spiderwebb1
Guest
Trip report from Playa del Coco, Costa Rica.
We spent one week at the end of October in Costa Rica staying at a B&B called Hotel Villa Flores. The hotel is very clean and the food was fantastic! They serve breakfast from 0700-0930 every day and dinner is served at 1900 every day except Sunday. The rooms down stairs are pretty small so I would suggest staying upstairs in the deluxe accomadations. I felt pretty safe here considering they had a guard which came on duty every night at 1900-1930. We will stay there again.
We dove with Rich Coast Divers which was located when you first entered the town of Playa del Cocos on the left. They were great to work with, considering this was our first trip to Costa Rica. Julie arranged for a driver to meet us at the airport to pick us up and to take us back to the airport. I must admit we were a little taken a back with the diving in Costa Rica because we have become Carribean softies. The water was pretty cold and vis was very poor at 30ft and less, but the lower you went it cleared up to 40-60 feet. However the lower you went the colder it became and I wore 2 3mil full wet suits and I was still cold. The dive masters on the boat were very pleasant and helpful. We dove off of a Tri-hulled boat (I am not sure what you call them). The fish life was much larger then we were are used to, but the corals just weren't there. It had the appearance of diving in a lake with tropical fish. The Bat and Catalina Islands were simply beautiful as is the mainland. We apparently arrived at the end of the rainy season. We ony had two days of rain the first being the first day we dove and the second when we went to Arenal. Thank goodness it did not rain anymore because we were about to pack our bags and come home after the first day. Costa Rica is beautiful but not for someone who does not like adversities.
Our driver while we were there was Nolberto Hernandezl, a free lance naturalist guide. Nolberto was fantastic! He really helped to make our trip to Costa Rica memorable. He took us to Arenal (for about 120.00/ea) on a day trip. We stopped several times along the way for small adventures and lunch. One of our last stops was at Baldi springs for bathing in the hot springs then dining at the foot of Arenal. It had been raining all day but by the time we finished eating the clouds began to clear and give way to a view of the top of the mountain. We were able to see the lava flow which was spectacular! On the drive home Umberto stopped several times so we could get a better view of Arenal. Once we were out of sight of the volcano and into the jungle we stopped for a large Boa constrictor which was blocking the road. She was beautiful! I would like to add that the roads in Costa Rica are horrible so if you go be prepared for a very unpleasant long trip by trying to avoid all of the pot holes.
We sampled a lot of the different places to eat in Playa del Coco but our favorite was the Hotel Villa Flores and a small place called the Tequila Bar. They have a drink there called the Tequila Howler. Wow!! what a smooth shot of Tequila. This drink is the house speciality which takes a period of 5 years to perfect.
This trip replaced our annual trip to the Keys which was nixed seconadary to Wilma, so for a last minute decision we felt we got our moneys worth and lots of memories.
http://www.hotel-villa-flores.com
http://www.richcoastdiving.com
http://www.eltwintours.com
We spent one week at the end of October in Costa Rica staying at a B&B called Hotel Villa Flores. The hotel is very clean and the food was fantastic! They serve breakfast from 0700-0930 every day and dinner is served at 1900 every day except Sunday. The rooms down stairs are pretty small so I would suggest staying upstairs in the deluxe accomadations. I felt pretty safe here considering they had a guard which came on duty every night at 1900-1930. We will stay there again.
We dove with Rich Coast Divers which was located when you first entered the town of Playa del Cocos on the left. They were great to work with, considering this was our first trip to Costa Rica. Julie arranged for a driver to meet us at the airport to pick us up and to take us back to the airport. I must admit we were a little taken a back with the diving in Costa Rica because we have become Carribean softies. The water was pretty cold and vis was very poor at 30ft and less, but the lower you went it cleared up to 40-60 feet. However the lower you went the colder it became and I wore 2 3mil full wet suits and I was still cold. The dive masters on the boat were very pleasant and helpful. We dove off of a Tri-hulled boat (I am not sure what you call them). The fish life was much larger then we were are used to, but the corals just weren't there. It had the appearance of diving in a lake with tropical fish. The Bat and Catalina Islands were simply beautiful as is the mainland. We apparently arrived at the end of the rainy season. We ony had two days of rain the first being the first day we dove and the second when we went to Arenal. Thank goodness it did not rain anymore because we were about to pack our bags and come home after the first day. Costa Rica is beautiful but not for someone who does not like adversities.
Our driver while we were there was Nolberto Hernandezl, a free lance naturalist guide. Nolberto was fantastic! He really helped to make our trip to Costa Rica memorable. He took us to Arenal (for about 120.00/ea) on a day trip. We stopped several times along the way for small adventures and lunch. One of our last stops was at Baldi springs for bathing in the hot springs then dining at the foot of Arenal. It had been raining all day but by the time we finished eating the clouds began to clear and give way to a view of the top of the mountain. We were able to see the lava flow which was spectacular! On the drive home Umberto stopped several times so we could get a better view of Arenal. Once we were out of sight of the volcano and into the jungle we stopped for a large Boa constrictor which was blocking the road. She was beautiful! I would like to add that the roads in Costa Rica are horrible so if you go be prepared for a very unpleasant long trip by trying to avoid all of the pot holes.
We sampled a lot of the different places to eat in Playa del Coco but our favorite was the Hotel Villa Flores and a small place called the Tequila Bar. They have a drink there called the Tequila Howler. Wow!! what a smooth shot of Tequila. This drink is the house speciality which takes a period of 5 years to perfect.
This trip replaced our annual trip to the Keys which was nixed seconadary to Wilma, so for a last minute decision we felt we got our moneys worth and lots of memories.
http://www.hotel-villa-flores.com
http://www.richcoastdiving.com
http://www.eltwintours.com
