After munching on the stunning flavours of Miss Miriam's finest creole cooking the night before, we both slept really well and awoke raring to go at 5 in the morning. When we arrived at the dock there were a couple of surly Scandinavian girls who we guessed were coming with us. 'Cheer up ladies' we thought. Clairy was nearly having kittens she was so excited.
Richard our guide did all the rowing, but there were oars there if we wanted to help out. I was the only one who did, but it was a bit of a token gesture, and I probably just made it more difficult for him. It poured down when we started, and me and Clairy had our nice jackets, although they did provide plastic ponchos for the grumpy swedes.
A feckin edgit.....sorry snowy egrit.
Once the rain stopped the waters were beautifully still. This chap looked like he was getting a damp bum whilst fishing.
Oh hi! 'Smile for the camera...oh never mind you two'.
It looked quite spooky in the early morning.
Here's a tiger heron. As it was overcast and we didn't want to scare the animals with our flash, it was quite tricky to get a decent piccy. Not like the large tour groups I might add though. It looked like the paparazzi had arrived when they started taking photos.
Here's a jesus christ lizard or basilisk, so called because they can peg it across water when scared.
Huge great trees.
More white headed capuchins.
They were right next to the boat, grabbing tiny fruits from the trees.
Another tiny basilisk.
At one point our guide pointed out the tiny head of a fresh water turtle poking out from the water. It was quite hard to make out, but you could just about see its tiny eyes occasionally blink. We turned away for a second and the crazy freak had grabbed the poor bugger out of the water.
He assured us it would be totally fine, and asked if anyone wanted to hold it. The other girls looked genuinely repulsed by the idea, but of course Clairy got straight in on the action.
Somehow the guide spotted this sleeping boat-billed heron deep under this bush (where presumably it didn't expect to get blindingly flash-photoed by a mass of tourists, the poor bugger).
As the canal got smaller we were eventually treated to the sight of this beautiful little Cayman.
Oh hi! It tried to get away and eventually had to sink to the muddy bottom to escape our prying eyes.
We stopped briefly by this log to look at another lizard and then our guide muttered 'oh and look at this small spider'. I was well freaked out, and secretly hoped he would paddle away swiftly, these guys were absolutely huge. Clairy didn't flinch though, and got in close for a piccy.
Yet another jesus christy lizard. This time dangling on a twig in a comedy fashion.
This is a northern jacuna. He was very busy poking around in the green pond growth. They apparently also make their small floaty nests here, and they are constantly getting knocked over via the swell from passing boats. As a result they tend to have a few nests, mates and eggs in different places to hedge their bets. Also the males look after the babies.
What a pretty little thing.
The sun did start to come out eventually and the coats came off.
Richard our guide did all the rowing, but there were oars there if we wanted to help out. I was the only one who did, but it was a bit of a token gesture, and I probably just made it more difficult for him. It poured down when we started, and me and Clairy had our nice jackets, although they did provide plastic ponchos for the grumpy swedes.
A feckin edgit.....sorry snowy egrit.
Once the rain stopped the waters were beautifully still. This chap looked like he was getting a damp bum whilst fishing.
Oh hi! 'Smile for the camera...oh never mind you two'.
It looked quite spooky in the early morning.
Here's a tiger heron. As it was overcast and we didn't want to scare the animals with our flash, it was quite tricky to get a decent piccy. Not like the large tour groups I might add though. It looked like the paparazzi had arrived when they started taking photos.
Here's a jesus christ lizard or basilisk, so called because they can peg it across water when scared.
Huge great trees.
More white headed capuchins.
They were right next to the boat, grabbing tiny fruits from the trees.
Another tiny basilisk.
At one point our guide pointed out the tiny head of a fresh water turtle poking out from the water. It was quite hard to make out, but you could just about see its tiny eyes occasionally blink. We turned away for a second and the crazy freak had grabbed the poor bugger out of the water.
He assured us it would be totally fine, and asked if anyone wanted to hold it. The other girls looked genuinely repulsed by the idea, but of course Clairy got straight in on the action.
Somehow the guide spotted this sleeping boat-billed heron deep under this bush (where presumably it didn't expect to get blindingly flash-photoed by a mass of tourists, the poor bugger).
As the canal got smaller we were eventually treated to the sight of this beautiful little Cayman.
Oh hi! It tried to get away and eventually had to sink to the muddy bottom to escape our prying eyes.
We stopped briefly by this log to look at another lizard and then our guide muttered 'oh and look at this small spider'. I was well freaked out, and secretly hoped he would paddle away swiftly, these guys were absolutely huge. Clairy didn't flinch though, and got in close for a piccy.
Yet another jesus christy lizard. This time dangling on a twig in a comedy fashion.
This is a northern jacuna. He was very busy poking around in the green pond growth. They apparently also make their small floaty nests here, and they are constantly getting knocked over via the swell from passing boats. As a result they tend to have a few nests, mates and eggs in different places to hedge their bets. Also the males look after the babies.
What a pretty little thing.
The sun did start to come out eventually and the coats came off.
We really enjoyed our introduction to the canals of Tortuguero.
1 comment:
Yo explorers, just come down from the mountain and thought i´d check out your blog. You lucky lucky bastards. Seems like more than 3 years since i was there. Pretty damn cool part of the world hey. I loved guate and nicaragua, thought costa was cool but didnt see much as i stayed up north surfing. Hope you´re learning some lingo as its pretty much all spanish down that way. We´re working hard out here in spain building tracks and barns, keep it nice love Aidan
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