Costa Rica January 2011
We flew from David, Panama to Alajuela, the international airport of San Jose, Costa Rica. I was required by the airline, in order to board the flight, to purchase an exit ticket out of Costa Rica, so bought a $165 return flight back to David. This is a not uncommon requirement but I have never had it enforced in the destination country. Despite being reassured that a refund was possible, it proved impossible, so eventually “ate” the ticket.
DRAKE BAY, OSA PENINSULA
We then caught an immediate flight to Drake Bay on the Osa Peninsula, on the south Pacific coast. The only other accesses to here are by a riverboat or a long, difficult 4WD trip with many river crossings. We stayed in the DB Resort, at $130/night (not including any excursions), the most expensive accommodation I have ever paid for. We went on a great walk along the coast to a river seeing monkeys on the way and swam in the river.
CORCAVADO NATIONAL PARK
The highlight of the area is the Sirena section of Corcavado NP, supposedly with the highest biodiversity of any spot on earth. The one hour speed boat ride past great rock formations landed on the beach. Guides talked to each other on radios and we say a tapir, many kinds of monkeys, birds and lizards. Roberta went horse back riding and I took a 45 min boat to snorkel on Cano Island. With great visibility, I say white tipped reef sharks, a turtle and many fish. We kayaked up the river and I had great fun surf kayaking on a small break on the bay. There were lots of interesting people there, mostly Americans.
VOCAN POAS NP
After a flight back to Alajuela (pop. 175,000), we went up to PN Volcan Poas, Costa Rica’s busiest national park. With a crater 1.3km across and 300m deep, there were no views in the mist. The key here is to go before 10AM to beat the cloud and get a view. The tour went to a wonderful waterfall park with butterflies, birds, cats, snakes and spectacular scenery. We never did go to San Jose.
MONTEVERDE
Roberta flew back home and I took the bus to Monteverde. Costa Rica is renowned for its undisturbed tracts of rainforest with 21% of the country in its natural state. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is renowned for its bird life. Again the naturalists communicate with each other so that everyone gets to see everything. Besides many other unusual birds, we saw 2 magnificent quetzals, the national bird of Guatemala and the name of their currency. With a bright red breast, impossibly long tail feathers and a bright lime green back and head (with an Iroquois cut), it was amazing to watch it eat avocados. It swallows five at a time, digests the fruit off the pit and then spits out all the pits at once. The guides had spotting scopes and we watched for half an hour. The quetzal moves up and down the mountains eating the 11 varieties of avocado that produce fruit in different seasons. one of the best things to do was a night walk – we say many sloths (one came down to within 3 feet), snakes, coatis and many spiders.
FORTUNA
I then took the jeep-boat-jeep trip to Fortuna, famous for its very active volcano (inactive when I was there!). There was a very lame volcano tour and a visit to a hot springs with a death-defying slide. The speed attained was terrifying. Despite rave reviews from many, I found Fortuna disappointing.
TURRIALBA AND RIO REVENTAZON
I then took a long bus ride to Turrialba (pop27,000) SE of San Jose near the Caribbean coast to go white water rafting on the Rio Reventazon. Fed by a reservoir behind a dam at 1000m, the river has 65 km of rapids. Big rains had made the best trip into a class 5 so we had to settle for a less thrilling ride.
After another long bus ride back to Alajuela, I caught the plane to Belize (and despite being told I would need an exit flight, the airline said nothing and entered the country with no problems).
Cocus Island
located 550 km off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, is the only island in the tropical eastern Pacific with a tropical rainforest. Its position as the first point of contact with the northern equatorial counter-current, and the myriad interactions between the island and the surrounding marine ecosystem, make the area an ideal laboratory for the study of biological processes. The underwater world of the national park has become famous due to the attraction it holds for divers, who rate it as one of the best places in the world to view large pelagic species such as sharks, rays, tuna and dolphins.
Cocos Island is famous for being one of the hottest shark diving destinations in the world. The schooling scalloped hammerheads are legendary. In recent years, tiger sharks have become more common. Whitetip reef sharks and silkies, our favourite “puppies of the sea” are common. Other species regularly encountered include galapagos, blacktop, silvertip, as well as many species of rays, especially around the cleaning stations. It’s easy to get lost in mesmerizing giant schools of big eyed jacks and mutton snapper.
“The rainy season” is from June through December, when the deep ocean upwellings attract manta rays and whale sharks can sometimes be seen daily. In July and August 2021, as well as August and September 2022, humpback whales were spotted in the sheltered anchorages. Summer is also when typically the most hammerhead sharks are in the area. Visibility can be lower during this time, ranging from 90-ft down to 30-ft with plankton in the upper water column, but rain itself usually only lasts for 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon. Water temps around 80F. Special kudos to the government of Costa Rica for banning the fishing of hammerhead sharks.
Shoreside is blooming with life with beautiful evergreen forests and numerous impressive waterfalls. Hiking the island is possible. For visitors, there is an information center, a park ranger’s station, trails, signage, restroom services, potable water and several lookout points.
From the Port of Puntarenas you can reach Isla del Coco National Park by boat. The trip takes about 36 hours. The park is open all year, every day of the week.