The next day (Valentine’s Day!), we took boats to Caño Island to learn about island ecology and go snorkeling. Along the way, a pod of pantropical spotted dolphins crossed our path. There were about 15 dolphins swimming around and coming up for air 2-3 meters from the boat. One even jumped out of the water; very cool.
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| the Isla! |
We had class on the beach, with Alan using the sand as a chalkboard to demonstrate island biogeography theory. We also hiked around the island a little and did some species reports.
Snorkeling was very fun. I got a little seasick sitting in the rocking boat adjusting my snorkel mask, but once I got in the warm water I felt fine. There were lots of pretty fish, and I even saw a green sea turtle and a white-tipped reef shark. Back on the boats, we saw more dolphins and I learned that my missing bag was on one of the boats. I was very happy to have my bag back. As soon as we returned to camp, I brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, and used deodorant for the first time in four days. I also set up my clean and comfortable sleeping bag and pad in the tent.
After dinner and a lecture, our professors took us on one of the coolest things I’ve ever done: a night hike through the rainforest. Part of the way we hiked on the path, keeping quiet and listening to the night sounds and stopping often to check out some amazing insects, spiders, lizards, and frogs. The other part of the hike was through the creek, stepping carefully through knee-deep water, our headlamps reflecting on the surface. Large orthopterans (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids) with crazy long antennae blended into the leaves until our movements disturbed them into jumping away. Huge spiders and tarantulas waited for prey under leaves and logs. Sleeping Norops lizards stretched out on thin branches overhead, trying to hide from their vine snake predators. We found a few yellow leaf frogs, which were smaller than the spiders we were seeing. One of the coolest finds was a cane toad sitting by its burrow under a log. Native here, they are huge pests where they were introduced in Australia. The other cool find was a caiman, which is like a small crocodile, swimming in the creek. We followed it upstream for a ways before it hid.
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| through the creek |
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| through the creek |
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| yellow leaf frog |
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| katydid |
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| cane toad |
Feb. 15
Our last day in Corcovado, we had a morning lecture on beach ecology, appropriately barefoot and sitting on the beach. Class was interrupted twice; once when someone discovered tapir tracks nearby and the other when we watched humpback whales spouting and diving several hundred meters off the coast.
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| tapir tracks |
After lunch, we had a scavenger hunt. My partner, Shelley, and I finished early, so we went to the swimming hole with a few other people. After sweating in the humidity all day, the creek was so refreshing. It was the perfect temperature sitting on rocks in the shade by the creek, and we had a view of the ocean and the sunset. While we were chatting, a white-faced capuchin monkey jumped into a tree right overhead. Then, we noticed some howler monkeys munching on leaves in a different tree. Soon after that, some spider monkeys swung by and some scarlet macaws flew overhead. We marveled at this amazing place, and considered what we would be doing if we were at our home universities right now: definitely something much less remarkable, like studying in a dorm room. This was one of my favorite moments from the trip.
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| sweet spider on the path to the swimming hole |
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| view from the swimming hole |
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