Tortuguero Canoeing on Our Own - Day 2

Oh hi! After yesterdays adventure we hired the canoe a few hours earlier so that we could have more time on the river. We were so keen that we immediately paddled off without handing the pass in and were half way across the river before we were called back! LoL, we apologised and he found it quite funny...'mental tourists' etc etc.

Continuing on that theme though, the previous night we had enthusiastically discussed over some beers, what we would try to get some snaps of today. This involved more comprehensive manouvering skills and team work so that we avoided getting wedged in the vegetation.

Sadly we can't remember what this flower is called, but it and the seed below are eaten by howler monkeys


This was enormous, about the size of a rugby ball.


We both really wanted to see a sloth and had been scanning the trees since our walk in Monteverde...so had clocked up some sloth watching time. I especially wanted to see one on Fenner's behalf, knowing her true passion for these beautiful mammals. LOLx.

Here Wiji spotted one in the tree tops. We did some careful manouvers to get underneath it, where we watched it for some time. We even saw the arm come around and over the head with the claw-toe thingy to reach some leaves that it was eating...wicked. We watched it for ages. Sadly in silouette here in the photographs because of the white sky, and the height that it is at over the water.

In case you have missed it Fenner, Wiji has circled it!


Oh yes, its a sloth! We were estatic (is that wrong?) and this was the start of the canoe session!LOL.


We were paddling along in silence when we heard an almighty crashing sound coming from behind us. A tree had just collapsed a short distance away and was crashing through other vegetation. The sound carried across the water and we could hear the after effect creaking noises of what it was now crushing. This was quite an exciting audio experience, especially in the tranquillity of the river, with no one else about.


A bit scorchio, but there was a tiny breeze.


Here's the green heron that was minding its own business, but let us get very close before making a giant splash into the water, just as we were about to reverse.


LoL, we felt a bit hysterical after the sloth! We then even though that we might see a manatee, but no such luck. Although we saw an enormous splash coming from a very large fish, possibly.


Sneeking up on the anhinga as it dried its oil-less wings in the sun after diving for fish. It proved too difficult to get a shot in focus, with the boat moving and the bird, but I managed to get this action shot as it poo'ed. Not really national wildlife photography competition material though, but very amusing for us.


Giant yellow bamboo. You can't really see how big this is in the photograph, sadly. It was enormous and because of this and its strength, it is used locally for building housing. We paddled on from this to a very narrow section of the river that became quite dark as the banks and the vegetation drew in over the water. It was here, of course that we heard a howler monkey really close. It was very eerie and I began to imagine the enormous crocodiles that inhabit these waterways. This waterway had several trees that had fallen into the water, so we turned back, not wanting to get stuck.


We watched and identified the green kingfisher, belted kingfisher and ringed kingfisher. Even though they are bigger than the british variety they were too small to photograph. We also saw the great kiskadee and the boat billed flycatcher with their yellow bellies.

A snowy egret off and away.


On our slow paddle back we through that we would see if the sloth was still there, not really believing that it would be, however it was! But this time totally motionless, probably asleep.


I was sure that I heard a toucan near the orpendola nesting tree, who were shouting at it. Wiji spotted it high up in the canopy and we waited for ages to get a proper glimps of its beak. It was the keel-billed toucan with a big flash of yellow, blue, green and red on its bill. Quite spectacular. They look like a dart when they fold their wings back into their bodies when in flight.

It was so still and tranquil we took a couple of vids to capture the atmosphere.