Bahía Drake
Jacob has become a super swimmer while we have been anchored here as he swims and dives from Lanikai for many hours each day. We took two tours from here. The first was to Parque Corcovado. We went to the ranger station, landing in a panga with 5 other tourists making the wet landing without getting too wet. The morning hike was into the higher area above the ranger station and ended up at a waterfall where we got into the cool water for a nice swim. On this hike we saw a toucan high in a tree thru the guide’s telescope and a green parrot. We also saw bats that lined the inside of a hollow garlic tree, (its flowers smell like garlic), a chameleon lizard and some squirrels that checked us out from the safety of a big tree trunk. Too many tropical plants were named for us to remember all, but some of the more interesting names were, fishtail palm, monkey ladder vine, and walking palm.
We returned to the ranger station for lunch and then took another hike near the seashore in the dense secondary growth jungle there. We saw Scarlet Macaws, sleeping sloths high in a tree, leaf cutter ants, pelicans and an egret eating a eel. At any opportunity Jacob jumped in the waves on the beach. We returned to the ranger station and our panga which returned us to Bahía Drake. Jacob jumped in more waves and we all went up to the bar for drinks before making a wet exit from the beach and returning to Lanikai.
The second tour was a “canopy tour” in the hills nearby. It was a 20 minute ride over rough dirt roads to the tour site and we even crossed a small river along the way. The canopy tour had 13 platforms high in the treetops with wires running between them. We were suited up in climbing gear and climbed the first platform. From there we slid down the wires between the platforms attached to the wires on small pulley wheels. It was grand fun and we got to see the tops of trees that we had been introduced to the trunks of on our park tour. We returned to Lanikai tired and woke the next morning somewhat sore from the unaccustomed activity.
One other interesting activity for Jacob here was attending an ecology class with some of the local children. It occupied a Saturday morning and Jacob had wonderful time with a small group of children inventing songs and games and learning some about the local fauna.
See the Map!
