Drake Bay!

Hey all, we've been down in Corcovado and we just now discovered that there is an internet cafe here. I will post our notes from Dec. 28, but pics will have to wait because the connection is very slow. It is now New Year's Eve and we want to wish everyone a happy New Year. We've seen some amazing things here and have now bagged all 4 species of monkey found here in Costa Rica as well as seen chestnut mandibled toucans and scarlet macaws. Crazy. Anyway, hasta luego!

We awoke after a night at Richard's place and decided to make our way down to the Osa Peninsula.

Richard's was ok--it was nice of him to rent it to us, but unfortunately it had a very musty smell. Isaac thought it was due to a lack of p-trap in the shower. We didn't use it, but the pool looked spectacular and the view of the valley was pretty cool.

Anyway, we packed up our things and headed south. The Pacific highway has recently (very recently as in its not finished yet) been transformed from a pot-hole-filled secondary road to the nicest highway we've seen in Costa Rica. Isaac very much enjoyed driving on the smooth surface--although it was punctuated by numerous dirt sections with little advanced warning.



In no time, we had reached Sierpe--the gateway to Drake Bay. So the Osa Peninsula is the very southwestern tip of Costa Rica. At the end of the peninsula is Corcovado National Park. Everything I'd read about the park painted a picture of wild and untamed landscapes. The park boasts having about 400 species of birds, 116 species of reptiles and amphibians and 139 species of mammals. With all this diversity however, comes some travel difficulty. The park itself can only be reached by hiking, boat, or perhaps flight. There are no roads into Corcovado. There are places to stay on the northwest and southeast sides of the peninsula. To trek into the park, you stay in the southeast at Puerto Jimenez (this would have been my choice). If you want to go deep sea fishing or diving and take a boat to Corcovado, you stay on Drake Bay. Since Isaac wanted to see about diving, we went to Drake Bay. Technically, there is a road that goes from the town of Rincon to Drake Bay. All the guidebooks and Internet sights spoke of having to ford 4 rivers to get there. It isn't possible during the wet season. Most advise parking in Sierpe and taking a boat taxi to Drake Bay. Being the chicken that I am when it comes to driving through rivers, we took the latter option. We didn't have any hotel reservations so we stopped into a tourism office to see about finding a place to stay. We were told that most places were full, but we could perhaps stay at Las Cabinas del Jade (or something like that). We spoke to some others that recommended we stay in Sierpe instead, but decided to go with "Rafael" to Drake Bay via his boat taxi. The boat was loaded and waiting so we had to rush to get our luggage and just handed the car over to some young kid who said he would park it for us. (yes it had us a little concerned). The two-hour boat ride took us through a mangrove forest on the beautiful Sierpe River. Unfortunately, upon reaching our destination we were told that there were, in fact, no vacancies at the Jade place. I wasn't convinced that this wasn't known all along, but Rafael directed us to his friend, Huber, who also had cabins for rent. Huber showed us the place which was actually quite nice--very plain and simple--with a nice view of the bay. Note, Neither Huber nor Rafael speak English, so I hope my Spanish gets better during our stay here!



We took a walk to check out some diving possibilities. Unfortunately, we've learned that we need our PADI certification to dive here. Although Isaac got his in Thailand years ago, he never sent away for his card so he has no proof. Huber was hopeful that we could arrange a course for the two of us, but it seems that the dive shops are too busy right now to make that worth their while. Isaac is quite disappointed, but we will try to make the most of it. We were also disappointed to learn that an overnight in Corcovado also may not be a possibility due to the number of people. This is the downside to being spontaneous I guess. On the flip side, while we were walking back up to Huber's, Isaac spotted two gorgeous scarlet macaws on the side of the road. As we sat on our porch we saw tons of birds including a bunch of parrots. Huber tells us that sometimes you can see whales in the bay from our porch--that would be awesome! So we'll make the most of it.