The Forest Navel

The Forest Navel is the third area in. Given this name because its entrance looks like a belly button from high altitude, it is set in a cave inside a forest with sandy terrain, winding paths, and rimstone dams. It contains 9 ship parts and is unlocked by collecting 5 ship parts in the previous areas. Blue Pikmin are discovered in this area. The enemies in this area reflect its dark underground nature, with Fiery Blowhogs, Wollywogs, and a unique boss, the Puffstool. This area was not reused in, though it was remade in as a Mission Mode stage, the Forgotten Cove.

General layout
In the center lies the landing site, which is surrounded by Pellet Posies and several places to obtain nectar. To the west is where Blue Pikmin are originally found. This part consists of several small pools of water at different altitudes, all the way to the north of the map, which are based on real-world structures called rimstone dams. To the west of that is a narrow path covered with fire geysers. To the south is a sandy beach where Fiery Blowhogs can be found. There are also some bridges that should be constructed so that Pikmin can get back to the S.S. Dolphin. To the southwest lies a big lake with Wollyhops. To the southeast is a dark area with fire geysers and Common Glowcaps where the Puffstool can be found. And finally, to the east is the arena where Beady Long Legs is fought.

Bomb-rocks in this area are found in pipes, for a total of 25. There is one near the pool where the #1 Ionium Jet is found. There's another one next to the place the Gravity Jumper lies.

Ship parts

 * This part is located at the bottom of many pools of water.
 * At the far end of the beach filled with Fiery Blowhogs is a cliff with two bridges on either side. This part is in the middle of the two bridges.
 * This part is atop a high ledge near where Blue Pikmin are discovered. This cliff is too high for even Yellow Pikmin to be thrown, so they must climb over a climbing stick on an opposite cliff.
 * This part is inside of a Breadbug that prowls the area. The nest of the Breadbug is located near the Gravity Jumper.
 * This part is located deep into the water beside the Fiery Blowhog beach. It is guarded by two Wollyhops.
 * In one corner of the Fiery Blowhog beach is a gate. Past the gate and the fire geysers is a bridge, which can be built over the abyss to reach the ledge with the part atop it.
 * Beyond the Libra, past more fire geysers, is a pool of water containing this part.
 * Near the cliff with the Gravity Jumper is a path leading to an arena guarded by mandiblards, a Wollyhop and fire geysers. This part is inside of a Puffstool in the arena.
 * Near the Omega Stabilizer, going up pathways, are several gates: two reinforced, and one regular. Inside one reinforced gate is an arena, inside which is the Beady Long Legs. The Beady Long Legs has the part.

Tools

 * &times; 6
 * &times; 4
 * &times; 5

Vegetation

 * &times; 17 (5 posies near the Blue Onion don't regrow after destroyed, or disappear after 10 days upon discovery)
 * &times; 19
 * (Yellow) &times; 1
 * (Red) &times; 1
 * &times; 4

Other

 * Rubble &times; 2

Guide
After landing, grab some Red and Yellow Pikmin, and head west towards the Blue Onion. Before heading down to the Onion, put all of your Pikmin onto the stick that leads to the Automatic Gear. While your Pikmin collect that part, grow as many Blue Pikmin as possible using the pellet posies. The Breadbug may come and try and steal some of your pellets, to combat this, you must put as many Pikmin on the object as possible and drag the Breadbug to the Onion. This will hurt the bug. If the Breadbug is nearly dead, you can throw Pikmin onto its back and it will take damage, hopefully enough to kill it. Once it has died, it will drop the Space Float. Collect the part and head back to the landing site. Once you are back, collect all your Pikmin and leave through the east side then head north. You'll see a bramble gate, destroy it and head through. continuing heading north with your Blue Pikmin and follow the path around through the water and you'll come across the #1 Ionium Jet which you should collect. Head back to the landing site and head all the way south. You'll see multiple bridges that should be built and eventually end up up to an open plain with a handful of Fiery Blowhogs. Using Red Pikmin, dispatch of these and head to the left of the body of water to the south. Here you'll find a platform with another part on top of it. Throw some Pikmin up to the bridge and wait for them to build it. Once completed, collect the Gravity Jumper and build the other bridge on the opposite side. This bridge leads to a lot of bombs that you should collect. Head back over the bridges and disband all your Pikmin, excluding Blue, and head into the body of water. Here 2 Wollyhops reside along with the Anti-Dioxin Filter. Kill the frogs and collect the part. While they collect the part, head back and collect the rest of your Pikmin and continue heading east. You'll end up in a dark area illuminated by Common Glowcaps, and a Puffstool. This is your first mini-boss. Charge all of your Pikmin towards it until it falls over. Whistle you Pikmin and precede to throw them onto it's flailing body until it either dies or throws them off. If it doesn't die, whistle all of your Pikmin so they do not get turned into Mushroom Pikmin. Repeat this until it is defeated. Once dead, it will drop the Omega Stabilizer which you should use Red Pikmin to collect as there are some fire geysers at the exit. Head back to the landing site to collect all of your Pikmin. Swap some Blue Pikmin for Yellow Pikmin as the next mini-boss will be easier with yellows. Head east then south from the landing site until you arrive at a black reinforced wall. Blow this up with 9 bombs and destroy the black bramble gate behind it as well. Behind the bramble gate will be some fire geysers, Shearwigs and another wall. Kill the shearwigs and blow up the wall with 3 bombs. The new area behind the wall is an arena for the Beady Long Legs. The way to beat this mini-boss is to throw Yellow Pikmin onto it's body until it dies. Watch out for it's legs as it will kill Pikmin if they are stepped on. This enemy drops the Guard Satellite which should be collected with Red Pikmin due to the fire geysers. Head back to the landing site and withdraw/deposit Pikmin until you have 60 Red, 20 Yellow and 20 Blue. From the landing site, head south to the fiery blowhog plain and then head west. Destroy the bramble gate and continue down the path, be careful of the fire geysers. Once you have got about half way down the path, you'll come across a bridge. Put all your Yellow Pikmin on this along with ~20 Red Pikmin. Continue down the path and use your Blue Pikmin to bring the Analog Computer out of the water, then make your Red Pikmin carry it back. Head back to the bridge and wait for it to be finished if not. Once the bridge is built, use Blue Pikmin to open the geyser in the water and throw all your Yellow Pikmin up to the higher ledge. Use the geyser and throw your Yellow Pikmin up to the Libra. When the part has fallen to the lowest level, be careful of the Libra glitch, switch the Pikmin to red and wait until they collect the final part.

In Challenge Mode
In Challenge Mode, The Forest Navel may not have many enemies or obstacles, but it does have many pellets spread around a huge area. Exploring the area to visit all the locations in time is the main challenge of the stage. There is a time limit of 16 minutes and 12 seconds to grow a maximum of 482 Pikmin here.

Glitches
There is a rare glitch that can happen in in this level. When the player defeats an enemy (usually the Wollyhop), one or more Pikmin will vanish with no soul shown. When this happens, sometimes the first Pikmin-counter gauge (on the bottom of the screen) will show more than the total number of Pikmin in the area. For example: 98/97/305. The Pikmin gauge should stay like that until sunset. This happens in other areas, but in The Forest Navel it is more common. This glitch can also occur when battling other enemies, and apparently even when there are no enemies around. This glitch can also happen in the Awakening Wood in Pikmin 2.

There is also a glitch that will cause Olimar to fall into the abyss by where the Libra is. In Challenge Mode, there are 3 large pellets in the very back area where the Analog Computer is in story mode. However, the path back to the Onions is too narrow for all 3 pellets to be carried back at once. If Olimar is standing between the pellets while they are being carried, he may get pushed off the edge, along with the pellet and possibly the Pikmin carrying it. Olimar will not die or respawn when he falls into the pit; in fact, he will not even fall at all. Instead, he will "float" over the pit as if there was invisible ground. Olimar can walk very far into the darkness, but it may be hard to tell where he is going, because the screen will not follow him. It's also possible to do it in Story Mode, by attracting shearwigs to the bridge and having them eat it.

To see a video of this glitch, click here.

If Olimar falls into the pit by any other means, he will simply respawn after a few seconds back in the same spot he was before he fell. The only other known way to fall into the abyss is to lure the Shearwigs by the Automatic Gear all the way to the island where the Libra is, which will cause them to start chewing the bridge.

There is a supposed glitch that can cause the Beady Long Legs to escape its arena.

Finally, the Libra glitch can also happen with the namesake ship part.

Trivia

 * There is a seemingly useless geyser near the bomb-rock location by the Gravity Jumper. If the player makes the Pikmin activate it and have Olimar use it, it will launch him up far into the air and make him land on the water. This has no relevance to getting any parts, nor does it aid Olimar in any way, meaning it could be an erroneous leftover from an older version of the map.
 * The map of The Forest Navel very vaguely resembles a Bulborb or Bulbear. It is unknown whether or not this is intentional.
 * All ship parts whose names begin with "A" are in The Forest Navel.
 * There is a bottle on the lake in this area. Ramune bottles also appear in shapetst, and one bottle is the main focus of the second Pikmin Short Movie, Treasure in a Bottle.