Day 13 Kayaking the Estero

Mangrove estuaries are mysterious and fascinating places, home to complex ecosystems of diverse plants and animals. Unfortunately, because they grow in valuable shoreline areas, they are often drained and filled for development. Mangroves are protected in Costa Rica and there are three large esteros in the San Miguel area.
Andrea and I rented kayaks to explore the largest one that drains the Jabillo River near Punta Coyote a few miles south of here. We felt like explorers in the Amazon but with a lot less gear. The main river has many side channels that twist and turn until they get too shallow to follow. Tall trees completely fill the sky but the most arresting feature are the roots of the mangroves which branch and arch above the water so that the trees looks like they have legs.

These roots criss cross and overlap each other into an impenetrable tangle that are highways for several types of crabs, and home to encrusting oysters, barnacles and certainly many other creatures unnoticed by me. They also make excellent perches for the many birds that live here like herons and egrets, wandering tattlers (great name!), and this jaunty green kingfisher among others.

Deep into one channel we smidged over a big fallen tree that was barely submerged and then had to navigate a much larger obstacle on the way back after the tide had receded appreciably.

We ended our explorations by heading out to the mouth of the river, where it met the breakers at the beach. This is a tiny fishing port that we passed:

Just as we pulled the kayaks out of the water and back up into the shed, the darkening skies opened up and chased us back up the hill, out of the mangroves and into the hotel.