Category: Rainforest

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South Caribe Trip Gallery & Hurricane Julia

There are so many more photos from my trip back to Banana Azul in the South Caribbean of Costa Rica that I intended to share on the blog, but other things are happening now, thus I refer you to the just-finished Trip Gallery for my 2022 Banana Azul Week, click that link or this image of the first page of the gallery for many more photos from nature . . .

Entrance Page to my 2022 Banana Azul South Caribe Trip Gallery

¡Pura Vida!

And About Hurricane Julia . . .

Yesterday (Saturday) Tropical Storm Julia strengthened into a Category 2 Hurricane over the Caribbean Sea and headed toward Nicaragua where it is expected they will receive extensive damage through today (Sunday) from coast to coast as Julia goes across Nicaragua and El Salvador and parts of southern Honduras to finally dissipate in the Pacific Ocean tomorrow. Nicaragua is on the northern border of Costa Rica but we are not expected to receive much of the wind damage, just a lot of extra rain which could mean some flooding and here that also means mud slides and rock slides in the mountain areas. Otherwise we will not be affected drastically by Hurricane Julia. It was just a mild rain last night (Saturday) as I wrote this. But hurricanes have been known to change course.

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Caribe Flowers

I’m mesmerized by flowers everywhere I go in Costa Rica and the Caribe is no exception, though the hotels on the east coast aren’t as ambitious with their gardens as some other places I’ve visited that work hard to have a large variety of sometimes rare and even exotic (non-native) flowers. All of these are native to the best of my knowledge and at least half were growing “wild” along the beach or beach road. And I’ve decided this time to not try and identify them, since maybe half I can’t without research! 🙂 One photo for the email announcement and then a gallery of 14 flowers . . .

Beach Spider Lily (Hymenocallis littoralis), Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
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The Allure of a Beach

With (1) the lesser popularity of the Caribbean side of Costa Rica from the Pacific side for both tourists and residents. (2) Lesser development on this side of the country (not a single chain hotel). (3) My chosen hotel being away from the other hotels and more popular white-sand beaches further south, and (4) therefore we who stay at Banana Azul Hotel often have the beach all to ourselves! And that’s nice for the tranquility and for the photos! 🙂

I no longer swim or surfboard in the ocean for many reasons, but I love to walk on beaches and also here I walk on a beach road with glimpses of the ocean through the trees. Plus my favorite beach photos here are my sunrise images which I shared daily each morning last week, so you’ve seen those. But here are a few others shot this year that I basically liked.

Tomorrow I will share a few “People Shots” that I sneaked of people on this beach and the beach road. “People watching” can be fun! 🙂 Here’s one beach shot for the email and 6 more to follow online below . . .

Looking North from Banana Azul. “Mi Playa Tranquila” – “My Quiet Beach”
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“Charlie Doggett Trees”

I donated to the Corcovado Foundation recently to plant trees in an area of the Osa Peninsula where earlier farmers or loggers had removed trees. I was surprised the other day to receive an email with photos of “my” trees including some of the little metal tags they attached to each with my name. 🙂 I was not expecting that! But thankful that my money was really used to plant real trees and I even got to see them! 🙂

I encourage you to help plant trees wherever you live or in other places in need of trees like by clicking the Corcovado link above. Planting trees is one of the best ways to fight Climate Change and prevent the future destruction of a planet God told us to care for! And you too could help Costa Rica continue to replace trees lost in earlier years as we become ONE OF if not THE greenest countries in the world! 26% of our land is now in protected reserves and national parks and growing! Plus we are now at 99+% renewable electricity in Costa Rica.

One of several “Charlie Doggett Trees” 🙂
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2 More As I Left . . .

Yesterday morning I did the sunrise shoot, showered, ate breakfast, packed and had maybe an hour before my transportation to the little Limón Aeropuerto, hoping I might find another new butterfly species. And I DID! Two in fact! Two totally new species of butterflies for my rapidly growing collection. Not spectacular or particularly beautiful, but exciting to me because they are new! 🙂

Sharp-banded Skipper, Autochton zarex, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón
Red-studded Skipper, Noctuana stator, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón

¡Pura Vida!

More of my growing Costa Rica butterfly collection in my photo galleries:

BUTTERFLIES and Moths of Costa Rica

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Wet Birds at Gandoca-Manzanillo

This morning’s rain not only interfered with a beautiful sunrise but also dampened my birding expedition with a great guide this morning. I try not to give up too quickly on such efforts, but did cut our hike a little shorter after my camera fogged up on the inside. All 12 of the following birds were photographed in the rain even if not obvious! 🙂 And we saw more birds and other animals, even in the rain! 🙂 Just imagine what it would have been like with a clear morning!

Broad-winged Hawk, Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge, Limón, Costa Rica
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Cahuita National Park

This morning I got a driver who knew “the best guide” in nearby Cahuita National Park and I spent a couple of hours photographing wildlife there with the same two guys taking me to Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge tomorrow for probably even more wildlife. Below is one shot then a gallery of only some of the wildlife I saw and photographed . . .

Laughing Falcon, Cahuita NP, Limón,, Costa Rica
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Tropical Buckeye

I photographed many butterflies today and still haven’t processed all the photos, so I decided to feature just this one colorful and ragged fellow. You can read about them on Butterflies and Moths and see a map there of where they have been seen or look at my collection in the gallery: Tropical Buckeye. Here’s three photos from today’s walk.

Tropical Buckeye, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón
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