Category Archives: Costa Rica

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Costa Rica

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April 18, 2023 – Tuesday – Puerto Caldera (Puntarenas) on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica

2023 Panama Canal Cruise

I’m awake at 5am as the ship turns into the Gulf of Nicoya enroute to dock at Puerto Caldera near Puntarenas. Once the Explorations Cafe opens, I get a cappuccino to take back to my stateroom to enjoy on my balcony in the early morning sunshine. I have a bagel, lox and cream cheese with a passion fruit parfait for breakfast in my stateroom, since my excursion leaves at 8am this morning from the pier.

As our rather large group boards two buses, I’m happy to see that Swiss Travel are the excursion company today. I have lots of good experiences with this Costa Rican travel company, who provided services to TravelQuest on their Costa Rica astronomy tours in past years.

Small farms on the side of the highway

We drive for about an hour and a half along the Pan-American Highway (Carretera Interamericana Norte) inland from Puntarenas, passing small farms in the hills until we are almost at San Ramon. The Cloud Forest we visit today is in a private reserve – San Luis Adventure Park – San Luis Canopy Tour. We split up into groups and walk along the trails, and over four suspension bridges which offer elevated vantage points to view the cloud forest below. Each of these bridges stretche between 30 and 78 metres (95 and 253 feet) and are suspended up to 38 metres (126 feet) above the ground.

Our guide stops along the way to tell us about the flora and fauna found in the cloud forest. Our first stop is an open hummingbird garden, where I photograph Amazilia hummingbirds perched on the bushes in the area. Many people miss them, since they are busy talking and moving about. I keep still and move away from the crowds in order to get some good sightings.

Other than the hummingbirds, we don’t spot other birds, butterflies or small mammals. Our guide talks about the plants, such as orchids, heliconias, ferns, bromeliads and other species of aerial plants that are part of this habitat.

After we slowly hike up the hill back to the main office, we enjoy a traditional Costa Rican lunch of beans, rice, vegetables and a choice of chicken or fish. I have the fish, which is very good. There are also some fruit drinks available from a self-serve fountain that is included with the lunch.

On our way back to the ship we stop at El Jardín, which has a massive souvenir shop, a display garden and decorated ox carts in the back, along with a screened area containing some butterflies. I take video of the butterflies with my iPhone, since I know from past experience it is hopeless to take photos of butterflies as they constantly flit about our heads.

The excursion returns at about 3:15pm, just beating the All Aboard time of 3:30pm. The ship doesn’t pull away from the dock until 4:45pm, 45 minutes late due to excursions returning a bit late. We have three days at sea until we reach Puerto Vallarta, so being a bit late leaving port isn’t an issue.

Costa Rica Cloud Forest
Costa Rica Cloud Forest
23 photos
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Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica

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2011 Incan Empires Cruise

Monday, December 12, 2011 – Day 22 – Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica

The ship is docked at Puerto Caldera, which is located near Puntarenas and is the main deep sea port for Costa Rica on the Pacific Coast.

I take a tour this morning, which takes us over the new highway to San Jose, but we turn off early and go to the upper reaches of the Taracoles River for a mangrove swamp boat trip. We see nesting Scarlett Macaws (from a distance), Crocodiles, a Jesus Christ Lizard, and some birds. The boat trip really doesn’t live up to my expectations, since it is so rushed, and we really don’t cover much of the river. The mangrove boat trips I took on previous visits to La Ensenada Lodge and Tamarindo were so much better!

The bus then takes us to nearby Orotina for a train ride back down to the coast near where Rotterdam is docked. The train trip is interesting, especially when the middle passenger car derails! The train crew uses a diverter to manoeuvre the car’s wheels back on the rails in short order. We see lots of interesting things along the way, including fields of cantaloupe and watermelon, the backyards of many Tico houses, some cute kids waving at us as we pass by, a long tunnel, and we cross over a river and see ever changing vegetation as we descend to the Pacific Coast. The bus is waiting for us at the station at Mata de Limon to take us back to the ship, which is only five minutes away.

Tarcoles River - Boat & Train
Tarcoles River – Boat & Train
13 photos
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Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

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2011 Incan Empires Cruise

Sunday, November 27, 2011 – Day 7 – Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Although this is my fourth time visiting Costa Rica, this is my first time in Limon. I came closest to Limon on my first trip to Costa Rica when I took a boat up to Tortuguero National Park to stay in the jungle for a couple of days.

I signed up to take a shore excursion today, but I’m glad it doesn’t leave until 9AM because I am having a tough time getting motivated this morning. After having some breakfast and my cappuccino, I am finally ready to get out there. When our group leaves the ship to go on our excursion, we discover we will be transported in a big, honkin’ tandem wheeled bus that is so high off the ground, we have to climb a set of stairs that folds down out of the back of the bus. It is air-conditioned and the seats are quite comfortable. There are big windows, and I’m happy the bus is only about half full, so there is lots of room to spread out. Another bonus is the weather – no rain, but overcast so it’s not too hot. The locals tell us the last few days have seen pouring rain, so we are lucky, since the good weather holds for the whole day.

Female Golden Orb spider
Female Golden Orb spider

Eric is our guide and Jose is our driver. They are business partners, and built this vehicle from scratch on a GMC truck chassis. We head south along the coast and then turn inland, traveling along the Banano River past the little community of Bomba, which is where the pumping stations are located for Limon’s municipal water supply. We driver further along the Banano River and then stop for a walkabout. Eric points out all sorts of flora and fauna, include the Golden Orb spider, a Balsa tree, and a red Poison Dart frog.

JoeTourist: Puerto Limon &emdash; Ticos swimming in the freshwater near the Caribbean coastal beach

We carry on along the river and then turn off the road into a banana plantation, where we stop to have a snack and listen to Eric as he explains all about the banana business. Eric mixes a drink called a “Missile”, which is a local liquor called Guaro, a squeeze of local (sweet) lemon, and topped up with Fresca. I prefer to have a local Imperial beer, but those who try the Missile say it is very smooth and refreshing. The good weather is still holding as we return to the ship by 1:30PM. As we travel along the coast there are many Tico families swimming and playing along the shoreline since it is Sunday. Of course they all stop to wave when they see our bus – a bit of a contrast from my experience in Colombia, where the locals either ignored the tour bus or just stared at us.

It is a welcome relief to get back on board the ship, which is really starting to feel like a home away from home. We depart on time, with the First Officer piloting us this afternoon. We now head for the port of Colon to transit the Panama Canal tomorrow morning.

Puerto Limon
Puerto Limon
14 photos
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San Jose to La Ensenada Lodge

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Feb 22, 2009 – Sunday – Tour bus from San Jose to La Ensenada Lodge, Gulf of Nicoya

After a sumptuous breakfast at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, we board the bus and leave for our journey to the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Unlike last year, the upgrading to this section of the Pan American Highway appears to be finished, so we make good time to our lunch stop at Restaurante Caballo Blanco (the white horse restaurant). As we experienced last year, the meal at this restaurant introduces everyone to the wholesome food Costa Ricans typically prepare for their guests at every meal. Lots of fresh fruit juice, a choice of chicken, beef or fish, vegetables, rice and beans, and a nice dessert to finish. The only downside to this part of the trip is when we find out that our new bus is hermetically sealed, so the engine is kept running the whole time we are in the restaurant in order to keep the cabin from overheating. Some of our group find this to be environmentally irresponsible.

Our guide Jorge tells us a bit about Costa Rica and its people, and what to expect for the next few days as we drive toward La Ensenada Lodge. La Ensenada is as I remember it from last year – a working ranch and farm, raising both cattle, a variety of crops, and produces salt from ocean water. It is about 40 degrees Celsius in the hot afternoon as we arrive, and the owners and staff are on hand to greet us and to give us some cold drinks to sip as we are assigned to our cabins. We are also greeted with howler monkeys and iguanas, our other local residents!

After I have a quick dip in the pool and a shower, and then it is time for dinner. The meal routine for the next few days is: breakfast at 8am, lunch at noon, and dinner at 5pm. We are eating dinner earlier than what is normal for Costa Ricans so we have time to setup equipment and get out on the observing field before it gets too dark. As anyone knows who had travelled to the tropics, the sun sets promptly around 6pm, and it gets dark rapidly.

As noted in my introduction above, there are some clouds covering about 50% of the sky this first night. A fellow Canadian from Calgary brought down one of the biggest telescopes ever used at this event, so I try out his new 15” Obsession Ultra Compact Dobsonian. The views of M42 Orion Nebula are nothing short of astounding – the blue colour was visible in the reflection nebulae, and the view is very bright with lots of detail. For those who either stay up or wake up around 3am, the clouds mostly disappear by then, giving some of us observing opportunities the first night (early morning).

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Victoria to San Jose

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Feb 21, 2009 – Saturday – Flights from Victoria, Canada to San Jose, Costa Rica

I am up at 3am this morning so I can get to the Victoria airport for my 6AM departure to Seattle, and then onward to Dallas/Ft Worth before finally arriving at 10:15pm local time in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Horizon Air flight from Victoria to Seatac is uneventful, with 71 people aboard the pre-dawn flight on a Bombardier Q300 – a big twin prop aircraft. Originally, a De Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8-400 was scheduled for this flight, but I guess they needed more capacity, so the Q300 was brought into service.

My flight to Dallas-Ft. Worth is overbooked, so American Airlines is offering a $250 travel credit to anyone who wants to reschedule. Obviously I don’t want to do this, since I have a connection to Costa Rica, although I do have a 3.5 hour wait in Dallas/Ft. Worth. I am seated beside a mother and her two year old boy, which she apologizes for before we even leave the gate, but the kid is fine throughout the flight to DFW. I catch a nice view of Seattle and Elliott Bay as we climb out of SeaTac (see banner image above), and later the snow-covered Rocky Mountains appear out the window. American Airlines uses a McDonnell Douglas Super MD-80 for this flight – a pretty old aircraft. The cabin is fairly new, but there are no services at the seat like I’m used to with more modern aircraft on Flight 1476. We are only served beverages – nothing to eat, so I break out a granola bar to tide me over.

My flight to San Jose leaves at 6:20pm after a three hour wait here at Dallas/Ft. Worth. We board Flight 2167 on time, but wait a minute…the captain announces over the intercom that he has left his passport at home. His wife is driving to the airport, so we will be delayed 45 minutes. Sure enough we leave 45 minutes late aboard our Boeing 757. We run into some pretty serious turbulence as we cross the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near Houston. Of course the flight attendants are serving dinner just as this happens, and have to stop their service until things settle down. We arrive in San Jose at about 10:50pm local time. I quickly clear customs and immigration, find my Swiss Travel rep, and catch the transfer van to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Walter, the bus driver from last year’s tour is driving! I think he remembers me, but his English is not good, so we have to keep it simple.

I arrive at the hotel at about 11:30pm, check in, unpack, and have a well-deserved shower. I have been travelling since 4am when I was picked up by the taxi in Victoria, to 11:30pm, losing 2 hours along the way by going to Central Time, making it about a 17 hour marathon. Not as bad as my past flights to/from Africa, but I’m tired.

So here I am in Costa Rica one year after my previous trip here. I’m looking forward to the next two weeks – the first week will be similar to last year at La Ensenada Lodge, and the second week will be something new, with my planned visit to Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast.