Photos of Hotel Aguia de Osa, Drake Bay

My Front Porch Hammock & Bay View
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

My Front Door & Outside Chairs
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

My Room, All those windows have only screens. High ceiling with Fan!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

One of 3 Flights of Stairs UP to Rooms on Top of Hill
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

One of 3 Flights of Stairs DOWN from Rooms on Top of Hill
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Exit Sign from Drake Bay Community Trail to Hotel
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

3 Meals a Day Overlooking the Bay 
 Though some trips included a box lunch on the day trip 
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Gourmet Meals Served Three Times a Day! 
Plus Happy Hour with Appetizers!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Hotel’s Fleet of Boats is Important to Guest Transportation!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

As Are the Boat Captains!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

A Familiar Scene Coming and Going from the Hotel
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

And the Hotel Pier is Really the “Front Door” to Hotel
You get here by boat or by walking a trail. No road for cars.
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

I loved it here! Being gone the bulk of the daytime on adventures kept me from missing air-conditioning, which in the hot and humid coastal rainforest would have been better for resting inside during the day. But who does that with all the things to do during the day? At night the ceiling fan was more than adequate and I actually turned it off two nights and used the blanket.

The tour possibilities, guides and all other staff were simply great in every way! One family went deep-sea fishing and the kitchen cooked one of their fish for their dinner that night and the rest of us got a little as part of the appetizers! The food was excellent as was the food service. I highly recommend Hotel Aguila de Osa for anyone considering Drake Bay. Of course I have not tried any of the other hotels here to compare.  This was not my best birding location, but was very good and a big variety of total animals to see both in and out of the park. I was disappointed I did not see a wild Tapir, though people on other tours did. Wildlife is always unpredictable and sightings cannot be scheduled!
It is not easy to compare this to my visit to the southern end of Corcovado Park at Carate Village and the two inns of Luna Lodge and Lookout Inn. That was on a 2009 Birding Tour from the states and the link is to my old PBase Photo Gallery of the total trip that included San Gerado de Dota in the mountains, so more than Corcovado. It was my first trip to Costa Rica and I fell in love with the country immediately! I may have seen and photographed more birds on that trip, but this was a better and more relaxed trip with more variety. And though Luna Lodge is very nice with gourmet food, Aguila might have even better food and my room was better. But glad I’ve seen both ends of this great rainforest park! Next time I may try one of those lodges on the east side of park.

Though not made yet, I will soon have a “Trip Gallery” on this trip in a new area of my Costa Rica galleries simply called TRIPS.  And of course as always I use every trip to increase my collection of bird photos and other categories of photos in my big gallery called Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA.  If interested in Costa Rica you might enjoy exploring my galleries.

And this concludes the Blog reports on my recent Corcovado-Drake Bay trip, though more photos may pop up here in the future. A 6-day trip is the longest I have made since my move here and I like longer visits in the same location! A friend has scheduled a week-long trip here soon for birding and will be in a different hotel every night. He may see more birds but will be physically exhausted by the end of the week! I’m too old for that now!  🙂   Pura Vida!

My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip

And  my Lodges & Hotels of Costa Rica photo gallery

Costa Rica to soon unveil its first hydrogen-powered bus!

Flowers & Other Plants at Corcovado-Drake Bay

A little sample of the beauty of the rainforest:

A short street in the village of Drake Bay called “Hibiscus Way”
Drake Bay, Costa Rica

Red Hibiscus
Drake Bay, Costa Rica

Sorry, but I do not know the name of most of these flowers and other plants. 
See also my Photo Gallery called Flora & Forests
My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip

About Corcovado National Park (Wikipedia)  and  About Drake Bay (Wikipedia)


Trees & Forests of Corcovado-Drake Bay

Just a tiny sample of the lush forests around Drake Bay & in the Park:

This massive root structure is on property of Hotel Aguila de Osa
Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

 

Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

 

Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

 

Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

 

Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

 

Hotel Aguila de Osa
Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Mangoes on the ground for animals to eat or to rot
Common all over Costa Rica this time of year – We can’t eat them all!
Here on public trail through Aguila de Osa Hotel, Drake Bay, Costa Rica
Mango Tree
Along public trail
Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Public Trail Near Hotel Aguila de Osa
Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Park Trail, near Pedrillo Ranger Station
Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

 

Bamboo at Aguila de Osa Lodge
Drake Bay, Costa Rica

See also my Photo Gallery called Flora & Forests

My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip

About Corcovado National Park (Wikipedia)  and  About Drake Bay (Wikipedia)
 

Hiking Corcovado Rainforest Today

Rainforest Meets Pacific Ocean
Corcovdo National Park, Costa Rica

A big gourmet breakfast and off by 6:30 by boat to San Pedrillo Ranger Station by boat in the rain through some pretty big swells along the Pacific coast – about 30 minutes and another wet landing in the surf and knee-deep wading to shore. We hiked three trails including part of the beach above seeing an unbelievable number of tree species and other cool plants, many animals and two new birds for me. We also saw a beautiful waterfall that I will show later. Then another rough boat ride back after our sandwich lunch, but no more rain! But it is cloudy and I do expect rain tonight.

I’m already worn out and have another boat trip tomorrow to the little island nearby where we will snorkle the coral reef and maybe see some wildlife on the island. Bumped my head on a low hanging tree limb today that brought a little blood, but I have Neosporin and the salt water tormorrow might help it heal even faster.

About Corcovado National Park (Wikipedia)  and  About Drake Bay (Wikipedia)


And Aguila de Osa Inn

My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip

See also my Pacific Coast Flora & Forests photo gallery


Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail

I neither saw nor photographed a single bird, though I heard many. But it was a beautiful walk in the rainforest across the road from the lodge on a trail they created for about 2-3 km. It is a similar cloud forest to what I walked through in Tenorio Park, just fewer people! Here are a dozen photos without much comment:

Rainforest Trail Seen from Lodge Dining Room
Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Tree Fern

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica

One of Many Old Growth Trees

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail,
Bijagua, Costa Rica

Flower at Entrance to Trail

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Fern

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Unknown Berries

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Tree

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail,
Bijagua, Costa Rica

Tree

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail,
Bijagua, Costa Rica

Plant

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail,
Bijagua, Costa Rica

Much Grows on the Trees

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail,
Bijagua, Costa Rica

Air Plant

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica

Footbridge Over Stream

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica
Trail Welcome & Rules in Spanish, English & French

Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail, Bijagua, Costa Rica
My real highlight was the Birds at Celeste Mountain Lodge, link to earlier post.
Or you might want to see the lodge’s website for more about their services, great food, etc.
For more photos of Costa Rica, see my gallery called Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA
Celeste Mountain Lodge
Another great nature place!
¡PURA VIDA!

Tortuguero Miscellaneous Photos

Okay. I’ll try to make this the last post from Tortuguero, then back to Atenas posts tomorrow!  🙂

Bus window view of Chiquita Banana Plantation, Costa Rica
Modern buses like this is how many tourists get around inside Costa Rica.
All the dozen or so lodges have boats making the 1.5 hours trip into park.

Our group on one of the Laguna Lodge boats enroute to lodge.
Robert Umaña, our guide, listening for a bird or other animal.

Robert using sand drawings to tell us about the life cycles of
the green sea turtles that lay their eggs on this beach and each
baby that makes it goes to ocean and returns years later to lay their own eggs.
One of the many river channels and canals we traveled looking for wildlife.

Another lodge’s guide pointing out a bird, monkey or other animal.

Unidentified butterflies/moths in our Laguna Lodge garden.
Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica
Pura Vida!


This trip significantly improved some of my photo collections in the PBase Galleries:
Later I will be adding a trip gallery in the travel section of my galleries, but not enough time yet!

Exploring Tortuguero

Green Basilisk or “Jesus Christ Lizard” (because he walks on water)
It is also called emerald, plumed, or double-crested basilisk (Nat’l Geographic)
From a boat on Tortuguero River – CLICK TO ENLARGE

We are busy & upload is slow, so I’m saving the bird photos for when we are home tomorrow or later this week. Lots of birds! Good tours today! I recommend Laguna Lodge at Tortuguero!

And if you are going to the west coast or especially Manuel Antonio, I recommend our guide for these 3 days who usually works over in Manuel Antonio National Park. His name is Robert Umaña, robert.uma8@gmail.com or call (506) 8881-2240. He is very personable and well organized and good at finding birds. Though I have had guides more knowledgeable of birds, he is going to continue getting better as a young man. And he is real good about taking a picture for you with your cell phone through his spotting scope, which I find very impressive for most people from the U.S. And he is very patient with people which is important for a professional guide. Guides here are trained by the government and certified which means most are good and that is a big plus for Costa Rica tourism! I’ve never had a bad guide, just some are better than others. Robert’s one of the best!

Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of his visit here! He is not into birds like me or the wildness, but he likes the adventure and the opportunities to make photos and share them just like me! So we are both having a good experience in “The Amazon of Costa Rica.”   Pura Vida!

Coffee Farm & Begin Jungle Trip

Gabriel was our guide at El Toledo Coffee Farm

His Mom made the coffee samples

And we decided our favorite before he told us which was
dark roast, light roast or medium roast

Then we watched the beans roast

Which were earlier sun-dried like this

We learned how organic “natural” farming is better than just organic

The purpose of many different kinds
of trees among the coffee plants

And ate a typical Tico lunch at Gabriel’s aunt’s house. A great total experience!

Reagan continues to say that sitting on my terrace is his favorite place.
I never show the driveway in photos, he noted; so here it is! Not picturesque!
I only use it when I have a rent car, like this week. 

Tonight – Sunday night – we are at the Hampton Inn Airport where we will be picked up at 5:30 in the morning for our trip to Tortuguero on the Caribbean Coast. Our big adventure starts with the van trip to the boat dock in the morning, driving over a mountain range and into the coastal rainforest for and hour and half boat trip through the jungle to our Laguna Lodge.

We are suppose to have internet access in the common areas, but if not, no more posts until Thursday.

Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of his visit here!



Textures of the Rain Forest

While along the Yorkin River in a Bribri indigenous people village I captured several shots of the forest & its textures.
East of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

 

All photos made by Charlie Doggett at the Casa de las Mujeres Yorkin

 

 

 

 
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
 
Frank Lloyd Wright

 

 

 

Gustave Flaubert

“I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony.” 
― Gustave Flaubert, November