Costa Rica Trip Report

[James Goddard]

Day 1: Atlanta to Liberia

We flew Delta from Atlanta to Liberia, Guanacaste, CR in the morning and arrived just about noon. This international airport consists of two open air hangers, one for customs and baggage claim and the other for outgoing flights. Immigration was very typical, pick the slowest line (we always do) and wait for your stamp. Luggage was already out when we got through and customs was basically just a wave through (though some people were having to open their bags).

When we walked out Thrifty was waiting with our name on a sign and we were off to pick up our Daihatsu Terios which is a small 4wd vehicle. It was about a 40 minute drive to the hotel where we checked in, and spent the rest of the day relaxing (or maybe it was drinking a little too much with another couple we met).


Day 2: Diving

We met at the dive shop at 8:15 like we were told. We didn't splash until 11:12. The dive site was about 15 minutes away by boat but well, let's just say the operator was quite inefficient. Anyway, once we finally got wet we dropped into about 15-20 feet of visibility which was what I was expecting. About 2 minutes into the dive we spotted two medium sized white tip reef sharks that swam right by us. Then we started spotting the eels. Let's just say I never thought I would get bored with eels. Large Green, spotted, zebra stripe. I tried to count how many we saw on a couple of dives and kept running out of digits early. We also saw an angel shark, a large sting ray, and more fish than you could shake a stick at.





Second dive more eels, a nice rock fish. Schools of fish so thick you'd loose your buddy in them and a clown shrimp (really cool creature).




The afternoon was spent resting (recovering) and getting gas. (Thrifty had given us barely enough to get to the hotel and then find a gas station). 580 colones (over $1) per liter for gas. Ouch.

I'll post pictures from this day of diving (when I figure out what's going on with photoshop) and then continue the report.

[MSilvia]

Cool! I hear you about the eels. I've never been to Costa Rica (and I'm looking forward to the photos) but in Kenya, I remember counting 7 medium sized morays in a single tidal pool. I wasn't even diving yet... that was while beachcombing!

[James Goddard]

Day 3: Diving & Driving About

Today we did Punta Gorda for the first dive. By far the best site of the trip. This should give you an idea of the clarity (about 40 feet which is fantastic there):



Saw the usual plethora of eels:



And several sea horses:




Also, quite a few octopuses hiding in the coral.

The second dive was fantastic as well. We did Punta Argentina and saw several large white tips an octopus out and about and then, a school of at least 5 eagle rays. Unfortunately, I had accidentally started the day without a full battery so no pictures from the second dive .

The afternoon was spent driving about. We had only been able to find all day tours so we rented a car for the week for after diving adventures. We soon found the reason that we could only book all day tours: it takes forever to get anywhere in Costa Rica.

Basically, the roads are um, somewhat less than US standards . What looks like a quick drive on the map takes quite a bit of time. It is about 25 minutes just to get from our hotel to the main road into Libera. Only the larger roads are actually paved. After over an hours drive we wound up in a place called Santa Rosa National Park. The only thing available there was a historic house that was kinda neat. Going further into the park was not allowed because the roads were impassable, even with 4wd.



We did get to see a family of spider monkeys hanging about the trees and a Paca (large, pig-like rodent; brown or blackish wilh horizontal rows of whitish spots on sides; 60 to 80cm (24 to 31in) long, plus tiny tail).



We then drove up to La Cruz where we got a fantastic view of the coast and Nicaragua. The police had a road block before the town but when they found out we weren't crossing the border they waved us through. Not sure what that was about.

[James Goddard]

Day 4: Extreme Adventure Tour

Today we had scheduled Ricardo Vargas' Extreme Adventure Tour. These guys run a fantastic operation. Only downside is they don't take plastic and we didn't know that going in which left us a little strapped.

We were picked up from the hotel by Flaco and Carlos four our trip to Hotel Borinquen.



This was a 90 minute drive, the last part of which was on something that I hesitate to call a road. Along the way we learned a lot about the area and the hotel. The hotel was actually a 5000 acre working ranch that the owners decided to add a boutique hotel to. Fabulous place, if off the beaten path a bit. It's in the Rincon volcano area and has hot springs. Here is some of the mud spewing up from the ground:

[img][IMG]file:///G:/Temp/moz-screenshot-4.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///G:/Temp/moz-screenshot-5.jpg[/IMG]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1311/876227491_e7f178d93a.jpg?v=0[/img]

We did a horseback ride to the zip lines. This poor horse had to carry el gordo (moi) up some pretty steep paths to get there:



There were 10 lines. The first was a 600' drop in front of a waterfall. Going down a zip line is more work than it looks, especially if you're top heavy like me. Rita was quite freaked to start:




The last line was right over the stables and we got to do it upside down:



We had a great lunch and then we did a mud bath in warm volcanic mud and hit the springs:



The springs were 3 pools, one about 115°, another about 95° and a cool one about 60°. I could only get in the hot one for about 2 minutes and only after going in the cold one.

By that time we got back to the hotel my sinuses had gone nuts and I just wanted to lay about in the room. Instead we headed into Liberia to rectify the cash situation. I don't think I'll every try to drive around that city center again, makes driving around San Miguel look like a Sunday drive. Exhausting day.

[James Goddard]

Day 5: Diving & Driving About

The first dive of the day was Palmeres and the second was Monkey Head. Unfortunately I had more camera issues. My strobe wasn't firing (I'm using a nice land flash with a housing). I looked and there was a little water in it. Checked everything and the cable was a little loose. Spent the rest of the dive trying to hold it so that the water was pooled up in a corner of the housing.

These dives were not as good as the others on the trip but still great. Got to see two more clown shrimp (these were not in a hole so I got to see that they actually are shrimp, despite their odd appearance) and some more sea horses. Once again, the usual plethora of eels.

Afterward I left the flash housing to dry out and we headed to Playa Coco and Playa Ocotal (about an hours drive or 10 minutes by boat). We had a fantastic lunch at Picante overlooking the gulf. Definitely get the Patacones if you head there.


Day 6: Diving & Packing

We headed back to our favorites of Punta Gorda and Punta Argentina. The camera was back in full form:

Zebra Eel


Seahorse & Clown Shrimp


Seahorse


Seahorse with Fish


Hawksbill


White Tips


Clown Shrimp


The afternoon was spent packing since the next day would be an all day tour and we had to leave early on Saturday.

[James Goddard]

Day 6: Arenal Tour

Today was a full day tour of Arenal Volcano. Again with Vargas tours. Picked up a 7:30 for the four hour drive to the Volcano. Along the way we stopped at Las Pumas.

This is a rescue center for local cats. They are in good size cages here which is very different from a US Zoo. We lucked out and got there at feeding time and got to see all of the cats up close and personal. The Puma's were beautiful. We were also visited by a family of howler monkeys while we were there:



Then we stopped for lunch overlooking Lake Arenal. From there we drove to the park and hiked through both dry and rain forest to get to the 1992 lava flow. Arenal Volcano is the second most active volcano in the world. It has a low sulfur content so instead of liquid lava it spits out van sized rocks that tumble down it's sides and break up along the way. You can here them from miles off. This is the volcano:



Rita standing in the 1992 flow:



The white puffs are where rocks are bouncing off the side:



From there we were taken to a hot springs. 5 pools going from warmest and cooling as the water flows to each. Also a cool spring to dip into as well:



We had dinner at a great restaurant in town and then back home stopping for a view of the rocks at night when you can see their red glow as the bounce and break up. Very cool but no way to get a picture without a tripod.

We got back around 10 and hit the sack.

Day 7: Headed Home

We checked out a 5 am for our 8:30 flight. Got to the airport and breezed through checking in. Went to go through security and they told us we needed our receipt for the departure tax. To get that we had to stand in a line that wrapped around the building. After about 30 minutes we had moved 3 feet. Finally they got a second cashier and we were able to get in minutes before our flight loaded.

We took off early (believe or not) and got back to Atlanta about 30 minutes before we were expected. Quite annoyingly after we went through immigration and customs, we had to put our luggage back into the system to go pick it up again at baggage claim (efficient eh?).

[James Goddard]

Day 7: Summary

I would not recommend the Occidental Allegro Papagayo. I'll be leaving quite a bit on trip advisor about them. We expected the food to be mediocre and were not surprised. However they punished us for spending money with the hotel dive op by not allowing us to eat in the nicer restaurants. I.E. The only way to reserve it would have been to not dive. My favorite was when I checked in advance about getting our luggage up the mountain when checking out at 5 am. "No problem, just call the front desk and we'll send someone down".

When I called they told me they didn't have anyone.

The dive op was very disorganized. We told them we wanted to go to bat island but were never able to get on any of the 4 trips that went out. On the last day they didn't have us down for diving even though they had it on the post it not attached to the computer from where we had booked.

Vargas Tours I highly recommend. They were fabulous. We had private tours both days with them and pretty much had the places to ourselves.

Guanacaste is not all the tourist friendly. This is part of the charm and also part of the headache. Outside of resorts almost nobody speaks English and everything to see is way to far apart to make it doable.

The country is beautiful and so is the diving.

James

[James Goddard]

I almost forgot to mention the jellies.

Anyone planninng to dive in CR should bring at least a skin. I was in a shorty for all but 2 dives and got stung at least once on every dive.

Never saw one. Tiny buggers. For the most part it's just a couple of minutes of irritation but twice I got stings that raised whelts and hurt all day. Once on the hand in my shorty and once on my lip (ouch) in my fullsuit.

I've always dove my shorty when diving tropical and never been stung before this trip.

James