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Beaches and Mangrove Tours
Guanacaste offers you fun and exciting water tours, ideal for those looking for some adventure in combination with unique and beautiful scenery of the tropical dry forests of Guanacaste. Sea or Ocean Kayaking is a fun activity to do in Guanacaste; it has hundreds of beaches, some large and already with ground access, but other beaches are still tucked away, hidden amidst rocks and mountains. Our sea kayaking tours will take you where only a sea kayak can go, to secluded beaches, little coves and hidden bays, pristine white sand beaches and unexplored and uninhabited sandy beaches. Ocean kayaking is a sustainable activity in total harmony with nature, an activity in which you also exercise without any negative impact on the surrounding environment. It is an amazing feeling to silently paddling through quiet and glassy bays, observing pelicans and sea birds or marina wildlife from above, and finally to reach a beautiful small white sand beach, hopefully with a group of howler monkeys awaiting us.
BEACH - MANGROVE Costa Rica’s shorelines are home to five species of mangroves. These pioneer land builders thrive at the interface of land and sea, forming a stabilizing tangle that fights tidal erosion and reclaims land from the water. In the nebulous zone between high and low tide, where freshwater meets saltwater and the ground is neither liquid nor solid, grow the mangroves. Inhabitants of inter-tidal zones throughout the tropics and subtropics, mangroves are a most curious collection of plants. Mangroves are what botanists call halophytes, plants that thrive in salty conditions. Mangrove swamps are esteemed as nurseries of marine life and as havens for water birds—cormorants, frigate birds, pelicans, herons, and egrets—which feed and nest here by the thousands, producing guano that makes the mangroves grow faster. A look down into the water reveals luxuriant life: oysters and sponges attached to the roots, small stingrays flapping slowly over the bottom, and tiny fish in schools of tens of thousands. Baby black-tipped sharks and other juvenile fish, too, spend much of their early lives among mangrove roots, shielded by the root maze that keeps out large predators. Raccoons, snakes, and arboreal creatures also inhabit the mangroves. Part of the reason for the concentration of nesting and roosting birds in the mangroves could be that it serves as a sanctuary from terrestrial and climbing predators. The bases of the trees are under water almost nearly of the time and even when they are exposed by receding tides, the soft mud that surrounds them is a deterrent to many creatures.
Below the water's surface in areas where mangroves grow one can find a high diversity of life forms. Among the mangrove's root systems many marine organisms live or spend a portion of their lives. Such creatures include algae, corals, barnacles, sponges, oysters, crabs, lobsters, shrimps, octopi, and fishes.
At the end of our bay is wonderful, small mangroves that can be reached by a kayak morning paddle which may be a four hour round trip and staff can help coordinate the trip. Aliro, pictured in the red hat here would love to act as your guide but either way, a wonderful experience kayaking past six secluded beaches to the mangroves.
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