Another day in paradise!

I got up early this morning to catch the sunrise over the water at the beach. There were a few clouds in the sky so that made it nice. Of course I took a few photos too.

Next I had to walk down to the pier where I left on my tour to the Monkey River. There were 5 of us on the tour and interestingly by chance there was a couple from Wisconsin who had also been guests at the resort in Benque Viejo. It was good to meet up with people I'd met before.

It was about a 30 minute boat ride to Monkey River town at the start of the tour. It was a nice ride along the coast and through some mangroves.

The tour up the river was interesting too. Our guide lived all his life around the Monkey River so of course he was very knowledgable and could easily spot wildlife we would have missed ourselves. On our way up the river and back we saw lots of different species of birds, crocodiles, turtles, and even a boa constrictor. The banks were also lush with vegetation.

We also stopped and hiked for awhile through the forest. It was amazing to think that the whole area was destroyed by a hurricane in 2001 since the area was a complete forest again. Things grow very quickly and easily in the rainforest!

Of course, in the forest we got to see a few monkeys, howler monkeys here. We also got an explanation of same of the interesting flora.

The highlight of the tour for me was the boat ride back. Twice we stopped and were able to see manatees. That's not something they can see every time the tour goes, but conditions today were good.

That's about it for today. Tomorrow I'm thinking it may be a quieter day without a tour. I'll probably sit on the beach for a bit and wander some more around town.