got back to the bus. There was a little shopping area where the buses park, and we were given a banana, two pieces of watermelon and mango juice. Then we boarded the buses for a scenic drive to a small town where local school children were going to entertain us with native dances. Again, I'm sure the scenery is great on a nice day.

The dance program is normally performed at a local park. Because of the rain, they moved into a covered play area of the local school. The covering is metal, and it was impossible to understand anything the announcer was saying with the noise of the rain and the poor acoustics. Again, no ones fault, but a disappointment. The dancers did a nice job, and were cute.

This little girl was so into it and absolutely adorable!

Back at the pier was an area with shops and restaurants. I bought a cute tee shirt with sea turtles on it for only $10. Then we decided to try some adult beverages. Kevin had a local beer, and I had a pina colada. Total bill $8. Much better than ship prices. It was the best pina colada I've ever had with lots of real pineapple pieces blended into it. Delicious and filling!

Here's our ship from the end of the pier. There was a black sand beach there with a ton of driftwood on it. It was hard to tell whether the water in the bay is nice because of the weather.

Back on board it was time for a shower and some dry clothes. Day 9 was another sea day. We went to two educational talks regarding the Panama Canal, which will be our next stop. One of the head navigators of the ship gave an interesting power point presentation regarding the history of the canal and some of the navigation challenges. Maybe he'll need my help!

The other talk was another power point by a couple regarding the history and mechanics of the canal. This couple were both retired professors and gave talks on all the ports we stopped at. I really enjoyed their presentations, as it made our stops much more interesting. I wish every cruise did this.

We enter the canal at approximately 6 am tomorrow morning, so it will be an early day for us. It is estimated to take 8 to 10 hours to traverse the entire canal. 

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!