Ate breakfast and spent most of the day resting and reading. The howler monkeys were still swinging around in the trees on the property. Gerard spent about an hour observing them and taking pictures.
At one point, the teen male fell out of the tree and Gerard was standing there in between the monkey and the trunk of the tree. The howler got slightly angry that Gerard was blocking the way and ended up chasing him down. Gerard backed off, but the howler continued to intimidate him a bit before relenting. Beth and Isaac were there to watch the scene and it freaked out Isaac who went running from the attack monkey at mach speed.
Later, Xavier was hanging out on our front porch when he heard a loud “whoosh” and looked down to the water where he saw a manatee. We all raced down to the dock and spent some time observing this shadow in the water that would occasionally surface to take a breath and then quickly descend again. We didn’t get to see much more than his nose until Gerard got in the canoe with Isaac. The canoe really frightened the poor manatee and he made a powerful swoop with his tail making the water boil and the canoe rock. Consequently, that frightened Gerard and Isaac. Needless to say, the manatee took off in a hurry to the deeper water.
In the late afternoon, we boarded an airboat and drove out to the marshlands. We saw loads of birds including snail kites and ibises. It was a thrilling ride through the grassy marshes with the late-day sunlight making everything glow. We stopped for awhile for snacks and drinks before turning around and heading back to the lodge. The funniest part of the ride was Quentin’s hair!
After dinner we headed out for another spotlight tour. Fewer big crocodiles tonight but we had a close encounter nevertheless. In a narrow creek Mauricio turn the boat sideways to point its front into a small “hole” in the marsh vegetation. He asked us to hold on to a branch to keep the boat in place and he disappeared off the front of the boat into knee deep water. He returned after a couple of minutes with a baby Morelet crocodile!
He (or she) was small (about a foot from head to tail) but he still had very sharp teeth so Mauricio didn’t want us to hold him unless we could tie his snout. Annick volunteered her hair band and the close encounter was complete. The highlight of the tour.
