Congratulations to Brenda and Felipe! Brenda became a Master Instructor and Felipe an Open Water Scuba Instructor. We are very happy they made it to the next level! Felipe already has his first 4 dsd’s today, and is about to go to the pool with them.

Another thing we are very happy about is the Bat Island trips. All the trips we have done the past couple weeks were amazing. The last time they went they saw 4 bull sharks coming right at them, and during the surface interval they saw some whales. What else can you ask for?

In Hermosa everything is quiet but that gives us more time to work on the promotion. We have free pool sessions every day, except Sunday, and our marketing intern made some very nice flyers to give to the guests. We expect that we will be very busy in Hermosa around November.

In Coco everything is running very smoothly. Even though it is low season we have enough customers that want to dive with us. Bat Island trips, courses, fun diving. In November it will be a very busy month with big groups but we are definitely looking forward to it!

Last but not least, we had an interesting PADI Member forum held by Jose. He explained new PADI standards, some marketing tools, and gave us some examples.

Overall, we had some very interesting weeks, and looking forward to the upcoming weeks.

Kiki

While not quite on par with 2001’s infamous “Summer of the Shark” (the media’s term, not mine), the summer of 2009 has seen its share of numerous and varied shark stories in the media – from inspiring to bizarre to downright tragic.

As some of these stories illustrate, the message of shark conservation is still not reaching the masses. Too many people still do not understand the delicate balance of the marine ecosystem and the integral role of sharks in maintaining that balance. Here’s hoping that some of these stories help to raise awareness, spur people to action and lead to more protection of threatened sharks:

The senseless killing of tiger sharks -

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/aug/11/outdoor-notebook-two-tiger-sharks-flw-sues/

Study: big sharks disappearing from the Gulf of Mexico -

http://blog.al.com/live/2009/07/study_big_sharks_disappearing.html

A nurse shark left to die in the streets of Miami -

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1153606.html?asset_id=Dead%20shark%20dumped%20on%20Overtown%20street&asset_type=html_module

A rare sighting of a bull shark – in the Alabama River – 80 miles from the coast! -

http://blog.al.com/live/2009/07/bull_shark_spotted_on_alabama.html

An even more rare sighting – a white shark in the northern Gulf of Mexico -

http://blog.al.com/live/2009/08/great_white_shark_sighting_rep.html

And a once rare – but now commonplace – sighting: healthy populations of whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico -

http://www.al.com/news/press-register/metro.ssf?/base/news/125041412399710.xml&coll=3

And, last but not least, a bull shark leaps out of the water and into a boat. Really? Perhaps he realized sharks are no longer safe in the water…  -

http://www.postchronicle.com/blog/shark-jumps-into-boat-in-florida-video/

Cheers!

bull sharks are very dangerous because they will eat anything they dont care if its a human a tire etc theres sharks are the dangerous ones.

2 days in a row I went to the Bat islands.  We planned to go to the Catalinas. but the ocean was flat as a lake, so Bat islands seemed the right place to go.  Did we make the right decision!   Both days were awesome.  The first dive site was big scare.  The name came about because it’s famous for the bull sharks, and boy did we see bull sharks!  At a depth of 12 meters we had about 5 or 6 just circling around us.  Adrenaline rushing through your body and screams left and right of buddies trying to point out more to each other.   The feeling is hard to describe.  The make the dive complete we encountered a giant manta.  this was a divers dream we thought.  Just as we were on our ways up to make a safety stop, 3 sail fish came to check us out!  What more can we want????   We decided to do the second dive at the same site, and once again, bulls everywhere. I looked at my computer and noticed we saw 2 bull sharks within the first minute of our dive.  i was happy, my day was finished.

The second day was Bills B-day and we went back to Bats again.  The first dive once again big scare and the bull sharks were still around.  On the surface interval we saw some turtles mating and this was a great spectacle as well.  The second dive was Black Rock.  Unbelievable, great viz and loads, I mean loads of fish.  We saw every kind of school you can imagine, from grunts, Pompano, spades, snappers, jacks, you name it.  At the corner of the rock we bumped into about 25 spotted eagle rays and to top  of the dive we saw 2 dolphins cruise over just as we were doing our safety stop.

Man these 2 days were magnificent!!!

Brenda ( today we have another bats trip, hope it went just as well!)

Imagine seeing one of these swimming around in a Midwestern lake.

The question of how far up a river a bull shark can live has often brought debate. Although one was found over 2,000 miles  up the Amazon in Peru, it is thought that bull sharks cannot survive very far up North American rivers, and they certainly could never be found in the cold rivers and lakes of the Northern tier of states. Or could they?

It is well-known that bull sharks can tolerate fresh water. In fact, their tolerance for fresh water has resulted in taxonomists naming them after the rivers and lakes they frequent. In Southern Africa, the species is called the Zambezi shark.In Australia, it is known as the Fitzroy creek whaler, and in Lake Nicaragua it is called Nicaragua Shark. In all of these cases, it was thought to be an endemic river species. Now, we know them all to be bull sharks.

Several species of true river sharks can be found in Asia and tropical Australia. These are in the genus Glyphis. The most famous is the Ganges shark, which is quite endangered. It is often considered quite dangerous and is blamed for attacks on Hindu pilgrims. However, it is very likely that this species is taking the blame for bull shark attacks.

Now, in North America, the only river shark we have is the bull shark. It is the species that is most likely responsible for the shark attacks that happened at Matawan Creek, New Jersey, in 1916. It is likely that a great white was preying on people on the Jersey Shore at the same time, for a great white was caught in in Raritan Bay with human remains in its stomach. It is also possible that the shark had been feeding on corpses lost at sea. After all, the First World War was raging at the time, and great whites have been known to swim vast distances across the ocean. However, there were shark attacks on the coast during that time period. These could be attributed to a great white, which are known to hunt in the surf.

Because they happened at roughly the same time as the shore attacks, the attacks in Matawan Creek were blamed on the same shark. However, great whites cannot swim up freshwater estuaries. They cannot regulate their salt content in that sort of water, and they die. Bull sharks, however, can swim up fresh water rivers rather easily. Most experts believe the Matawan shark was a bull shark.

Officially, bull sharks have made it up the Mississippi as far as Illinois. In the town of Alton, Illinois, which is above St. Louis, two commercial fisherman caught a bull shark in the river. This shark had been raiding their fish traps, and they decided to catch the culprit once and for all. They set a big trap, one that would catch the biggest muskellunge or pike.  They were certainly shocked to find that it was a shark raiding their traps.

Now, there is another interesting story that should be added. Although now official record of it exists, a man was supposedly attacked by a shark in Lake Michigan in 1955. This attack supposedly happened at one of the beaches near Chicago. The shark may have traveled through the Illinois River and then took a trip up the Michigan and Illinois Canal. However, the canal was disused and parts of it had already started falling in. It could have made it up the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Great Lakes system. How it made it through the locks and dams on the St. Lawrence is a very good question. Further, bull sharks have been found only as far north as Massachusetts. None have been reported in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they could enter the river and seaway.

This story may be an urban legend.

However, I have found a more recent story that might add some credence to the Lake Michigan shark legend.

In the winter of 2006, sharks were documented in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Yes, you read that correctly.  Not only are both of those state quite far from the ocean, they are also known for their less than temperate winters. The Mississippi’s source is in Minnesota, and Minnesota and Wisconsin are the first two states it passes on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Our story begins in Minnehaha creek, not far from the city of Minneapolis. There, a ten year-old girl named Laura Zimmerly found three shark’s teeth. She brought the teeth to Minnesota DNR biologist Dan Marais. Marais’s first reaction was that these were fossilized shark teeth. Fossilized shark teeth were not uknown in the Upper Mississippi region. However, two of the teeth were rather obviously not fossils. They looked like they had just fallen from a shark’s jaws.

The two teeth were sent to the fisheries department for further analysis.

The teeth were those of a juvenile bull shark.

Now, that was in the autumn of 2005. The two teeth were interesting, but because they were of a juvenile, no one really got excited about them. The case of the Minnesota shark teeth was classified, and no one made a big deal about it.

Then in Februrary of 2006, a pickup truck went through ice in Lake Pepin. Lake Pepin is a widening of the Mississippi between Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is also a lake with its own lake monster, known as “Pepie.” (Now that first photo looks hoaxed). However, when that truck went through the ice, a real live monster made sought refuge within the vehicle.

Salvage divers reported a shark that had moved into the vehicle. Now, it could have been a sturgeon, so Wisconsin’s DNR sent biologists to go check it out. In about 18 feet of water, the biologists discovered a five foot-long bullshark resting within the truck. It was comatose and near death. The cold water and the lake of trace elements in the Mississippi River water were taking their toll upon the creature. It had sought out the truck as a place of safety.

Now, the story of the Minnehaha shark teeth suddenly became an important to the authorities. Minnesota’s DNR sent a team of researchers who used electric current to stun the fish of creek. Among the fish that were stuned were two very small bull sharks. These baby sharks were christened “Frankie” and “Lenny” (from the movie Shark Tale). They were sent to the Minnesota Zoo, where they were reacclimatized to salt water.

Now, it is thought that the five-foot in Lake Pepin and these two juveniles in Minnehaha Creek swam up the Mississippi becaus of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The storms washed large amounts of pollution into the Gulf of Mexico, which killed off lots of prey species for the bull sharks. Bull sharks tend to live very close to shore, and they also tend to live near river mouths. With the temporary extirpation of typical prey species, these sharks swam up the Mississippi. Because the locks and dams were being opened to prevent flooding, the sharks continued to swim up the river until they were very far from their typical range in the Mississippi.

However, the teeth that Laura Zimmerly found were tested for their age. The DNR tested the tannin stains on the teeth. Tannin is the residue from leaves that drop into the river. The longer the teeth were in the creek, the more stain they would have. The teeth were found to have been in the creek for seven years. That means that bull sharks have been occasionally frequenting the Upper Mississippi for a really long time. It also means that bull sharks are coming up these rivers with far more frequency than had previously been assumed.

Minnesota authorities banned swimming and diving in Minnhaha Creek below the famous Minnehaha Falls that summer. No one wanted to be the first Minnesota shark attack victim.

Now, closing down the creek below the falls to swimmers sounds rational, but I have to offer this caveat. The bull sharks of Lake Nicaragua are only able to enter the lake the lake through the San Juan River, which has fast flowing rapids and falls. The sharks were once thought to be trapped in the lake. However, the sharks never seemed to be reproducing in the lake. It was later found that the sharks were jumping the rapids  on their way into the lake. I doubt that the bull sharks could jump Minnehaha Falls, but it was also doubted that they could ever make it that far up the Mississippi.

Now, I have not read of any sharks making it up into my neck of the woods. The rivers in my area all drain into the Ohio, which drains into the Mississippi. Bull sharks have been found in the Ohio, but they have not been found outside the Lower Ohio drainage.  As far as I know, no sharks have been found in the Upper Ohio or its tributaries. But if a shark could make it to Minnesota, it certainly could make it to West Virginia, and it might be able to survive a little longer in the winter. In fact, if the winter was a very mild, it might be able to survive.

However, if there is going to be a shark in West Virginia, it is more likely to be found in the Potomac drainage system. The Potomac is much closer to a body of salt water (Chesapeake Bay), and the sharks have been seen in the Potomac as far up as Washington, D.C.

Now, things wouldn’t be so bad if bull sharks weren’t known for their very high levels of aggression. In fact, most shark attacks in the world are probably from bull sharks. Bull sharks have very high levels of testosterone. In fact, they have higher levels than bull elephants in musth. These high levels might make them more aggressive than other species. Further, they are typically found only in shallow water near river mouths. Those are the same sorts of areas where people swim and fish.

So bull sharks can turn up just about anywhere. However, I doubt that Minnesotans will be ice-fishing for them any time soon.

And they definitely won’t . Please read this post before leaving ANY comments that call me an idiot. I’m a fibber in this case, not an idiot. Remember, I’ve been reading Montauk Monster conspiracy theories for a week, so I thought I’d try my own hand at some “grade A bull-plop,” as “Mr. X” (Homer Simpson) once said.

Watch the Greenland Shark Hits Sub Video from Shark Week 2008 on Mefeedia.com.[More..]


Kaz introduced me to Silvain Sirois who pioneered the Greenland Shark encounter at Baie Comeau which is on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence river estuary. I only had time for two days of diving but as it happened that was enough. …[More..]

Some interesting facts about sharks of the North Atlantic (Greenland Shark) and… Ancient Bird Fossil in Peru March 4, 2009 | Reuters The 10 million year old fossil of a Pelagornithidae bird was found. …[More..]

Watch the Greenland Shark Hits Sub Video from Shark Week 2008 on Mefeedia.com.[More..]


Kaz introduced me to Silvain Sirois who pioneered the Greenland Shark encounter at Baie Comeau which is on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence river estuary. I only had time for two days of diving but as it happened that was enough. …[More..]

Some interesting facts about sharks of the North Atlantic (Greenland Shark) and… Ancient Bird Fossil in Peru March 4, 2009 | Reuters The 10 million year old fossil of a Pelagornithidae bird was found. …[More..]

Watch the Greenland Shark Hits Sub Video from Shark Week 2008 on Mefeedia.com.[More..]


Kaz introduced me to Silvain Sirois who pioneered the Greenland Shark encounter at Baie Comeau which is on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence river estuary. I only had time for two days of diving but as it happened that was enough. …[More..]

Some interesting facts about sharks of the North Atlantic (Greenland Shark) and… Ancient Bird Fossil in Peru March 4, 2009 | Reuters The 10 million year old fossil of a Pelagornithidae bird was found. …[More..]

Watch the Greenland Shark Hits Sub Video from Shark Week 2008 on Mefeedia.com.[More..]


Kaz introduced me to Silvain Sirois who pioneered the Greenland Shark encounter at Baie Comeau which is on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence river estuary. I only had time for two days of diving but as it happened that was enough. …[More..]

Some interesting facts about sharks of the North Atlantic (Greenland Shark) and… Ancient Bird Fossil in Peru March 4, 2009 | Reuters The 10 million year old fossil of a Pelagornithidae bird was found. …[More..]

Statistics

In 2000, there were 79 shark attacks reported worldwide, 11 of them fatal. In 2005 and 2006 this number dropped to 61 and 62 respectively, while the number of fatalities dropped to only four per year. Of these attacks, the majority occurred in the United States (53 in 2000, 40 in 2005 and 38 in 2006).^[1] For the same period, the Global Shark Attack File records 69 unprovoked attacks of which five were fatal.^[2]

The Florida Museum of Natural History points out that these numbers should be compared with the much higher deaths from other, less feared causes; for example, several hundred people die annually from lightning strikes.^[3] It should also be noted that the relatively low number of shark attacks on humans is dwarfed by the number of sharks fished by humans, amounting to almost 40 million per year.^[4]

The New York Times reported in July 2008 that there had been only one fatal attack in the previous year.^[5]

How To Avenge a Shark AttackFirst, find your shark.

Posted Friday, Dec. 17, 2004, at 5:22 PM ET A bad shark is hard to find

Australian wildlife officials are hunting for a great white shark that killed an 18-year-old surfer near Adelaide on Thursday. How common is the practice of killing sharks believed responsible for fatal attacks?

Not very, in large part because it’s incredibly difficult to find the guilty party. Sharks can swim over 40 miles a day and often bolt from the scene of an attack soon after the incident. “The high mobility of individual sharks … indicates that fishing for a ‘culprit’ after an attack is unlikely to be effective,” concluded members of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology’s Shark Research Group in a 1999 paper. Heeding that advice, wildlife officials around the world rarely send fishermen on search-and-destroy missions after a fatal strike.

There also seems to be little scientific basis for hunting down a particular shark. Despite what you might have seen in Jaws, there is no such thing as a “rogue shark” that develops a taste for human flesh. In fact, a shark that attacks a human is unlikely to do so again—we are by no means their preferred prey.

When most people think of a freshwater or river shark they recall the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas). However, bull sharks are not true freshwater or river sharks. True freshwater sharks belong to the genus Glyphis. The genus Glyphis seems to prefer freshwater, but some species can probably tolerate different degrees of salinity while others may be entirely freshwater. Virtually nothing is known of river shark life history or geographical distribution, and all species of river shark are very rare and poorly described. In fact, many are known only from a handful of specimens or even a single specimen. Currently, there are about six known species of river shark, and most are undescribed or have not been formally described. The known species include:

1. Bizant river shark (Glyphis sp. nov. A)
2. Borneo river shark (Glyphis sp. nov. B)
3. Ganges shark (G. gangeticus)
4. Irrawady river shark (G. siamensis)
5. New Guinea or Northern river shark (Glyphis sp. nov. C)
6. Speartooth shark (G. glyphis )

River sharks seem to only be found in fresh or slightly brackish water. As a result, river sharks are most likely very susceptible to anthropogenic activities like coastal development, since they are specialists amongst elasmobranches or cartilaginous fish such as rays, sharks, and skates. Agriculture runoff, coastal development, fishing, industrial pollution, and sewage discharge certainly are threats to all species of river sharks. Researchers believe that river sharks have a low, minimum population doubling time, so recovery from negative impacts is probably very difficult for all species. To facilitate conservation efforts, researchers are currently working to improve river shark description through genetic studies. From Charles Darwin University, Australia:

Forensic scientist Dr Louise McMahon recently completed research on the identification and genetics of the threatened genus of shark called Glyphis.

Glyphis is a nationally and internationally threatened genus of shark about which scientists know very little. However, it is believed there are five possible species in the world, two of which occur within Australia (Glyphis sp. A and C)….

The research details the results into a preliminary assessment of genetic differences between two Glyphis species and several carcharhiniid species….

Her research on Glyphis has been submitted to the journal Marine and Freshwater Research for publication.

Public awareness campaigns are an important tool for conservationists working to save the river shark, because until people recognize river sharks “for what they are”, scientists risk losing important data from valuable specimens that may end up as food on the dinner table. From The Mysterious, Endangered River Sharks:

River sharks are not always recognized for what they are: extremely rare, little known wildlife. So few specimens are available for study that the loss of even one is a great blow to scientific and conservation efforts. In 1986, a Glyphis was caught by an angler in fresh water about 60 km upstream the South Alligator River, in Australia’s Northern Territory. Although the jaws were retained, this priceless specimen was eaten by the angler who caught it, resulting in the loss of much valuable data.

Here’s hoping that, as more and more people become aware of them, the drive to protect and conserve river sharks — and their habitats — will grow. River sharks may not be particularly dangerous or flashy, but they are rare creatures that add to the diversity and mystery of our world.

IMAGE: Borneo river shark

IMAGE: Glyphis spp. versus carcharhinid shark species

IMAGE: Glyphis spp. identification

References:

1. Glyphis n.sp. A Shark Once Feared Extinct is Rediscovered !
2. The Mysterious, Endangered River Sharks
3. Ever caught one of those sharks in the freshwater?
4. Gangetic sharks face extinction
5. Glyphis sp. A (Freshwater Speartooth Shark or Bizant River Shark) and Glyphis sp. C (Northern River Shark)
6. Freshwater and Estuarine sharks

Image Found Here
Image Found Here
Image Found Here

See more Shark Week on The Conservation Report

A commercial fisher netting in shallow Tuggerah Lake, Australia, claims to have netted a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), which may have been around 21-feet in length.  To estimate the size of the supposable great white, the commercial fisher’s boat is 18-feet in length, and he claimed the shark was larger than his boat. The fisher reported taking the shark in nets “he had cast off Canton Beach, at the northern end of the lake.” Despite the fisher’s account, some shark experts strongly doubt the encounter.

However, great white sharks have been recorded swimming in shallow saltwater lagoons. In 2004, a “1,700-pound female shark” was found swimming in a saltwater lagoon on Naushon Island, which is located near Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The 14-foot female great white shark “swam in circles in a shallow area filled with smaller fish,” but the shark was eventually coaxed into deeper water. Additionally, Tuggerah Lake has been visited by great white sharks in the past. From The Central Coast Express Advocate:

It is the second great white found in Tuggerah Lake since 2005. It comes on top of three other shark sightings in the lakes system in as many years. Experts fear the great white may be trapped in the lake unable to reach the sea because The Entrance channel is too shallow.

But the channel has been open to the ocean since last year’s June long weekend storms and after recent king tides others, including senior NSW Fisheries staff, believe large sharks could come and go as they pleased.
Most agreed it would have entered the lake chasing schools of fish, probably mullet which were in abundance until recently.

The commercial fisherman, understood to have been a 20-year veteran, was in hiding from the media yesterday.

But his story prompted Tuggerah Lakes police to issue a public warning to lake users.

Chief-Insp Tim Winmill said the fisherman was known to NSW Fisheries as a “reliable witness” and regarded the tale of his encounter as believable.

Chief-Insp Winmill said the fisherman reported the shark was caught in his net off Canton Beach.

He said the fisherman dragged the shark’s head out of the water in front of his 5.5m boat and looked back to see the tail extend well past the back of the boat.

He estimated it at 7m long.

Tuggerah Lakes Volunteer Coast Guard commander Grahame Bissaker spoke to the fisherman.

“He said he was very frightened and he had to cut his nets to let it free, there was nothing else he could do. He said the shark bumped his boat and he thought it was going to roll it.”

“Everyone needs to know there is a shark in Tuggerah Lakes and to stay out of the water,” Mr Bissaker said. “Even if you are in a canoe or kayak if the shark hit those, you’d be gone.”

It follows a shark sighting in the same area in January 2006 when people saw a large fin in the water about 200m offshore.

This was not far from where a baby 2m great white shark was found tangled in nets in September 2005.

Furthermore, in spite of the title from the TIME magazine article: “Attack of the Freshwater Shark?,” which highlights the recent Tuggerah Lake encounter, Tuggerah Lake is brackish, since both freshwater and saltwater flow into the coastal lagoon. Furthermore, it has been reported that the fluctuations of salinity influences the species composition of the lake. Freshwater shark attacks are most likely to occur from bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas), because their physiology allows them to enter freshwater for long periods of time. From TIME:

It was around 4 degrees Celsius on the lake at 5.30 am on Wednesday, making it the coldest morning of the year in these parts. Wrapped in several layers of clothing, the fisherman was startled by splashing noises coming from underneath his craft, then alarmed by a recurring thudding sound, as though something were striking it. Having rushed to one side of the boat, he peered down to see a gigantic fish trapped in a net….

“He said it was bigger than his boat,” reported local Chief Inspector Tim Winmill. “He’s got an 18-ft. boat and he said it would have been 21 ft. (6.5 m.).” Winmill said police had no reason to doubt the fisherman’s story: he was known to local authorities as a responsible member of the industry. As a result, police have issued a warning to anyone using Tuggerah and two smaller, connected lakes to take extreme care. Though the water at this time of year is numbingly cold, it’s school holidays in New South Wales until the end of next week and some children won’t necessarily be deterred from swimming or other activities.

How would the ocean-going monster have gotten into a freshwater lagoon? Tuggerah Lake is connected to the Pacific Ocean through a tidal channel called The Entrance. It is 12 km long and 4 km. wide, with an average depth of 6-7 m, roughly 20 feet. “It’s not a big lake,” said Chief Inspector Winmill, “but it’s a bloody big shark — if it’s true.”

Some images from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries of the 14-foot female great white shark found in a Cape Cod salt pond during 2004:

More images, videos, and press releases can be found at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and you can read more of The Conservation Report’s Shark Week here.

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Check out maps and reservation details at the bottom of the post

It has long been said that you have to suffer for beauty. While counting mosquito bites and pulling ticks out of their toes, hikers who have just walked 50 kilometers (31 miles) in tropical heat through the Osa Peninsula might be inclined to agree.

From volcanoes with drive-up access to luxury beach resorts, Costa Rica makes beauty readily available for the tourist. Parque Nacional Corcovado is, on the contrary, a small pocket of undisturbed wilderness that hides its deserted, undeveloped beaches and rare wildlife away from human eyes.

Corcovado lies on the outside edge of the Osa Peninsula, and protects the only old growth wet forest that still remains on the Pacific coast of Central America. The forest is easily comparable to an Amazon rain forest, the tall trees with their impressive buttress roots outstripping the height of those in the Bolivian Amazon. The lush vegetation and the yearly 6 meters (about 20 feet) of rainfall provide the perfect habitat for some of the continent’s rarest creatures.

Puerto Jiménez, the small town that is the gateway to the national park, lies a 10-hour bus journey away from San José. From here hikers take a dawn pick-up truck ride for the two-hour drive around the bottom of the peninsula to Carate.

The colectivo heads past eco-lodges hidden in the jungle, stopping only for small ginger-furred anteaters who amble across the dirt road, safe in the knowledge that on the peninsula wildlife is everyone’s top priority.

Carate is the end of the road, although it is still 2.5 kilometers of beach walking to the park boundary. José, a worker for Corcovado Lodge Tent Camp, often takes pity on hikers and slings their luggage into a cart for his horse to drag down the beach — a service usually reserved for those who want a more relaxing Osa experience in the beach-side camp.

“From here, there’s a long way to go before you hit Sirena,” he says, skeptically eying up the day’s quota of would-be hikers. “People come here with packs that are far too heavy for this trek.” Backpacks start out stuffed full of granola bars, trail mix, dried soup, and other preservable foods that represent an entire diet for the next several days. Tents, water filters and camping stoves add several kilograms to the load.

Carrying everything needed for the duration of a stay in the park is essential, unless reservations for accommodation and meals are made months in advance to land a spot in Sirena station’s jungle lodge. The rangers cook three times a day for the well-off kids who arrive on boats or fly in on tiny planes to Sirena’s grass airstrip, carefully avoiding the sweaty hike.

Walkers make do with the more basic aspects of the park’s infrastructure. This consists of a network of relatively well-marked trails and four ranger stations with space for camping. No food can be bought anywhere in the park, and the water filter is essential for topping up drinking supplies from rivers along the way.

La Leona ranger station is the first port of call on the south side of the park. A ranger takes the $10 tourist entrance fee (It’s $7 less for Ticos) and sends them on their way with a rudimentary trail map and a warning that planning river crossings to coincide with low tide is essential if one doesn’t want to wade in up to the chest.

Although only several dozen tourists enter the park a day, the trail system has been well thought out. The trail that leads north along the coast winds through the trees next to the beach, infinitely preferable to walking 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) on the baking sand. Bursting through the trees to get to the beach for a bit of refreshing breeze is still easy, and well worth it, as the beaches are some of the most untouched imaginable.

Dark sand may not seem as idyllic as the blinding white bays on Caribbean postcards, but the coastline has a natural charm. It looks just as it must have for centuries, since well before the first Europeans landed in the Americas. Massive pieces of driftwood, some the size of entire trees, lie on the sand, and millions of hermit crabs are still the beaches’ rightful kings. The palm trees and dense vegetation that line the coast are only interrupted by rocky outcrops and cliffs, against which the bright red and blue wings of scarlet macaws stand out as they fly above the treetops in their lifelong pairs.

Apart from carrying your house on your back, the toughest thing about this trip is the climate. The almost perennial cloud cover does little to relieve the heat, which is oppressive due to the intense humidity. It’s not even necessary to start hiking to break a sweat. Minor activities like eating will bring it on too.

It is a relief at the end of the first day’s hike to find that Sirena station is in fact perfectly habitable, not overgrown or snake-infested as a jungle station might be expected to be. It is an extensive wooden platform several feet off the floor connecting various different rooms including showers, bathrooms, a camping area, a canteen, and a kitchen where campers can set up their portable stoves and cook themselves a hearty portion of pasta.

Sirena is the perfect spot to spend a day or two immersed in the rain forest that once covered much of Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, but has now shrunk to this 100,000-acre space. Rarely-sighted jaguars prowl through the forest, multicolored spiders hang in their massive webs, and hundreds of different types of birds attract avid bird watchers.

Río Serena, a few hundred meters north of the station, is a prime location for wildlife spotting. Bull shark fins in their dozens dart through the water just a few meters from the river mouth, warning tourists away from spontaneous swimming trips. Six-foot crocodiles bask on the opposite bank, and the long grass by the beach has numerous openings where tapirs have crashed through the undergrowth to reach their hideouts. There is always someone at the ranger station who can point animal lovers in the right direction, and those with sharp eyes can also see three-toed sloths relaxing in the treetops.

Hours can be spent stalking wildlife along the trails marked out around the station, where crossing paths with another person is as unlikely as catching a jaguar unawares. The animals here are entirely wild. Spider monkeys shake the branches and beat their skinny chests, trying to scare humans away from the troop when tourists cross underneath their path, unlike the monkeys that inhabit some of the more accessible parks like Manuel Antonio, who hardly flinch when they see a human. Central American squirrel monkeys also live here, the last place in Costa Rica where these endangered primates find a home.

Night strolls along the beach are popular, as tapir and jaguar tracks are often found in the sand at dawn, but boots are essential as various types of lethal snakes hide themselves in the long grass alongside the airstrip.

In the dry season it is possible to continue the hike along the beach, for another 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north to the San Pedrillo ranger station. But once there, hikers are stranded unless they want to spend another day or two walking to the nearest settlement, or hire a pricey water taxi to Drake Bay. Not eager to do either of these, most tourists turn away towards the east, following the trail into the jungle. The terrain changes entirely; sand gives way to red, clay-filled earth, and the flat path turns into hilly climbs during the last two hours of the 17-kilometer (10.5-miles) trek. The humidity is amplified by the lack of coastal breeze, and frequent rain turns some paths into slippery mud chutes.

Plenty of streams along the way provide handy picnic spots and places to top up drinking water supplies using a water filter. Los Patos, right on the eastern frontier of the park, is
far more basic than Sirena, with a field cordoned off for campers and basic bathroom facilities. At night, campers get eaten alive by mosquitoes, and there is no wooden platform to save tents from the tropical downpours that hammer the forest every other night.

After a full day’s walk, it can be difficult to find motivation to hike further, but the waterfall a couple of kilometers away is well worth it. The fall is small, but it has carved out a blue pool, surrounded by jet-black rock that looks almost hand-carved in its perfection. Swimming in the cold water is refreshing, but ticks are rife in the jungle, and swimmers can sometimes find them hiding in the most unlikely places.

The exit from the park is only 2.5 kilometers from Los Patos, but the nearest town, La Palma, is another 10 kilometers (six miles) further on. Tourists coming the other way often hire jeeps to drive them through the gravelly river bed to avoid this extra hike, and anyone exiting the park should be able to flag a returning jeep down to save their legs.

The aches should disappear after a couple of days, the mosquito bites will take a little bit longer to stop itching, but the images of Costa Rica as it was intended to be, before the boom in tourism, before logging companies and before cattle ranching, will stay for far longer.

To make reservations at Sirena lodge, email pncorcovado@gmail.com, telling them the dates and amount of people. If they say it is full up, specify that you do not need anything apart from a place to pitch a tent. Often they say they are full when they really mean the lodge is full. If you bring all your food and camping equipment there will usually be space (unless you encounter a pesky Raleigh International group on the way). You can also call the Puerto Jimenez park office with any more questions: (00506) 2735-5036. You are expected to reserve well in advance, and pay the fee into the park’s Banco Nacional account. This is very easy – just print off the invoice they send you and head to a branch of the bank (very common across the country) with the appropriate number of colones or dollars. If you can’t speak Spanish, the invoice makes it pretty clear what the cashier needs to do.

Corcovado map

Distances:

Carate to La Leona: 2.5 kilometers on the beach
La Leona to Sirena: 17.5 kilometers, mainly on a trail beside the beach, with a few stretches in the jungle. Two major river crossings. Note: when you turn inland toward Sirena, you still have almost 2 kms to go. Sirena to Los Patos: 17 kilometers, through the jungle. The last 8 km or so is hilly.
Los Patos to La Palma: 13 kilometers, through river beds and on rudimentary roads.
Sirena to San Pedrillo: 25 kilometers.