There are three ponds in Grand Case, but on most maps they are not given names. However, I was able to find a set of maps that names them. The large pond that surrounds the airport is apparently Salines de l’aéroport. The small pond by the cemetery is, not surprisingly, Étang Cimitière. The third pond is relatively hidden, to the right side of the road when approaching Grand Case from Marigot, and is called Étang de Grand Case.

Étang de Grand Case is actually quite interesting. While it has some mangroves, much of the shoreline is flat and grassy, allowing the pond to expand and contract quite a bit depending on the water level. There are many birds on the pond, including pretty large numbers of coot, white-cheeked pintail and common moorhen. The common iguana is very common in many parts of the shoreline as well. It’s a bit of a hidden treasure that’s easy to get to and well worth visiting.

I have a variety of photos from a couple micro-excursions where I didn’t really leave Grand Case. The first bunch are some photos I did to see if a circular polarizer helped reduce flash glare on shiny insects. It doesn’t really, although apparently if you have polarizing film on your flashes and a polarizing filter on the lens, you can markedly reduce glare by doing cross-polarization. Maybe something to try in the future.

I also made a little trip up the hill to the cashew tree (known as a cherry bush in the Caribbean). It wasn’t cashew time, but there were a few interesting things to see anyway. It’s also a great place to get a nice view of Grand Case.

After leaving Drake Bay, we gradually made our way back home, first to Sierpe and then to Puerto Jimenez where we rejoined the other team members, did some Extreme Shallow Snorkeling and photographed a few butterflies.

After that, it was back to Pavones for a last night with the team, on to Golfito and overnight in Alajuela before flying back to St. Martin. At our hotel in Alajuela, Orquideas Inn, we opted to explore the on-site gardens where there were quite a few interesting critters including some orchard spiders, heliconid butterflies and some intriguing beetles. Although it was a bit sad, we left Costa Rica with plenty of other adventures left to bring us back.

We took a day trip by boat to the San Pedrillo Ranger Station, one of four access points to Corcovado Park. It was considerably less difficult than the 8-hour hike each way that our team members were making to access the park. Our guided trip through the jungle featured many monkey sightings, including the large howler monkeys, a great currasow and many other creatures. We also went up to a beautiful waterfall on a small river where we were able to do some Extreme Shallow Snorkeling just a short bit downstream from a crocodile. Near the ranger station we even got a quick glance at a coati.

It would be impossible to truly decide, but The Night Tour in Drake Bay may have been the most memorable experience of the expedition. I have certainly seen plenty of nocturnal critters, but the combination of the biodiversity of the Osa Peninsula and the knowledge of Tracie and Gian made it a revelatory experience.

In a nutshell, Tracie covered the invertebrates (largely spiders, but there were some fascinating insects as well) while Gian covered the vertebrates (many frogs, but also a snake and two kinds of sloth). They were very knowledgable about the local wildlife and explained plenty of other eccentricities of the natural world, like wasps controlling the minds of spiders biochemically. There was also plenty of danger, including the constant possibility that we would encounter the deadly fer-de-lance viper or get bitten by a wandering spider.

There were many highlights. Amongst the insects, the leaf-mimic katydid and enormous walking stick were standouts. The most interesting spiders were the trap door spider and burrowing tarantula. Here Tracie’s skill and knowledge was very valuable as it is almost impossible to find a trap door spider unless you already know where its door is. We also saw the smoky jungle frog (which I kept trying to call the misty mountain frog) and the red-eyed tree frog, which is probably the most photographed frog of all time, but deserves the honor.

It was a little bit sad when we had to give back the headlamps.

Drake Bay, named after Sir Francis Drake, who visited there long ago, is on the Pacific coast just past the mouth of the Sierpe River. On arrival, our small taxi boat turned to face the sea about 50 meters off the beach and the captain cut the engines. A short distance down the beach, another taxi boat was doing the same and two men disembarked in neck-deep water, one carrying a small backpack above his head. We were concerned. We had luggage.

After a few perplexed moments, however, the captain slowly backed towards the beach while a couple people held the boat against the waves in knee-deep water and we were able to disembark without incident. Although there is a road, Bahía Drake is inaccessible by land during the rainy season (thoughtfully referred to as the “green season”). Thankfully, the local technique for getting on and off boats works quite well.

Drake Bay is a wonderful place, remote and full of interesting life. For the next few days we would use it as our base as we explored Isla del Caño and Corcovado park as well as the forests of Drake Bay itself. Our base camp, the lovely Jinetes de Osa, was terrific. Also, we discovered that if you stop by the bar area for a beer in the afternoon they make nachos for you.

Our travels next led us up to the Osa Peninsula, home to Corcovado National Park, and our departure point for Isla del Caño. After a night in Puerto Jimenez, the team split up for separate mini-expeditions. While Yann, Marie and Laura went for a three-day hike into Corcovado from the south, Jenn and I headed up to Sierpe to take a boat down the Sierpe River to Bahia Drake. In Sierpe, we found some critters, including an elephant beetle.

The trip down the Sierpe River took us through the Terraba mangroves, which are the largest in Latin America. These (and the ones we had kayaked earlier in Zancudo) were truly amazing. In addition to covering huge areas of land, the mangroves are perhaps fifteen meters tall or more.

Playa Zancudo is the other big surfing town near Pavones (not that it is a big town, of course). We went there to try our hand at surfing. It’s also a great place to barely avoid drowning. After our surfing expedition we went to a nearby pier near the mouth of a river (the Zancudo River, perhaps?) to look for crocodiles. It was low tide and we got to see a number of them in the water and one on an exposed mud bank. In the water were some checkered puffer fish, or at least something very similar, as well as schools of fish with what I think are semi-see-through heads. On our way back, we stopped to take photos of squirrel monkeys crossing the road.

We also visited Yann and Marie’s land, which is located nearby. Only a small part of the land is accessible by path, while most of it is made up of a jungle valley and hillsides. The most amazing thing I saw was a giant buprestid beetle (Euchroma gigantea), although I also saw a truly amazing multicolor grasshopper. Future plans for the area include creating trails in the jungle area and building a camping platform protected by chickens.

The Tiskita Jungle Lodge is a hotel on 800 acres of jungle (with an orchard with over 100 kinds of tropical fruit). We went with Yann and Marie one morning on a tour with Clyde, the son of the owners, and it was wonderful.

The trail began near the lodge, and one of the first things we saw was a small boa on a branch right beside the trail. We continued down a small valley with a stream, stopping by a particularly moist spot to see if we could find a poison arrow frog. It’s actually quite amazing to think that think that one should avoid touching leaves in a certain area because a tiny frog might have been on one. We in fact did see a poison arrow frog after some searching, I believe it was Oophaga granulifera.

Another interesting sight was an agouti that was sitting rather listlessly in the stream, apparently injured or sick. An agouti is a rather large rodent that looks a bit like a long-legged guinea pig. We also spotted a pug-nosed anole (Norops capito), which is apparently a lucky find. As you can see from the photos below, there were also plenty of strange and wonderful insects.

Exiting the jungle, we passed through the orchard to eat some starfruit, cacao, pickle fruit, and a variety of other unusual fruit. We also stocked up on lemons, including one that was the size of a grapefruit. Our last stop was one of the cabins where a white bat (I think Ectophylla alba) was roosting under the eaves.

While it would have been fantastic just to walk around there by ourselves, having Clyde as a knowledgeable and passionate guide made a huge difference. In general, Costa Rica was amazing because so many people there have studied biology and ecology. Some, of course are foreign scientists who have come there to do research, but many are locals who studied these subjects in university in Costa Rica. Clyde had the added bonus of knowing first-hand the history of the land we were on, having grown up there. I would guess there are few places in the world where so many people are so knowledgeable about their country’s natural history.

As we headed to the car, we were also blessed with a final gift: a large group of squirrel monkeys crossing between trees in the parking area!

Here are a whole mess of photos taken in the Pavones area during our Costa Rica expedition. Highlights from the first set include leafhoppers that look like storm troopers and a really amazing leaf-footed bug.

In the second set, there are some interesting flies and, in what is a recurring theme, a wide variety of strange and delightful leafhoppers and planthoppers.