Aurora Costa Rica and The Panama Canal Discovery (Panama Canal Crossing) 12D11N

Arrive in the capital of the wonderous Costa Rica at San Jose international airport and board your complimentary airport transfer service to your hotel departing every hour from 4.20am until 10.30pm. On arrival to the hotel, ask reception to provide you with you Expedition cabin tags, ready for your luggage to be delivered to your cabin ahead of arrival.

Enjoy the rest of your day at leisure.

In the morning enjoy a leisurely buffet breakfast before being transferred to Puerto Caldera, where your vessel awaits. Settle into your cabin and engage in important safety briefings, before lunch onboard as you sail to your first destination for exploration.

After your day of leisurely exploration, enjoy a welcome dinner with fellow travelers and crew to celebrate the beginning of an exceptional adventure.

After breakfast, visit the Curu National Wildlife Refuge on an eco-tourism experience featuring over 3700 acres of wilderness. Choose from the 17 different hiking trails winding through topical forests, mangrove swamps, grassy fields and beautiful coastline and have the opportunity to spot white-tail deer, armadillos, iguanas and a unique array of monkeys that are prolific in the area.

Playing host to an abundance of wildlife and one of the most beautiful beaches, visit the protected bay of the Nicoya Peninsula where you will have the chance to go for a paddle and swim.

Return to the vessel and relax after your day of adventure onboard before sitting down to dinner.

This morning, visit Manuel Antonio National Park, boasting a myriad of mammal and bird species. See the infamous two and three toed sloths, monkeys, and toucans on one of the many beautiful hikes through-out the park. Enjoy walking through rainforest, to waterfalls and remote beaches where you will have the opportunity to snorkel, kayak and paddleboard amid the stunning coral.

Later, anchor off the shores of Espadilla Beach, where you will embark on a wet landing by zodiac to the beautiful soft-sanded beach. Walk along the trail through the rainforest leading to Playa Manuel Antonia, the most popular beach in the park and embark on your choice of hiking trail including the circular loop trail around the promontory bluff, offering spectacular views from Punta Catedral, allowing excellent opportunities for continued wildlife spotting.

Return to the vessel before dinner.

The untamed Osa Peninsula is considered by National Geographic to be ‘one of the most biologically intense places on earth’. We plan to hike the trails at Rio Claro Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary that encompasses 500 hectares of tropical rainforests, making it one of the most important natural preserves in Central America. Rio Claro is one of the last refuges for pumas, ocelot, jaguarundis, tapirs, white-lipped peccaries and a host of other rainforest animals. The high plateau forests, with trees towering over 43 m (140 ft), supports hundreds of species of ferns, bromeliads and orchids, and creates a biological corridor between palm swamps and mangroves. It is an extension of Corcovado National Park, the country's largest and one of the most remote parks in Costa Rica.

Golfo Dulce, or Sweet Gulf, is a large bay that hugs pristine beaches, rivers and tall evergreen forests - a protected area known as the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve. As one of the wettest places on Earth with over 5,000 millimetres (200 inches) of rainfall per year, the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve features some of the world’s tallest trees.

The warm tropical waters in the gulf are a great place to enjoy aquatic activities, where spinner dolphins are often seen frolicking in the bay. There are ancient coral reefs to explore, where you can see enormous coral gardens and the creatures that inhabit them. On land, there are more pristine rainforest trails for you to explore, where you can marvel at the extraordinary flora and fauna that contributes to Costa Rica’s biodiversity.

By Zodiac, we shuttle ashore to Saladero Ecolodge and explore the gardens and walking trails filled with flowering plants. Keep a watch for birds including toucans, scarlet macaw, caracara and woodpeckers.

In Golfo Dulce we exit Costa Rica and continue our journey as we sail to Panama.

Today, sail through the Panamanian islands of Coiba National Park, a UNESCO claimed place of outstanding universal value. Located off the southwest coast of Panama, its lays claim to the last refuge of a number of threatened animals such as the crested eagle and a remarkable natural laboratory for scientific research. With limited human contact, the area offers exceptionally high levels of native mammals, birds and plants and plays a role in the ongoing evolution of new species.

Spend the morning at Granito de Oro Islet, offering a diversity and volume of marine life and featured as one of the best diving destinations in the world. Snorkel among the plethora of marine wildlife, kayak around the rocky outcrops and bask on the warm sand. You may also choose to hike the ‘Monkey Trial’ through the forest where you will have the opportunity to see mantled howler monkeys and crested eagles.

The following morning, we plan to land at Punta Clara, which served as a penal colony from 1919 to 1996, where Panama’s most notorious criminals and political prisoners were incarcerated. At the peak of its operations, the prison housed up to approximately 3,000 inmates in about 30 camps spread around the islands. You can visit the dilapidated penitentiary buildings or walk along the beach looking for scarlet macaws, yellow caracara and various seabirds. Back on board, enjoy lunch as we set towards the Pearl Islands.

An archipelago located in the North Pacific Ocean in the Gulf of Panama, The Pearl Islands cover approximately 250 small islands that were named due to the great amounts of pearls found in the area when it was discovered in 1503. Not only are the islands famous for their bountiful pearl harvest, they also boast tranquil white beaches, untouched forests and colourful reefs ideal for diving, snorkeling and kayaking. Visit Ilsa Contadora and nearby islands including Bartolome to enjoy some aquatic activities before exploring Pachequilla and admiring the several colonies of seabirds found on Pacheca island (Brid Island).

Today you have the opportunity to explore Panama City. Choose from one of two excursions.

The first option is a Miraflores Visitor Centre and Colonial City Tour at ‘Casco Viejo’. Visit the Miraflores Visitor Centre and engage in different activities to learn and enjoy the Panama Canal. Enjoy a short 10-minute historic film and four exhibition halls featuring the Canal’s history and biodiversity as well as three terraces and observation decks to observe the Panamal Canal’s operations and the passage of ships through the locks. After the visitor centre, head to the Casco Viejo (Old Quatre), featuring stunning 16th and 17th century colonial architecture playing host to the history of the oldest continuously occupied European city in the Americas on the Pacific Coast. The excursion will include visiting exceptional sites on a guided walking tour of the historic quarter and a leisurely observation of many historic landmarks including: Plaza Herrera, San José Church, Plaza Francia, Plaza Bolívar with the San Francisco de Asis Church and Plaza Mayor. After the tour, you may choose to explore Casco Viejo at your own pace or return to the vessel for an evening of relaxation.

The second option is a Gatun Lake Expedition and Walking tour at Casco Viejo. Explore the large artificial lake of Gatun Lake, offering ideal habitats for a large number of bird species. Head north on the canal where you may get close to some of the larger ships that transit the canal daily. Slowly cruise along the forested banks and observe copious amounts of wildlife from Capuchin Monkeys to toucans and other birds. See the raw regenerative power of the forest and enjoy lunch at a resort located on the shores. Later, visit the Casco Viejo, Panama’s historic colonial centre filled with delightful colonial houses, cobblestone streets and beautiful churches. See Casco Antiguo, a monument to the French builders who began the construction of the Panama Canal. Choose to visit museums such as the Canal Museum before choosing to explore Casco Viejo at your own pace, or return to the vessel for an evening of relaxation.

A highlight for many, today you will be crossing the Panama Canal and witness the engineering marvel at work. Starting in the Pacific Ocean, admire the Bay of Panama and the City’s skyline before passing under the ‘Bridge of the Americas’. Next transit through the locks to Miraflores Lake, through the Gaillard Cut, through the Continental Divide, Gatun Lake passing the Smithsonian Research Station and arrive in the Atlantic Ocean. The process takes approximately ten hours, a journey that once took almost two weeks to complete, having to sail around notoriously rough seas at the bottom of South America to reach the Pacific Ocean.

Disembark in Colon, on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal, where you'll farewell your expedition team before transferring to the airport in Panama City for your onward journey.

Note: At the conclusion of the voyage, we do not recommend booking flights departing Panama City prior to 2:00 pm.

NOTE:  Due to strict regulations enforced by local environmental authorities to conserve and protect the pristine places visited on this voyage, permits can be cancelled by authorities at any time with very little notice. Under such circumstances, Aurora Expeditions reserves the right to change our itineraries with little or no prior notice.