The first time we saw the leatherback turtle I thought we were pretty lucky, but the second time I felt very privileged. We went back to the same turtle beach yesterday with a couple from Vernon BC, whom we met in Boquete. This time we didn't have to wait long as the first time as she came ashore shortly after it got dark. This one was a bit smaller than the first, only 800 lbs!!!! It was a similar experience as we watched her finish her nest. But this time she dug a couple of false nests, supposedly to confuse any would be predators looking for her eggs. We walked with her into the crashing surf in the pitch dark. Amazing.
We only have a couple of days left on our trip before heading back to Whitehorse. We are anxious to see the kids and grand kids. It's been a great trip and I hope the blog has given you some insight to the countries we have been through.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Bucket list realized
One of the many things on my bucket list has always been to witness a large turtle nesting. Yesterday that dream came true, when we saw a 1000 lb Leatherback turtle make a nest, then crawl an inch at a time back into a pitch black ocean that was pounding the shore with 10 ft waves. Unbelievable!!
We are in Bocas del Toro in the NW corner of Panama. Every place we have travelled around the world we always ask if the turtles are nesting. The answer has always been the same; you are here at the wrong time of the year. But this time we were told that the largest turtle of them all, the leatherback, was just starting to come ashore on Bocas del Toro. Three showed up last week. The nesting beach is about a 30 minute taxi ride, so we decided to go on a fact finding trip to find out what was involved. It turns out there is a local conservation group that patrols the beach all night long, monitors the turtles as they make land fall, collects the eggs if the nest is in a precarious location, and incubates them. The patrol people telephone a local restaurant / lodge operator when a turtle is spotted and for $10 they will take you to the nest. The hitch is no one knows when or where they will come ashore, but it is always at night. So we decided to spend the afternoon and night at the restaurant waiting for the call. The owner said he would take us back to our hostel after he closes up, usually around 1am. OK, this sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
After a bottle of wine, lunch, supper, and coffee we get the call. A group of us were escorted to the site at 11:30. The patrollers have infrared lights, so the whole scene takes place in sort of a mystical atmosphere, with this massive giant throwing sand 10 feet behind herself as she digs her nest. The flying sand hits me in the face as I'm kneeling down, trying to get a better look. She is breathing heavily as she labors to move her massive body around, dig a nest, and release her eggs. After an hour, she starts to move away from the nest. All the lights go off, including the infrared. It's pitch dark but you can make out this large form slowly moving towards the ocean. She measured 6.5 ft long,about 3 ft across, and 2.5 ft. high. The estimated weight is around 1000 lbs !! A monster. We walk beside her as she moves down the slope and the waves start to hit her in the face. I go in up to my knees then stop. The sound of the ocean is very loud as there is a storm surge with waves crashing on shore at least 100 feet into the ocean, some places the surf is breaking 1 km off shore. It was an incredible sight and a very unique experience.
We are in Bocas del Toro in the NW corner of Panama. Every place we have travelled around the world we always ask if the turtles are nesting. The answer has always been the same; you are here at the wrong time of the year. But this time we were told that the largest turtle of them all, the leatherback, was just starting to come ashore on Bocas del Toro. Three showed up last week. The nesting beach is about a 30 minute taxi ride, so we decided to go on a fact finding trip to find out what was involved. It turns out there is a local conservation group that patrols the beach all night long, monitors the turtles as they make land fall, collects the eggs if the nest is in a precarious location, and incubates them. The patrol people telephone a local restaurant / lodge operator when a turtle is spotted and for $10 they will take you to the nest. The hitch is no one knows when or where they will come ashore, but it is always at night. So we decided to spend the afternoon and night at the restaurant waiting for the call. The owner said he would take us back to our hostel after he closes up, usually around 1am. OK, this sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
After a bottle of wine, lunch, supper, and coffee we get the call. A group of us were escorted to the site at 11:30. The patrollers have infrared lights, so the whole scene takes place in sort of a mystical atmosphere, with this massive giant throwing sand 10 feet behind herself as she digs her nest. The flying sand hits me in the face as I'm kneeling down, trying to get a better look. She is breathing heavily as she labors to move her massive body around, dig a nest, and release her eggs. After an hour, she starts to move away from the nest. All the lights go off, including the infrared. It's pitch dark but you can make out this large form slowly moving towards the ocean. She measured 6.5 ft long,about 3 ft across, and 2.5 ft. high. The estimated weight is around 1000 lbs !! A monster. We walk beside her as she moves down the slope and the waves start to hit her in the face. I go in up to my knees then stop. The sound of the ocean is very loud as there is a storm surge with waves crashing on shore at least 100 feet into the ocean, some places the surf is breaking 1 km off shore. It was an incredible sight and a very unique experience.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Pics from Panama canal
Check out this Picasa album - Panama City And Canal.
https://picasaweb.google.com/105813651029977362721/PanamaCityAndCanal?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3znPzi8aqtTw
https://picasaweb.google.com/105813651029977362721/PanamaCityAndCanal?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3znPzi8aqtTw
Taxis, boats, buses and zip lines
Panama. We left Costa Rica at 4 am and made it to Panama City at 8 pm, traveling on regular taxis, collectivo taxi, boat, and a big bus. Panama City is a very large, bustling and cosmopolitan city. There's over one million people here, and it's very hot. We went through the canal, from Pacific to Atlantic oceans in 8 hours. It was very cool. Our boat was pretty small compared to oil tankers and cargo ships. It's a bit intimidating to be next to one of these giants when you are stuck in a lock. The canal is owned and operated by the people of Panama for the last 10 years- not to be confused with the government. It is it's own authority that is separate from the politicians- a very good There are three conditions the Panama Canal Authority requires before you can pass thought the locks. First, you pay in cash (up to $400,000) 24 hours before passing, your motor has been recently checked and certified, and that you hand over control of your ship to a Panamanian captain to take your ship through the canal.
Unbeknownst to us, Panama is known for great prices on clothes, electronics, etc, so many people come to shop. No one told us or we would have brought bigger suitcases. We spent part of a day in a huge mall and came away with a few pieces of clothing. TVs are half price if you are planning a driving trip to Panama. In the city of Colon, the second largest duty free zone exists, second to Hong Kong.
Another 8 hour bus ride and we made it to another cloud forest in the northern part of the country. It was similar to the cloud forest in Costa Rica, but much less touristic. We went on a couple of hikes thought the forest, and went on a zip line over the canopy. That was pretty exciting. I'm not afraid of heights, but it took my breath away standing on the first platform, looking several hundred feet down into the forest. Then they push you off. I'm pretty sure I didn't breath during the first couple of "zips". After the first one it got better. It took about one hour to do all 13 zip lines. Sheila didn't even scream. I was impressed. We have a video to prove it.
When we got back to our hostel, they asked us if it was OK to change the bed. We thought it would be nice to have clean sheets after 3 days. We were surprised to see the whole bed go down the hall. Something was lost in the translation. It was a laugh when we saw the bed leaving the building. Anyways we got a brand new bed, and new sheets.
Four days later we are back on a bus again for a 6 hour ride to some islands on the NE coast (Bocas). The most memorable part of this "chicken bus" ride was seeing a dog thrown up on top of a big bus, along with the bags. The poor thing looked terrified. You would too if you had to balance on top of a bus going down these roads. I guess the good news is it wasn't tied down, so if it fell off I guess it would bounce a few times,and with any luck, it might survive. We never saw the bus, or the dog, after it left the bus terminal. We did pick up a squealing piglet part way to our destination. I think it was in a grain sack, and obviously not impressed with its accommodations.
We have 10 days left on our trip before one more 12 hOur bus ride back to Panama City where we fly home.
Unbeknownst to us, Panama is known for great prices on clothes, electronics, etc, so many people come to shop. No one told us or we would have brought bigger suitcases. We spent part of a day in a huge mall and came away with a few pieces of clothing. TVs are half price if you are planning a driving trip to Panama. In the city of Colon, the second largest duty free zone exists, second to Hong Kong.
Another 8 hour bus ride and we made it to another cloud forest in the northern part of the country. It was similar to the cloud forest in Costa Rica, but much less touristic. We went on a couple of hikes thought the forest, and went on a zip line over the canopy. That was pretty exciting. I'm not afraid of heights, but it took my breath away standing on the first platform, looking several hundred feet down into the forest. Then they push you off. I'm pretty sure I didn't breath during the first couple of "zips". After the first one it got better. It took about one hour to do all 13 zip lines. Sheila didn't even scream. I was impressed. We have a video to prove it.
When we got back to our hostel, they asked us if it was OK to change the bed. We thought it would be nice to have clean sheets after 3 days. We were surprised to see the whole bed go down the hall. Something was lost in the translation. It was a laugh when we saw the bed leaving the building. Anyways we got a brand new bed, and new sheets.
Four days later we are back on a bus again for a 6 hour ride to some islands on the NE coast (Bocas). The most memorable part of this "chicken bus" ride was seeing a dog thrown up on top of a big bus, along with the bags. The poor thing looked terrified. You would too if you had to balance on top of a bus going down these roads. I guess the good news is it wasn't tied down, so if it fell off I guess it would bounce a few times,and with any luck, it might survive. We never saw the bus, or the dog, after it left the bus terminal. We did pick up a squealing piglet part way to our destination. I think it was in a grain sack, and obviously not impressed with its accommodations.
We have 10 days left on our trip before one more 12 hOur bus ride back to Panama City where we fly home.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Monkey falls out of tree, Jesus Christ lizards take cover (take 2)
We discovered a new definition for "hot". It's hiking on a beach at noon, on the Osa peninsula. I mean 45 to 50 degrees hot, with high humidity and no wind. This is no exaggeration. We have a thermometer. That's what we did to get to Corovado Park. It was worth it. We took a taxi from the place we were staying, Puerto Jimenez at 4 am and arrived at the beach at 6 am. It was a 21 km hike from there. Both of use felt like a fried egg when we finally arrived 8 hours later. In Sheila's words "you owe me big time for this one". For those who know Sheila , that pretty much sums up what the hike was like, although by the next day when her body temperature was lower she admitted it was a pretty neat experience. It seems we are always on some kind of adventure.
Even before we got to the ranger station (Sirena Lodge) we saw 3 tapir, monkeys (spider, white face, squirrel ) an ant eater, wild turkeys, and a bunch of new birds. We brought some of our own food as they charge $25 for supper and the same for lunch and breakfast. So after eating our quesadillas and sharing the shower with a 4 inch hairy spider (a whole new twist on showering with a friend), we headed to our tent at 7:30 to find it was still 35 degrees. It didn't seem to matter. By 7:35 we were both asleep, or better described as passed out from exhaustion.
At 5 am we were up and on the trail with our guide. I could list all the things we saw that day but it would look like a beerders list which is really boring. But to give you a flavor of what we saw: many Jesus Christ lizards(they walk on water, or more accurately they fly across the water at the speed of light), viper snake, two and three toed sloths, baby hummingbird, incredible forest, and a howler monkey that fell out of a tree. Sounds like a song! I deviate. Crazy, I didn't think monkeys ever fell but I guess it's one of those occupational hazards. Unfortunately he had a broken leg and likely became supper for a jaguar. The park has 2.6% of the worlds biodiversity consequently there was lots of stuff to see.
At one point we found ourselves in the middle of a herd of peccaries (pigs) which our guide told us if threatened will attack and if there are enough of them and few of you, they apparently will kill you. So I noticed our guide picked up a big stick and poked one of the pigs as it got close to me as I was taking pictures. There was a lot of snorting and gruffing, and many of the pigs hackles were standing straight up. But I guess they didn't feel threatened as the kept on going.
And then there were the ticks. Peccary equals ticks. If you don't spray you legs with the green capped OFF, you will be picking ticks off you legs for an hour before going to bed. It's not so bad as these ticks are small, about the size of a pencil lead. Lucky for us our guide told us about the green OFF.
After 8 hours of hiking on that day we were pretty tired again so when our guide told us that there was an opportunity to share a flight out in a small plane the next day, we took that option, because another day of hiking back on the beach might have completely fried my brain, not to mention my feet, legs, and every thing in between. It took 15 minutes by plane to cover what took us 8 hours to hike. What were we thinking? It's only money.
Even before we got to the ranger station (Sirena Lodge) we saw 3 tapir, monkeys (spider, white face, squirrel ) an ant eater, wild turkeys, and a bunch of new birds. We brought some of our own food as they charge $25 for supper and the same for lunch and breakfast. So after eating our quesadillas and sharing the shower with a 4 inch hairy spider (a whole new twist on showering with a friend), we headed to our tent at 7:30 to find it was still 35 degrees. It didn't seem to matter. By 7:35 we were both asleep, or better described as passed out from exhaustion.
At 5 am we were up and on the trail with our guide. I could list all the things we saw that day but it would look like a beerders list which is really boring. But to give you a flavor of what we saw: many Jesus Christ lizards(they walk on water, or more accurately they fly across the water at the speed of light), viper snake, two and three toed sloths, baby hummingbird, incredible forest, and a howler monkey that fell out of a tree. Sounds like a song! I deviate. Crazy, I didn't think monkeys ever fell but I guess it's one of those occupational hazards. Unfortunately he had a broken leg and likely became supper for a jaguar. The park has 2.6% of the worlds biodiversity consequently there was lots of stuff to see.
At one point we found ourselves in the middle of a herd of peccaries (pigs) which our guide told us if threatened will attack and if there are enough of them and few of you, they apparently will kill you. So I noticed our guide picked up a big stick and poked one of the pigs as it got close to me as I was taking pictures. There was a lot of snorting and gruffing, and many of the pigs hackles were standing straight up. But I guess they didn't feel threatened as the kept on going.
And then there were the ticks. Peccary equals ticks. If you don't spray you legs with the green capped OFF, you will be picking ticks off you legs for an hour before going to bed. It's not so bad as these ticks are small, about the size of a pencil lead. Lucky for us our guide told us about the green OFF.
After 8 hours of hiking on that day we were pretty tired again so when our guide told us that there was an opportunity to share a flight out in a small plane the next day, we took that option, because another day of hiking back on the beach might have completely fried my brain, not to mention my feet, legs, and every thing in between. It took 15 minutes by plane to cover what took us 8 hours to hike. What were we thinking? It's only money.
Friday, March 2, 2012
OSA pictures
Here is the link to pics from OSA peninsula. Just copy and past this link.
https://picasaweb.google.com/105813651029977362721/OSA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJCQ9afMpP-dwQE
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