March 25th, 2026
It’s hard to believe that the trip is almost over – time really does fly sometimes. And I am so looking forward to waiting in line for hours at the Houston airport next Sunday.
On Tuesday night, we sailed over the border from Panama to Costa Rica, and were given instructions by the trip lead to change the clocks on our phones and computers to stay on Panama time, rather than setting back an hour. Since the ship goes back and forth between time zones each trip they stick with the Panamanian zone to avoid messing up the crew shift schedules. We docked in Golfito in the morning, and let passengers wander into the (very) little town. Nothing was open. Of course, it was only 8AM on Costa Rica time.
The town of Golfito is in the Golfo Dulce (Gulf of Golfito/Golfito Bay), the deepest gulf in the world. If you are interested in geographic trivia, now you know. The plan for the day was to do either kayaking or Panga rides along the Mangrove trees at the edge of the rainforest. I chose the lazy route – a Panga ride. I was hoping for a lot of wildlife, and carrying a heavy expensive camera in an open kayak did not seem like a particularly smart idea. The second outing for the day was a visit to private rainforest property, which was great for bird watching and photography. Woo Hoo.
One interesting feature of this part of Costa Rica is that this gulf sort of blocks the wind, so you get a lot of rain, and the humidity and heat can be unbearable. Not Woo Hoo. You can tell immediately when you wake up that it is going to be humid – all the windows are fogged up.
For some reason, this area is a haven for the ultra wealthy. Jeff Bezos had his yacht here the other week. When we pulled in today, Mark Zuckerberg’s super-yacht was docked across the way. And then this huge, weird looking ship with a helipad midship, pulled in. This also belonged to Zuck. It carried all his toys – like a helicopter, a small sailing yacht, and a small submarine. There were probably a few cars as well. I guess if you have it, you flaunt it.
The first outing on Wednesday was nice and relaxing – it was hot and humid, but the panga’s have tops over the seated area, and it was pretty nice when we were moving around at high speed. We cruised along the mangrove shores for an hour, hoping to replicate the experience we had with the Monkey Islands in the Panama Canal. Not even close unfortunately. We did see a few birds and a snake, but that was about it. It was still a nice ride – the jungle is beautiful, and it was really nice being out on the water. And I did get some very nice shots of a white egret and three-colored heron.
The next outing required sailing across the bay, which we did over lunch. By then, it was getting really hot and humid. Miserable is the word that comes to my mind. The landing was on a rocky beach, and it was a wet landing meaning you have to get your feet wet walking from the boat in the surf to dry land. I brought the wrong water shoes, and had to do a step-ouch-step dance up to the sand. The place we landed in had a bunch of Macaws overhead in the trees, but I was too busy changing shoes to get the camera out, so I missed the photo op. When we were all set, a bunch of us were assigned to one of the local guides, and off we went on our hike through the gardens.
It’s kind of hard trying to describe this place – it is a huge (500 acres) family owned property, which borders a national park. It’s a jumble of hiking and walking trails, with chicken coops, ponds (with a resident Cayman), native plants, and areas where pineapples, coffee, cocoa and other fruits are grown. The jungle surrounds everything’s, so you don’t feel like it’s a plantation – the family maintains it as sort of a eco-tourism business. And there are all kinds of birds flying and screeching. It was an interesting experience – not too great for photography, so lugging my heavy camera and lens around was an effort. But I did get a few good photos….but not of the Macaws or Toucans. Darn.
I captured one short video worth sharing, something I’ve seen in documentaries, but never live – leaf-cutter ants. Very strange, and they are all over the place.
After our hikes were over, we sat around re-hydrating for a while, watching the Macaws fly overhead (but never quite in range of my camera). Most of us were ready for A/C and a shower – I was pretty much drained at that point, so I did my ouch-dance across the rocks, and boarded a Zodiac back to the ship.
Two more days to go. And one last photo – high humidity usually leads to nice sunsets. Here’s one.
Peace.
The Traveling Widower 