Uvita Island
The Isla Quiribrí, better known by its popular name, Isla Uvita, is an island in Costa Rica, located 1.4 km east of the current port of the city. of Limón, in the Caribbean Sea. It has been a National Monument of Costa Rica since 1984, since it is of historical importance for being the first point in Costa Rican territory where Christopher Columbus landed on his fourth voyage to America, on September 25, 1502.
Toponymy
Quiribrí, of Huetar origin and uncertain meaning, was the name that the indigenous people of Cariay gave to this island at the time of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1502. Columbus called it La Huerta, to compare it with a lush orchard and a natural paradise. The name Uvita derives from Uva, which is the translation of Grape Key, the name given to it by the British and the mosquito zambos that devastated the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica during the Colony. With the declaration as a National Monument in 1985, the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica decided to officially baptize the island with the name of Quiribrí, although the name Uvita is still valid and is the best known among the Costa Rican population.
History
The island was called Quiribrí by the indigenous inhabitants of the town of Cariay, pre-Columbian inhabitants of the area. On September 25, 1502, Christopher Columbus anchored his ships on the island to repair them, and gave the island the name La Huerta. This visit of a couple of weeks allowed for a passing contact with the indigenous people, who received the Europeans dressed in gold clothing, which, it seems, was the reason why Columbus was wrongly attributed with having given the territory the name of Costa Rica, which was actually used for the first time by the Court of Panama in 1539.
Starting in the 19th century, Uvita was part of the port development of the city of Limón. In 1878, the first wooden pier and lighthouse located in the north of the island was built. In 1891, Minor Cooper Keith built a new 27m high iron lighthouse, brought from London, and a new pier. In 1881, Uvita became a place where sick people with contagious diseases were exiled, first, sailors sick with smallpox or cholera, who were quarantined, and later people sick with leprosy. A wooden hospital was built in 1887, and other buildings for similar purposes.
At the beginning of the XX century, the first signs of its gradual abandonment were recorded. By 1930, the island had been completely abandoned, its visitation limited to the maintenance of the lighthouse, first by the Ministry of Public Works of Costa Rica, and then by JAPDEVA, the public institution in charge of the development of the province of Limón, starting in 1964. In 1985, it was declared by decree as a national monument for being a heritage and historical site, which obliged the State and the Municipality of Limón to maintain it in good condition. Later, its care was assumed again by JAPDEVA, which built some buildings and made ephemeral improvements. In 2012, the island made headlines after police dismantled a group of drug traffickers who used it as a drug warehouse. Currently, the island is visited by groups of volunteers, mainly university students, to collect waste, as well as as a tourist destination, but it does not have the appropriate infrastructure for such purposes.
Geography and ecology
The island has an area of 11.07 ha and its highest elevation reaches 18 m s. n. m., where the lighthouse is located. Almost 40% of the island's territory is rocky cliffs, occupied by humid tropical forest. In 1991, the Limón earthquake lifted the island's plates in the northeastern sector, exposing the coral reef. It is inhabited by some species of birds, sloths and fish. The island is visited by green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles, and is a nesting site for the water bird Sula leucogaster.. The southern part of the island has a coral reef with underwater caverns 10 m deep, inhabited by at least 96 species of fish.
It is visited by students, tourists and local fishermen because it has a white sand beach and you can practice snorkeling. The island has two trails, one perimeter trail 675 m long, and another that crosses the island to the lighthouse, located in the central area, 216 m long. There is no permanent human presence.