tortuguero canal

Booked through Princess Cruises, Tortuguero Canal cruise and Banana Plantation.Air conditioned bus to canal pontoon boat. Our guide Ivan said he had done this for 12 yrs and obviously enjoyed his job. Good sense of humour, continually pointed out items of interest, explained local economy. We had a v.good skipper on the canal trip, pointing out local birds, sloths, monkeys, turning the boat around so that everyone on both sides had a chance to shoot pics. Then to a Del Monte banana plantation(one of the big 3, Chiquita,Dole). Awesome how much work goes into banana cultivation, harvesting & preparation for shipment. Quality control is impressive. I won't ever complain about the price of bananas again.

This was the highlight of the holiday. WE were two whole hours just going up and down the canal. The boats, open-sided were easy to manoeuvre,, and the driver was only too pleased to make sure we all saw as much as possible by turning the boat first one side to the shore and then the other. He didn't give up until we were all satisfied we'd taken the photos we wanted.He was good at spotting things too. Lots of different birds, monkeys, sloths and crocodiles and he was very informative.. Don't expect to get clear close-up pictures like on documentaries on the TV. I've brought home photos of sloths well hidden in tree foliage, and crocodiles in the mud (or was that just a bit of rubbish under an overhanging branch?)

In one hour on the canal we saw many birds - Spotted Sandpiper, Snowy Egret, Blue Heron,Tri-colored Heron, Great Egret, Great Kiskadee; Mangrove Forest Swallowtail, Swallow, and the Montezuma Oropendola; Blue Crab and Red Crab; Two Toed Sloth and Three Toed Sloth (mother with baby); a Cayman; an Emerald Basilisk and countless Iguanas – babies and adults. And that is just what I caught on camera.

Stopped here during our cruise. Official taxis were waiting at the terminal and we found an English speaking driver and negotiated a tour which included an hours boat ride on the canal. Our driver gave us an excellent commentary as he showed us around Limon, stopping as required to see sloths hanging from road side trees and other interesting features before venturing out to the canal. We were lucky to end up in a small boat with just 4 of us which provided great photo shot opportunities of sloths, howler monkeys, birds and the surrounding forests and locals living off the water. The benefit of the canal is that it is near the cruise port whereas some excursions to the rainforests entail extensive travel. The trip allowed us to explore Limon town which appears not to have become too touristy.

The canal is noted for sea turtles which (seasonally) come in to lay eggs. This was not the season for turtles but our guide made sure we ALL saw the wildlife which call the canal home year-round.

A beautiful, relaxed boat ride through the canal. You are able to see all of the wildlife and a few villagers, lots of info from the guide, a great addition to the aerial tram ride.

We went to the canal with Lucky tour in the 6 in 1 excursion. We saw monkeys, sloths, iguanas, many different birds and a caiman. Our guide was very good to spot the animals in the trees.

This tour was made through Princess Lines. We loaded onto a small bus with tight seating. The guide was young but knowledgeable. The first stop was at a banana plantation. The precessing area was closed but we examined the areas where the bananas were graded, washed, sorted and shipped. We, then, went out into the soggy plantation. Costa Rica gets more than 250 inches of rain each year. It was interesting how the hanging bananas are covered to protect them from herbicide spraying; no organic harvesting here. The bananas are shipped green to markets in the U.S. and Europe.We left the plantation and headed to the Tortuguero Canals are basically muddy rivers but are home to numerous birds, monkeys, lizards and reptiles. We saw various lizards, a small croc, blue herons, howler monkeys and sloths. The captain of the boat would tun the boat to ensure that all passengers saw the fauna. This sojourn lasted about an hour which seemed to fly by. There was a quick buffet of fresh fruit and of course, the requisite visit to a gift shop which had locally made shirts , skirts and dresses before we boarded the bus to take the train ride. It was an original passenger train that was part of the plantation system. The ceiling and car sides were wood slats. The train made its way back toward Puerto Limon but stopped when the crew saw interesting animals. It runs just west of the ocean and there were some very attractive houses and some very decrepit ones. They were all built on government property and those in bad shape had been hurt by hurricanes. Since the government owned the property, the previous owners saw no reason to rebuild.Costa Rica has no standing army but it does have a national police force.We reboarded the bus and went back to the ship. The roads were in bad shape but a local pointed out that the amount doesn't allow cement to set properly and many roads are just dirt roads. All in all it was an informative day.

We went on this excursion and were a little disappointed as we had expected something better. We saw some wildlife but nothing really all that spectacular. We thought this excursion was a bit contrived and not really worth the cost. All in all a poor excursion that we felt was a little concocted by the locals for the tourist.

A one hour covered boat ride down the canal. Our guide Manuel was excellent at helping us spot the wildlife in the lush green vegetation. We were fortunate to spot several sloths, monkeys, white and blue herons, egrets, a kingfisher, a Cayman, and several lizards and iguanas. It was great to see this wildlife in its own natural habitat.

We took a boat ride down the canal. Our guide took the time to try and spot as much wildlife as he could (no guarantees, the animals are in their domain!). We saw monkeys, sloths, herons, kingfishers, a the top of the head of a cayman :) Overall a pleasant experience!

It was raining when we took this tour. We saw one howler monkey, one sloth and one small crocodile. Several birds that I see in the states all the time. Beyond that is was a relatively pleasant boat ride.

It was not that exciting on the canal ride. We did not get to see a lot of the animals but we were fortunate to see a sloth with the baby hanging onto it. Otherwise not much luck that day - probably I would go next time to the wildlife sanctuary to see the animals.

We enjoyed the boat ride. Being able to see from the water how thick the Jungle was and seeing the Howler Monkeys, Sloths, Orinoco Crocodile (about 5 ft long) and to many birds to mention.

They say the Tortuguero Canal is the Amazon of Central America. I've been to the Amazon and would agree with that statement. My brother and I went on a boat tour through the Canal and it was super neat. In a 45-minute boat trip we saw a baby crocodile sunning itself, three of Costa Rica's national lizards, two beautiful national butterflies (they're bright blue with black edges), 4 monkeys, 7 bats and a sloth. Be prepared for humidity and rain as that area of the country gets rain 8 months out of the year or so. Enjoy it!