Travel International SPECIAL

Sharing the Magic of the Coastal Rainforest Experience a truly sustainable vacation. Getting There STORY AND PHOTOS BY TRAVEL EDITOR JAMES SMEDLEY rom under the boat’s canopy, our Accessible only by boat, we board a brightly International flight to San guide, Tomas, quietly hands off a coloured panga at Puerto Jimenez for a Jose followed by Sanza Fwell-weighted rod to my 12-year-old 15-minute ride across the gulf. From the Regional flight to Puerto daughter, Lillian. He recognizes that much of water, all we see is a long pier jutting out Jimenez and a 15-minute the cruising done through the tranquil waters from a phalanx of palm trees. The 165-acre boat ride to the lodge. of Costa Rica’s Golfo Dulce is at trolling rainforest preserve is within the 34,600-acre speed, so he never misses an opportunity to Piedras Blancas National Park, stretched Atlantic Ocean throw out a lure. So far, we’ve been up close to along the perpetually calm turquoise waters pods of bottle-nose dolphins, weaved through of the Osa Peninsula’s Golfo Dulce. shimmering schools of airborne tuna, and The stark, frigid December climate of caught mackerel, jacks, and bonito, but what northern Ontario seems worlds away as we I’d really like to see is what’s at the end of navigate paths under the steamy canopy of Pacific South Ocean Costa Rica America Lillian’s line. the rainforest. The sounds, smells, plants, “I can’t get this one in,” she says, looking and animals are all new, yet vaguely familiar. CONTACT INFO for assistance. Through a break in the flowering plants Playa Nicuesa Doing my fatherly duty, I step up to the and fruit trees, we approach the main lodge, Rainforest Lodge plate and, with one foot on the gunwale of a sprawling two-story structure of dark, Golfo Dulce, Peninsula de Osa the 24-foot panga, a local-style roofed boat, sculpted hardwood – a giant tree fort in a Costa Rica I lean back on the stiff spinning rod. The giant forest. It’s here we take most of our U.S. Sales Office: fish doesn’t give an inch. Tomas turns the meals with other guests and watch as white- 1-866-504-8116 Costa Rica Sales Office: boat and follows it, while I maintain all the faced monkeys peer in from the trees, basilisk 506-2258-8250 pressure I can muster. When the line goes lizards race deftly over the water of a creek www.nicuesalodge.com slack, I almost fall backward. without sinking, and wild pigs patrol the Tomas examines the line, severed near the outskirts. Pura Vida Hotel lure. “Shark...big snapper,” he says. The cornerstone of Playa Nicuesa’s P.O. Box 1703-4050 philosophy is to never let us forget we’re Alajuela, Costa Rica Just a Boat Ride Away guests of nature. Our cabin is an extension of 506-430-2929 www.puravidahotel.com We’re at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge the philosophy. Crafted from local hardwoods, on the southwestern coast of Costa Rica. each room opens to the broad-leafed plants of

64 ONTARIO OUT OF DOORS | February 2011 the lower canopy. Darkness comes early Interaction with the rainforest garden and harvests much of its food in the rainforest, and we don’t linger continues, with a rugged hike up a creek from within the rainforest. long after a dinner of seared tuna with canyon to the base of a 100-foot falls. After angling, I join Francine and the soy, ginger, and garlic before crawling We kayak through mangrove swamps girls for the Wild Edibles Tour, harvest- into bed. under the watchful eyes of crocodiles, ing oregano, cilantro, coriander, hot The humid night air carries a monkeys, iguanas, and birds of all capsicum peppers, and broad plantain cacophony of sounds, with hundreds, kinds. We hike rainforest trails by night leaves, which I learn are the wax paper perhaps thousands, of animals, birds, to see snakes, praying mantis, peccaries, of the rainforest. We sample cinnamon and insects all vying to have their calls and frogs big enough to eat a chicken. bark, germinating coconuts, as well as heard. Silence doesn’t exist here, but termites. it’s a vivacious and soothing symphony On to More Fishing “They taste like carrots,” says our that guides our sleep - until first light Squeezed between activities and meals, guide, as she taps on the side of a tree at around 5:15 am when the forest I manage to get down to the pier with to roust a line of tiny orange insects. resonates with piercing screams. Islay and Lillian to cast lures amongst Francine passes, but my girls and I “I’m guessing those are howler schools of fish cruising the shallows. agree the crunchy little bugs taste monkeys,” I say to Francine, my We also spend some evenings trolling remarkably like fresh baby carrots. wife. Although alarming at first, the in the panga, catching mackerel, bonito, Our last evening corresponds with frenzied howling becomes a precursor barracuda, and needlefish. the arrival of phosphorescence. We to morning that we look forward to. The sinking tropical sun heralds the creep down to the pier in the darkness Our first excursion is to the Osa release of a rich fragrance wafting from and stir the water with a stick. The Wildlife Sanctuary (www.osawildlife. the shoreline. I’m told it’s the flower of movement is followed by a starry trail org) down the coast a few miles, where the ylang ylang tree, an ingredient in of greenish light. Earl Crews appears on the beach Chanel No. 5 perfume. “What is it, what makes the water accompanied by two monkeys. He Toward the end of our stay, I venture sparkle?” asks Lillian, wide-eyed. explains that Sweetie and Winkie might out of the calm of Gulfo Dulce with I’m about to explain that it has hold our hands or jump up on us, but Captain Miguel Duarte Quintero into something to do with bioluminescent warns not to hug or hold them. “The the open ocean. Trolling topwater plankton, but I fall back on a better only thing that holds them are things and subsurface presentations is soon explanation that captures the perfumed that want to eat them,” he says. thwarted by the growing wind, so we air, flying fish, water-walking lizards, Sure enough, Sweetie launches head towards the coast where waves tasty insects, and all the other marvels herself up on a delighted Islay’s wash against a long sand beach erupting of the Costa Rican coastal rainforest: back, as we tour a series of pens and into a rocky headland. Miguel finds a “It’s simply magic, my dear.” enclosures holding animals, including shoal and we lower baited hooks to pull sloths, ocelots, parrots, white-faced and up red snapper and, silvery panpama. squirrel monkeys. Winkie takes Lillian’s Heading back into the gulf, Miguel Traveller Info hand, showing her a sore spot where a throttles back over a nondescript patch THE TRIP spider bit him on the leg. of flat water. I cast live bait to where he Lodge-based exploration of the Crews explains that the sanctuary points and immediately there’s a huge woods and waters of Costa Rica’s provides care to injured, orphaned, and boil, a sharp pull, then nothing. I rebait, southwestern coastal rainforest. displaced animals, many of which are cast, and a second boil is answered with casualties of the illegal pet trade. a sharp hook-set and I’m hard into a TRANSPORTATION strong ocean fish. I’ve been amazed at Once at the lodge, we travel on foot, the power of saltwater fish of even 5 or by kayak, or 24-foot panga boats with 115-hp four-stroke outboards. Check List 6 pounds, and what turns out to be a jack over 20 engages in a serious battle I Binoculars. ACCOMMODATION eventually win. With more than enough Open-concept cabins with louvre Pocket guide to creatures of the in the creel, we take a few photos before doors, private verandas, canopied rainforest. releasing the silvery fish. beds, large living area, and open- air garden shower. Bar, dining area, Leave the cotton at home; bring Homegrown library, and hammock-equipped light, quick-dry clothes. Recently given a sustainability rating relaxation zones at the main lodge. Three meals a day included, from of four out of five by the Ministry of Blue and silver shallow-diving $160 to $350 per day/per person, Tourism, Playa Nicuesa is committed crankbaits. depending on cabin and season. to reducing its environmental footprint. Excellent enroute accommodations Stout 6- to 9-foot spinning rod with In addition to solar power, solar drying, and meals in San Jose at Pura Vida at least 20-pound-test line. and composting, the resort keeps a Hotel 4 km from the airport.

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