Manuel Antonio National Park

Since we didn't' have much luck finding animals on the hiking trail yesterday we got up really early to check out the national park.  We arrived at the park entrance shortly after 8.  After we paid our entrance fee of $10USD we were approached by guides carrying large telescopes.  They offered guided tours and started with $20 per person.  As we got closer to the park gate, it had dropped down to $50 for all 6 of us.  We stilled declined.

There was a main trail that led to the beach. It was still very quiet with few tourists. We tried to walk and look up for animals at the same time. Harder than you think. Now we understood why the guides carried telescopes. It was hard to see anything through the thick bush and tall trees.  People told us to go to park early since the animals were most active in the morning.  That was a lie, we saw no animals.

The beach was nice, much like the private beach we had at Tulemar.  We found a patch of shad to hang and went for a dip in the ocean.   We joked it was not quite show time yet for the animals and that's why we haven't seen any.   Around 9:30 out of the trees 4 or 5 white faced monkeys ran onto the beach.  They were immediately surrounded by tourists snapping their pictures. These fast little buggers were probably doing a quick ground sweep for any food left behind.  Before you knew, they were back onto the high tree branches beyond anyone's reach. 

The potential of food also attracted a couple of raccoons.  They were small like Poncho, but definitely more handsy than him.  They tried to steal our suntan lotion!

 

More and more people were making their way to the beach now. We decided to retreat and took the main trail back to the main gate. The trail was now packed with tourists.  Tourists who paid for guides and these guides were pointing out animals hiding in the bushes. All we had to do was look in the same direction.  There were a mother sloth and her baby, but they were so far up in the tree so all we could see was a shadow or two.  We were out of the park by 10:30AM.  Before we hopped into our taxi to head back, I had to grab a fresh coconut for the road.  I had a lot cerviche, but not enough coconut on this trip.  It was terribly overpriced at $2USD, but it was getting hot and that coconut really hit the spot!

Instead of going back to the hotel we got the taxi to drop us off at El Avion, a restaurant and bar built around an old war plane.  There was a full bar inside the fuselage.  At the back of the restaurant was a dining room that overlooked the ocean.  Our plan was to have lunch here, but it didn't open until noon. 

We got up too early to wait another hour for lunch, so we moved onto Cafe Milagro.  I ordered the cerviche again. So good!  I must find a good cerviche place in Vancouver or I might suffer some serious withdrawal.

After lunch, we went back to Tulemar and took a 3 hour nap in our bungalow.   Dinner time we went with our conceirge's recommendation and went to Barba Roja (Red Beard) for BBQ ribs night.  The rib ($21USD) dinner complete with 3 sides were big enough to feed a small family so we shared the ribs and an order of party steak nachos platter between the four of us.  The nachos were the best I have had I think.  The thick and gooey cheese really made a huge difference.  Nachos in Canada were always short on the cheese.  I didn't think Costa Rica would be a food vacation, but it was definitely turning into one.

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Location:Manual Antonio

Road to Manual Antonio

We got picked up at our hotel early in the morning by the shuttle van we had previously arranged with Zuma Tours for $72 USD per person.  Destination - Manual Antonio National Park. There were other shuttle companies that were cheaper, but they took 6 hours instead of 4 hours and had to utilize the public ferry like the one I took earlier in the week to get to Santa Teresa.

The shuttle van dropped us off at Montezuma beach where we got ferried away to Tortuga Island just a few days ago.  Zuma Tours had their own boat to take us across to Jaco and then to Manual Antonio.  I was happy to be on the water since it was much cooler with the ocean breeze in my face. 

When we reached Jaco, I had a watermelon break before we hopped into another shuttle van that took us through the town of Quepos and then to Manual Antonio up the hill from Quepos.  Before we knew it, we had arrived at Tulemar Bungalows.  Tulemar was located on a very large property on the side of what I can only describe it as a cliff!  They have a courtsey van that will drive you to up and down to the pool or your bungalow or their private beach.  They are the only hotel in the Manual Antonio area with a private beach.  Actually all beaches in Costa Rica are public, however this beach was enclosed and can only be access if you were a hotel guest or you took a boat or kayaka in.  I felt very exclusive.

Tulemar was part hotel and part vacation home.  Our bungalow wasn't ready when we arrived around noon. so we were introduced to our concierge Edouardo and given a tour of the property.  Then we made a beeline to the beach and had lunch at the beach bar and restaurant.  I don't know what it was about the beach but it was so difficult to leave once we were here!  Aside from beach towels, Tulemar also offered boogie boards and kayaks for guests to use.  One of our friends even made use of the beach buckets and sand castle making toys.

Although it was ready for hours, we didn't check into our "Spider Monkey" one bedroom bungalow until almost dinner time.  The bungalow offered a panoramic view of the ocean beyond the lush tropical forest.  It also came with a complete kitchen, dining table, and large wicker sofa (perfect spot for watching sunrise or sunset).

                            (little visitors hanging out outside)                      (Infinity Pool)

Our bungalow was also conveniently located next to the infinity pool and restaurant.  After a quick shower, we made it in time for happy hour which turned into dinner.  We decided to also resume our seating arrangement at dinner as we did at Shambala the previous night for whatever OCD reason.  All it was missing was Mel Gibson at the next table.

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Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef) - Day 1

This morning we caught the 8:50AM Virgin flight to Gladstone. The flight took just over an hour from Brisbane. Drake was an angle and slept through it. When we arrived, we were put on a bus for a quick ride to the marina where we were checked in for our 2 hour boat ride to Heron Island. This island is very small, it only has one resort and it is very famous for great snorkeling just off the shore.

We were told the sea was very rough today and were given ginger extract sea sickness pills. I also wore sea sickness wristbands. I felt covered. I was wrong. I should've known from the stash of barf bags on the table. The sea was so rough that it felt like a roller coaster ride that lasted 2 hours. Half of the boat had the barf bag attached to their faces. I lasted about 1.5 hours, then I up-chucked my morning salad. The boat crew was very experienced, they helped everyone switch out bags and handed out cold towels. Drake again slept through the entire ride.

I guess one has to ride through hell before arriving in paradise. We were greeted by the warm sea breeze as we stepped off the boat. The nausea disappeared instantly.

We grabbed a welcome drink and set our watch one hour ahead and then we were off to a late lunch at the restaurant. I was hungry since I left all my stomach content on the boat. The buffet style food was excellent. Lamb curry with rice, fresh arugula salad, antipasti and orange chocolate cake.

After lunch we found and settled into our room. The room was very roomy with full amenities. There were only a couple hours left before our preset dinner reservation (which was only done on the first night, after that we made our own). We decided to go walk around and get ourselves oriented. It was also happy hour at the bar. Greg grabbed a draft beer to go for 6 AUD (regular price 6.50 to 7 AUD).

There were a lot of different birds nesting in the trees. Good potion of the resort pathways were covered in bird dropping which smelled "great". Our room also came with ear plugs. Apparently these birds can be really disturbingly loud.

Dinner was again awesome. It was a seafood feast - raw oysters, smoked salmon, mussels, and really big prawns to start. I had dhal and rice for main and red velvet cake for the big finale.

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Location: Heron Island, Australia