Pristine Views

Pissing Spider Monkeys

Friday, February 20, 2026

Costa Rica update

They kept us up late last night and they got us up early this morning..

We scooted over the water on our Zodiac ride to a dry forest, I’d call it. Costa Rica has manyforests and four distinct climate zones. We are currently docked in a bay that is quite pristine. So pristine that Nat Geo/Lindblad is the only cruise company allowed in the bay. The hills of this peninsula are part of the Santa Elena Bay in Santa Rosa National Park.

Our hike in the morning took us through a very dry forest because this is the dry season. NatGeo hired people to make one path through this peninsula. It went up, it went down, and the path had lots of rocks, holes, termite mounds, trees, vines…and snakes that did not present themselves.

This part of the park is where we encountered spider moneys. Our guide warned us that they pee on intruders. Not being use to people, they chattered and jumped from tree to tree, branch to branch performing perfect ten gymnastics to our delight. Some pictures I took. Taking a picture of a monkey is akin to trying to take a picture of myself zip lining. They were just too fast. Perhaps our guide managed to get a shot of two. His camera was about twelve feet long. Better to see them. It was much easier than my iPhone with me at the helm.

Fun facts about these monkeys from National Geographic website. “Spider monkeys hug each other and wrap their tails around each other. They are very intelligent and have robust memories.

They were named spider monkeys because they look like spiders as they hang upside down from their tails with their arms and legs dangling.

Their genus name is Ateles, which means “imperfect.” This refers to the fact that they don’t have thumbs.”

We saw a black raptor, some parrots, many Panama trees. Here is one…the big middle tree. I think.

Apparently we were very lucky because it was not as humid, there was no wind, and no one got hurt. In other words, timing is everything.

This p.m. was another snorkeling event and we pooped out. Stayed on the ship and took a nap. Apparently, we blew it. Stingrays were sighted and even a shy shark. Hopefully someone with an underwater camera captured some pictures. Sorry we missed it. Bad luck.

This area of Costa Rica has been affected by volcanic action, shifting plates over themillennium. We witnessed some of the rocks that were formed during the ages. On our Zodiac ride this morning, we took a tour of the bay. It is pristine. And, gasp, we saw brown pelicans. Those birds get around. Osprey soared around too.

We went up to the sundeck at sunset to see the sun set while sipping on our beverages of choice. While there our friend from Tucson told us he went ashore and was sorry he did. He reported high winds, colder water, and tough disbarking from the Zodiac and doubly hard embarking the Zodiac after a drink or two.

The best news I had today was that the staff was able to fix my shoe. The bottom came apart where the traction part of the bottom of shoe met the top of the bottom of the shoe. I don’tknow how else to explain it. I was amazed that they saved it. This gave me the ability to wear it on the walk which was handy because the way you get out of the Zodiac is by jumping into the water. Shallow water (knee deep) but these shoes were designed to make the jump-into-the water move easy. Incidentally, the water here is warm. 75 to 80 degrees.

Finally we had some naturalists lecture us on the part of the world on the northwest part of the country. They are wonderful presenters and employ mucho humor sometimes when you least expect it.

Below is a snapshot of our guides onboard in the library which is attached to the theater-in-the-round lounge where presentations are held.

P.s. I still did worry about our safety. We were prime targets of Hegseth, our illustrative lead who has been casually blowing up boats for months now. So far so good so far. We made it!