Gone Bananas

When I opened the curtains this morning, we had already arrived at our next destination, Quepos. It’s a small beach town with lots of small shops, and restaurants for locals and tourists, not particularly high end, that have been there for a long time.  But it also has a fabulous new marina complex with modern shops and restaurants which is where our tender dropped us off this morning. 

Historically Quepos was banana central in the 1930s and plantations belonging to the Chiquita Banana Company originally known as the United Fruit Company covered the hills in the area.  In the 1950s, floods destroyed most of the banana plantations in this area, and the growers switched to a new crop of African Palm Oil.  

Quepos is best known however for being the gateway to Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the most visited locations in Costa Rica.  It was established in 1972 to preserve this biodiverse area in a very small footprint.  I visited this park on my 2nd trip to Costa Rica and really loved the experience. 

In a short walk through the network of trails in the rainforest and along the mangroves and beaches you can see several different varieties of monkeys, three toed sloths, butterflies,caimans, snakes and iguanas.  There are over 100 species of mammals and 200 species of birds to keep you busy looking as you wander.  

Manuel Antonio Beach inside the park and Espadilla Sur Beach are beautiful with clear turquoise water for a variety of available water sports and are very busy spots.  

There was no availability on any of the tours we might have wanted to take today so we had a slow start to the day and went for a 2 mile or so walk along the Main Street of Quepos and a boardwalk along the waterfront to get some exercise, but boy was it hot! and humid! Not complaining though.  There were some really interesting statues along the boardwalk, but the plaques were eroded and faded, and also in Spanish, so I can’t enlighten you as to their origins. Oh, and we might have stopped for some ice cream along the way.

While enjoying the shade on a bench in the marina waiting for the tender to bring us back to the ship, we had some visitors.  Three or four iguanas came nearby to check us out. Thankfully they kept their distance.    

Once back on board, we quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed for the swimming platform at the back of the ship. The platform is only out when weather, sea and anchoring locations are ideal and today was one of them.  This was the first time that I’ve been able to take advantage of it on any of my cruises.  The water was warm and very buoyant, and very salty.  We had such a wonderful time getting cooled down a bit from our walk.  

The rest of today will be engaged in ship activities such entertainment by a local group, trivia, dinner and visiting.  We’ve been invited to the General Hotel Manager’s table at dinner tonight, so guess we’ll have to behave.  Day 2 has been fabulous and we’re getting into the vacation groove.  I am now off for my afternoon nap.  💤