Tinbergs on Tour: February 21, 2023 – Puerto Limon, Costa Rica - Partly Cloudy

Checking out the porthole cam, I can see that the sea contains a lot of chop. The pre-dawn sky was very nice this morning.

Getting room service today because we are on a tour, “Veragua Rainforest Experience”, which meets at 8:15 AM. When the breakfast didn’t arrive at 7 AM, I checked the local time in Puerto Limon and it was an hour earlier (CST). We missed the time change in the Insider – just didn’t read it carefully enough. So the breakfast would be arriving about 30 – 45 minutes later. That will be OK but I have been up for a very long time and I will not be running on all cylinders today.

I had oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins, pancakes with two eggs over medium. The food came “on time” but the items had cooled down a bit. Still good though (I couldn’t finish it all).

Our Group 1 departed the Cabaret Lounge a little after 8:15 AM and headed to the busses which were parked right next to the ship – we are here today with the Aida Luna but Onward has the berth closest to the pier entrance. We were first on the bus and got the bulkhead seats which had good enough leg room and pretty comfortable seats. Our guide is Vinicio (sounds Italian) and his English is pretty good.

The bus ride took us through Limon, which is a more like a large village (population approximately 62,000) but spread out. Downtown Limon, next to the pier, still looks a little scary. We left Limon and stayed along the coast passing the other Atlantic Port, Puerto Moin. There was traffic but not bad at all – the road transitioned from a nice highway to a gravel road complete with potholes and bumps – it was a semi-uncomfortable. After we entered the Viragua Facility, there was a considerable ride to the actual entrance. The whole journey took over an hour.

We split into two groups – one would go with Vinicio and do the easy and flat walk through the rainforest – the other group, and some would regret their choice, would take the 300 steps (real steps) to the waterfall.

Our first stop was the Snake Exhibit, where all sorts of snakes – big, small, harmless, venomous – were housed. Here are pictures of some of the snakes.

Boa Constrictor

Bushmaster

Fer-de-Lance

Northern Birdsnake

We went next to the frog house, where the small tree frogs of Costa Rica are displayed. We also saw a pond which advertised frogs but we did not spot any,

Our final stop was the butterfly tent, where the insects fly around.

I don’t usually like butterfly enclosures, as they make me itch. Not so bad this time. It was quite hot in the indoor locations so the two of us tried to get outside as quickly as possible.

The tour ended with a gondola ride from the canopy to the floor of the rainforest. Vinicio took our picture before the ride, but I wasn't quite ready.

The ride was short (five minutes or so) but scenic.

We then did our little walk through the floor of the forest on a wooden platform.

Vinicio realized that it was getting late, so we did not complete our walk and headed back to the gondola station. We got on – went to the top – and then were served a snack of fruit (watermelon, mango, and pineapple), a sandwich (ham and cheese for everyone and cheese for us) and a drink (iced tea or fruit punch). I just took a few bites of my cheese sandwich (icky). We chatted with the fellow who graduated high school three years ahead of us and then hopped on the bus for the hour ride back. On the way back, we got our best look at a sloth yet – he was hanging on a branch in full view (could not get a good shot).

On our walk from the bus to the ship, I got pictures of a couple of signs. I should also mention that there was a musical group near these signs who kept singing "Thank you for coming to Puerto Limon" to a very catch tune.

After cleaning up, we went to the Living Room and met up with David and his wife. I ordered an Amaretto Disaronno Sour, and it was delicious. Captain Carl warned us that we would run into swells once we cleared the breakwater, and he was more than correct. That was confirmed by the not-so-subtle reminder found all around the ship.

People were teetering all over the place. We decided to go to a smoother place and while we liked the set that East Pearl was playing, we went to the other end of the ship.

It was pretty bumpy on the Sunset Veranda, but the fresh air helped with the queasiness. It was a "Taste of Greece" in Windows Cafe tonight and there was nothing for us as a main dish. Ellen chatted with the Suit in charge of the Café and asked whether the Sole served in Discoveries could be grilled up here – he said OK and he also said he would bring my Salmon and fixing from the Patio out to the Veranda. I also got some Greek Salad and grilled veggies to go with my meal and Ellen’s Sole was perfect. So, an all-around Dinner Winner.

We watched the sail away from the Veranda and also got another glimpse of Jupiter and Venus in a beautiful sky.

We had heard because we didn’t go to the show last night that the Production Show – Club Groove – would not be on tonight but that a comedian had been located and he would be performing. His name was Dave Konig and I am pretty sure I have seen him on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”. He was really good – he interacted with the audience and recounted his experience getting to the ship. He was a classy, professional, comedian.