Since the 80’s a brief visit to Golfo Dulce is a regular item on the Trans Canal schedule of the Holland America Line ships. It came on that agenda more or less by mistake. A captain on the old Rotterdam was looking for an alternative to spend the day, as due to bad weather he had cancelled three ports in a row. So while southbound on the way to the Panama Canal, still under the influence of bad weather and with time to kill, he sailed into Gulfo Dulce to offer the guests something to look at. At the time the guests would get some rest as the ship had been moving about for several days. Thus the Rotterdam (V) spent the whole day in the Gulf sailing all the way around it. It was quite appreciated by the guests and thus HAL decided to keep it in the schedule.

The gulf is located about 150 miles from the Panama Canal as the crow flies but as the ship has to sail around the west point of Panama we have to cover a distance of close to 300 miles to get there.

As most of the bay looks the same from the water, we sailed only the forward part of it, where there is the most variation in scenery. Here you can see the port of Golfito, the tropical forest coming down to the waters edge and after crossing the bay the resort of Puerto Jimenez.

You enter the bay with staying as much as possible in the middle. Both sides of the entrance are quite shallow and although the chart indicates depths between 10 to 20 meters there, I do not feel comfortable to go closer to the shore. On the East side is a river, the Rio Coto, which deposits large amounts of silt in the bay and that silt/sand has to go somewhere. Out of the river current it sinks to the bottom of the bay and that means that is must be getting shallower in that area all the time.

Thus I wait with coming closer to the shore until past this Rio Coto estuary and then approach the entrance to the port of Golfito. On the way there, there is a good chance to see whales, small dolphins and all sorts of birds and we did indeed see a few small whales and a lot of dolphins. Golfito is well-known for being a banana port. United Fruit has some big plantations there and the place is sometimes visited by smaller cruise ships of the expedition type that specialize in Eco-cruises.

When past the entrance to Golfito I can get close to the shore, very close. A 1000 feet from the land, the depth of the bay is still 150 feet or more and that gives an excellent chance for the guests to see wildlife in the top of the trees. This place is for some unknown reason called Playa de Cacao. We sailed along this coast for a few miles and then crossed the bay to the other side to have a look at Puerto Jimenez. Here is a small airstrip and numerous hotels, all devoted to Fishing, diving and Eco tourism, as there is a National Park on the doorstep. As a matter of fact Golfo Dulce is surrounded by National Parks.

When entering the bay, our Enrichment lecturers gave some in depth information of what could be seen above and on the water so the guests had an idea why this Sweet bay/Golfo Dulce is of such importance and interest.

Tomorrow we are in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.