Travel day to Tortuguero Nat’l Park 11 FEB 26

First, let’s talk about the craziness of spending 3.5 hours to cover just 75 miles so we could catch a boat that would take another 1.5 hours along a canal—travel math that felt equal parts patience and adventure. After check-in we pushed off and motored across the waterway to meet the coconut man, a man that had been in the community for a very long time. He showed all of the ways to cook, change and … We continued on to the sea turtle conservancy where the gentle rhythm of conservation felt like the heartbeat of the place. I’ll admit I slept through most of the lectures—waving palms and lapping water became a blur—but waking up walking through Main Street and enjoying a cold one gave me a chance to wake up.

Canal Safari Tortuguero Nat’l Park

Next, we took a quick boat ride across the canal to the local village, where our group leader accompanied us on a walking exploration. While here, a local resident, “the Coconut Man”, welcomed us to his home and shared the town’s history and his family’s story before giving a hands-on demonstration of coconut processing—showing how coconuts are prepared for oil, milk, and raw coconut used in candy. From there we strolled to the Sea Turtle Conservancy field station to watch a video and slideshow about their mission and to learn why Tortuguero Beach is so vital for the survival of endangered green turtles. A short walk through the tiny town and a cold beer revived me; reboarding the boat, we returned to the lodge for the day’s final presentation by a longtime resident on the history of Tortuguero.

Canal Safari Tortuguero Nat’l Park 12 FEB 26

Morning Boat Safari (not birds)

Our first morning boat safari was jaw-dropping—gliding quietly across glassy water, we came within arm’s reach of animals that usually belong to postcards and wildlife documentaries: a basking iguana so close we could see the texture of its scales. The driving rain in Costa Rica blurred the jungle into streaks of green and silver, then eased just enough for me to pull out my camera, water beading on the lens like tiny moons; through the misty curtain a pair of caymans slid silently past, eyes and nostrils the only alarms above the water, while downstream a hulking crocodile cut the surface with prehistoric indifference, both species gliding as if sizing us up—curious, hungry, and utterly unconcerned whether we were breakfast or merely another soggy disturbance in their ancient waterways.