Tuesday 5 February. At Manuel Antonio National Park a big cue at the entrance. A short track leads us and another thousand people through the park. With the telescope we see three-toed sloths, an anteater, Howler monkeys, a Cool Helmeted Iguana, a deer, an agouti and some more animal. Not many birds, but we see a nest ground hawk. The hawk sits just next to the road and is very well camouflaged. The beach of Manuel Antonio is beautiful. Although it’s forbidden to bring food, quite some people have lunch here. The Capuchin monkeys know and are robbing bananas and other food. Laying on the beach is the perfect spot to meet iguanas. We walk the trail on the peninsula. See some racoons at a pool and Capuchin monkeys at a bridge. One tries to open the zipper of a backpack. They look so cute, but they work together to rob the people.
Wednesday, in Quepos harbour lots of fancy boats. A catamaran takes us out. We hope to see some dolphins and do some snorkelling. Within half an hour we see a couple of dolphins. They love to swim around the boat and in front of it. Quite cool. We sail further and see the beach where we yesterday were. Rocky islands with birds on it and then… a whale. We’re lucky, it’s not the whaling season, but we see one. And another. They pop up every several minutes. And after a while, the humpback whales jump out of the water. Five, six times. Amazing. An unbelievable moment. We have to skip the snorkelling, but nobody’s complaining. A short swim and diner on the boat. What an amazing day.
