It is one of the prettiest boat trips in Central America: up the mangrove canals north from the Costa Rican port town of Limon to Tortuguero National Park.

Sea turtle like this leather-back (top) give Costa Rica's Tortuguero its name. The surrounding area boasts a national park and mangrove canals (below), while Tortuguero church (bottom) is one of the village's own attractions.

The tannin-stained water is smooth as brown glass and mirror-calm, broken only by flotillas of drifting water hyacinth and the occasional swirl of fish or a cayman's tail.