Costa Rica - Osa Peninsula - Puerto Jimenez

Well sadly we had to leave our beloved perezosos and all the good friends we had made at the sanctuary. This was a real wrench after 4 weeks, but we have some great pictures and lovely memories.

We headed west for a few days to the Osa Peninsula, which is a less densely popluated area of Costa Rica, and relatively unspoilt.

The main town is Puerto Jimenez on the east side of the Peninsula. The choices are to travel by road (8 hrs) or fly by light aircraft (1hour), so bearing in mind we had 3 days we chose the aircraft route. Fortunately because the road was actually washed away by storms recently and access was by plane only.

Look there we are flying in now.....

We arrived to a heavy rainstorm which always puts a dampener on any first impression.

Puerto Jimenez , with the tide in and after the heavy rain

But we had good accommodation and very helpful hosts (thank you Chris at Cabinas Jimenez).

We took out the free kayaks for a paddle around the mangroves, saw some Turnstones, a Whimbrel and a Willet, and then headed out into the Golfo Dulce to try and spot some dolphins, but no luck on that score.

Siobhan out in the Golfo Dulce, we were looking for dolphins....

But we did see some birds in the mangroves

On our second day we hired a local guide recommended by Chris, Andreas. We intended to go to Cabo Matapalo, the point at the end of the peninsula. They have all 4 Costa Rican species of monkey here in one place ( Howler, capuchin, Squirrel and  spider). However having crossed two rivers already the third had actually washed the road away. Bearing in mind the threat of rain we decided to drive back and visit some other sites that Andy knew of. He was a very good guide both in spotting the birds and recognising them. We saw some rarities, King vulture ( three of) and Roseate Spoonbills ( three of) as well as a selection of Orioles and even one visitor that Andy did not recognise. About 40 species spotted including scarlet macaws.   

Puerto Jimenez harbour with the tide out (two tides per day)

We took the kayaks out once more but still no dolphins, nevertheless the exercise and a bit of sunshine did us good. We were well rested in PJ and will be going back to the Osa Peninsula some time in the future. For now though we are happy with our taster.

View From the plan on the way back to San Jose...