The 100-guest Pacific Explorer visits ports of call and remote landings the big ships never see. With a small number of fellow adventurers, you experience both on board and ashore is up-close, casual, and very personal, whether you're meeting the Emberá Indians that haven't changed much in the last hundred years or seeking wildlife in an incredible Costa Rican jungle.

Your Zodiac inflatable excursion craft will take you right to remote bays and deserted shorelines, close enough to the water to trail your fingers in the sea as you watch for blue-footed boobies, red-billed oystercatchers, and magnificent frigate birds.

On the edge of Panama's Darién Jungle, you step from a Zodiac launch onto a huge gnarled root in the stream bank. A tattooed man, the headman of the Emberá village, welcomes you ashore with a smile and a handshake.

Thanks to onboard expert Costa Rican naturalists and local contacts, you're given a true insider's view of this magical world of Costa Rica.