Paddling the southern Nicoya Peninsula
Pura Vida, Costa Rica
By Eva Nichols
January/February 2003

Jan and I had met on the beach in Stillwater Cove in October of 2002 and went on a paddle together a few weeks later. I mentioned that I was in the process of planning my first kayaking trip to Costa Rica. Jan thought it sounded great, and decided she just might want to join me. I was thrilled! After having unsuccessfully tried to find somebody to join my via the WSK-website I had resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted to make it happen, I would just have to go by myself!

I had contacted several outfitters and settled on Crystal Seas out of Friday Harbor, WA because they were the only outfit that had agreed to take me on a 6-day tour alone, even if they did not get any other participants for the time slot I wanted. We flew in to San Jose, Costa Rica and were picked up by a van with a driver and an English speaking guide, whom Crystal Seas had put us in touch with. They took us on a scenic drive through the beautiful countryside to the ferry which would take us over to the Nicoya Peninsula, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. After a nice ferry ride we were met by a staff member from the little hotel Estrella De La Playa we were going to stay at for 2 nights before our tour started. We had also found this hotel through Crystal Seas and it was great. Rustic but charming and an exceptionally friendly and accommodating staff. It was like being part of the family! So far everybody we had been in contact with had been so helpful and nice.

The hotel was right on the beach, only a few hundred yards from where our guides were staying we found out. We spent our free day exploring the area. After having walked along the beach for a couple of miles, I decided I wanted to return for a nap. Jan wanted to explore a bit more, so we parted ways. I soon discovered there was no way to get back to our hotel via the beach. The tide was coming in and a small stream we had crossed was suddenly impassable! So I wandered up into the village, asked about the bus, but it wasn't coming for a couple of hours. I decided to make my way back via the dirt road. I figured I would be able to find my way as there were only a couple of primitive dirt roads and I was sure I could find Hotel Estrella! I worried a bit about Jan, but thought she would come to the same conclusion as I had, and would find her way!

I started out walking, enjoying the scenery. We had just worn our thongs, so they were not exactly the best walking shoes for a dirt road, but what's a woman to do! After having walked a couple of hours, I saw another bus stop with people lined up. I figured the bus must be coming by soon, so I lined up with them. Soon the bus appeared – and guess who was on it? Jan had had the same idea, only she got on a bit sooner than I did.

Shortly we were back at our hotel, had a great dinner, and met with our guides, Christian and Nate, for the first time. They gave us our dry bags and we arranged to meet the next morning to go to our launch spot, which was where the ferry had dropped us off. Below are the notes I wrote on the kayak trip.

Day 1
We launched from Playa Pajaros heading between Isla Jesusita and Islas Cedros and after a couple of hours paddling we stopped at a small cove opposite Punta Cuchillo and headed towards Islas Negritas. We went through a small cave after crossing a real rip current – it was clearly visible in the distance with a million small waves going in all directions. Afterwards we headed back towards the Nicoya Peninsula after paddling among and along the small islands to set camp at Playa Organos. We had a good landing through a small surf zone with the heavy loaded kayaks. Soon after we had landed and while we were unloading the kayaks the surf and the swells got increasingly bigger. We praised our luck at getting in before the surf got high! We unpacked and dragged up the kayaks to higher grounds and started setting up camp in a lovely coconut grove.

Darkness soon descended on us and the guys started cooking dinner for us in the dark, lighting up their improvised kitchen with their headlamps. While we admired the firebugs lighting up in between the trees we chatted while Nate and Christian cooked a great dinner for us on this our first day: fresh mahi-mahi with rice and a delicious carrot dish – Christian's specialty – sliced carrots sautéed with onions and garlic and cooked off with milk until it reduces and makes a delicious sauce. We had the famous Yippy for dessert. Yippy is a candy bar that Christian and Nate had found in the local grocery stores of Costa Rica. It had become sort of a trademark for "bad for you but delicious junk food" – they were good! We had set up a tarp in the grove, but were going to sleep out on the beach to make sure we did not get attacked by bugs at night. We were going to sleep under the stars and lined up our sleeping pads on the beach under the stars with the surf crashing against the beach lulling us to sleep.

Day 2
Sleeping on the beach was a bit chillier than we had anticipated, so we all were waiting for the sun to rise and warm out stiff bodies. Soon the guys had the coffeepot percolating and a hot cup of coffee sure felt good! As soon as the sun was up it got hot again, so the chill was soon dispersed! We had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, fresh papaya and fried plantains, and a traditional Costa Rican cheese that reminded me of feta cheese sprinkled on black refried beans – an excellent breakfast! After breakfast we just relaxed – walked along the beach – I started to make my notes, listing the names of places we had passed, looked up the birds we had seen so far, and waited for the tide to rise enough to enter the river at the end of the beach for a paddle up river into the mangroves. We had a great lunch of avocado and tomato sandwiches then unpacked the kayaks to go up river with Christian. It was hot and humid in the mangroves, but teeming with life! As we slowly paddled up the river and into little side-streams we saw an abundance of birds. Among the highlights was a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Little Blue Heron, Green Kingfisher, a group of Ibises sitting in a big tree leaning over the river – as we got closer the whole group flew up – a beautiful sight!

We returned to camp around sunset and got the kayaks up above high tide line. We settled down for a relaxing evening chatting and watching the fireflies as the guys cooked up another gourmet meal of Teriyaki-soaked mahi-mahi served with rice and fried plantains. This time we were prepared for the night getting kind of cold, so Jan and I got the tent flys to lie on and drape over us as the night wore on. This time we stayed nice and toasty all night!

Day 3
I woke up the next morning feeling a lot better than the first morning. By now I had learned to wrap myself in the waterproof fly from the tent, so I stayed nice and warm. As dawn was breaking I saw a beautiful Black Hawk – took some photos of the sun rising over the ocean – first painting the sky in beautiful pastels – pink and purples slowly turning into orange and reds – and then all of a sudden the sun was up and immediately the air turned warm and getting out of the sleeping bag was easy! We had the usual great hot coffee – nice and strong – after all we were in the land of coffee! We had a nice breakfast of cereal and fried plantains, because we wanted to break camp early so we could get on our way to Curu. Curu is a private wildlife reserve and we wanted to have plenty of time to hike around the trails.

It was a pretty short paddle to Curu. We landed at low tide so we had to drag the loaded kayaks up a long way to dry sand to be sure they wouldn’t leave Curu without us! Boy, those kayaks were heavy!! Especially the double! Which, by the way, Jan and I had delegated to the 2 guides, Nate and Christian! After the first day of paddling we had proved that we could paddle a kayak, so we were allowed to paddle the singles the rest of the trip, which we both preferred!

We were still full from breakfast, so we decided to hike before we ate lunch. Off we headed into the dry forest! I had packed my sneakers for this hike, but after putting on one shoe I realized that it was way to hot for that. My feet were swollen, so I just put on my kayak booties again and they were just fine for the hike. As we were hiking into the forest along the river Nate spotted a big Agouti on the other side of the river. It looks like a huge guinea pig. Suddenly we heard a rustling in the dry leaves on the ground. It was a nine-plated Amarillo just going about its business of finding grubs on the ground. It didn’t seem the least bit afraid of us and I got a couple of pretty good photos of it!

A bit later we spotted a pale-billed woodpecker up in a tree. As we continued along the trail we saw a beautiful big hawk sitting on a branch that stretched across the trail. It just followed us with it's eyes, slowly turning it’s head, as we carefully moved closer and closer until it finally flew up into a tree a bit further up the trail. We saw a Black-headed Trogon and a Black-throated Trogon and a pair of long-tailed Manakins. Nate and I spotted the big, beautiful blue Morpho butterfly. We saw several Yellow-tipped Helicopter Damselflies flying about. We also saw several Basilisk lizards. One of them even walked across the water in the river. That’s why they are also called Jesus Christ Lizards – they can walk on water! Quite an impressive sight! We also saw a beautiful sample of the Tenasor or Black Spiny Iguana.

It was a pretty choppy paddle over to our next camp on Isla Toalinga which is part of the Tortuga Islands. It was a rather steep beach to land on, but we all made it, even though it was quite windy! The daylight was quickly dwindling, so we wasted no time unloading and setting camp. Nate and Christian built a nice bonfire, but unfortunately the wind blew the smoke right into their kitchen area. They had to improvise and move it out of the wind direction.

We were all pretty tired after a full day of hiking and paddling, not to mention hungry! Dinner was delicious – Christian’s special carrot dish and pupusas – homemade corn tortillas filled with refried beans, onions peppers cheese and avocado. It is an El Salvadorian specialty eaten all over Central America and I made a note of it to try it at home. I just have to hunt down a tortilla press like the one Nate used! We had popcorn for dessert. Both Jan and I were dead-tired, so we made up our “beds”, scooting off a couple of big purple and orange crabs with big claws! (We later found out that they are called Jack O’ Lantern crabs.) I woke up in the middle of the night realizing that I had ended up with the ThermaRest that leaked! So it was a “Hard Night”! At least the crabs decided not to try to cuddle, so that was a plus!

Day 4
We woke up to a really windy day with lots of waves and whitecaps and the coconut trees were swaying in the wind. It was the day we had planned to do some snorkeling, so out we went, but I gave up pretty soon, as the water was pretty unclear due to the wind and waves. Instead I got my kayak ready for a self-rescue practice, wrote in my journal and did a couple of watercolor drawings of the scenery while I waited for the others to come out of the water. As usual we had a delicious lunch – tuna melt w/French fries with a great dip of mayo, ketchup, chili and garlic! Fresh fruit for dessert.

After being fortified and sustained we took the singles out for self-rescue practice. It was really a perfect day for that because we could try it in rough conditions. I tried first without my life jacket, which I had thought would be easier, but learned that it’s not! I made it back into the boat, though. Then I tried with my lifejacket and got back in successfully, if not exactly fast! The waves and the current kept driving us back towards the beach, so Nate and Christian had to push us off shore to avoid being pummeled. It was a good practice and great exercise!

After that we decided to go over to the Tortuga Island Trail, which was on the next beach over, just around a little outcropping of rocks. Jan and I took the singles, and Nate and Christian swam. It was a great trail, with gorgeous views, and we saw some animals too! A deer and agoutis in the forest floor. Several Yellow-naped parrots flew above us as we climbed the trail. As we reached the top of the trail we could see that the wind really had kicked up in the meantime. We were in for a really, really rough paddle, not to mention swim, back to our own beach. Good surf-landing practice! I am proud to say that both Jan and I made it in one piece!! The guys felt they had joined the navy seals or something! Apparently those waves looked even bigger from their position in the water! That night Nate and Christian cooked up a good spaghetti dinner. We were hungry after all our activities of the day. The wind kept howling all night and I worried a bit about those coconuts dropping!

Day 5
We woke up to a windy day, even though the wind did die down a bit compared to the stormy night we had just experienced! We were headed for our last campsite of the trip – Playa Ventanas on the Nicoya Peninsula. We went between the Tortuga Islands with the tide and the wind, so it was a fast paddle over to Punta Blanca. It was a pretty rough surf landing. Jan took a spill when a rouge wave surprised her, luckily nothing happed to her or the boat other than getting a bit startled and wet!

After dragging the boats up the rocky beach a bit, we went for a little hike at Playa Blanco up a dry riverbed to where there is a waterfall in the wet season. Now it was dry apart from a very small dribble. On the way up to the waterfall that wasn’t there we saw a squirrel cuckoo on the trail. We went back down to the boats and set out through the surf without incident to paddle on to our final destination for the day, Playa Ventanas, which is sometimes used by local fishermen. They had made some primitive racks of driftwood, which we used to hang some of our stuff on.

It was the first campsite that wasn’t sandy. It consisted of small rocks and pebbles. It was actually kind of nice not to have to deal with sand flying around. The beach itself was rocky, so we tried to go for a bit of snorkeling. The water was still rather unclear because of the recent storm, so it wasn’t really that good. We had a great lunch, again! Tuna melt, homemade fries and apples. The afternoon we spend swimming, studying our books to identify various birds and wildlife we had come across on our hikes the past few days. I did a bit more water coloring, and we just lounged around chatting and enjoying our time and the beautiful surroundings.

Suddenly I spotted some parrots in the trees behind us, so Jan and I went up the trail along a dried riverbed to explore. We saw some small lizards and hear a lot of birds, but they were hard to spot, not least because we made a lot of noise because we were walking in a lot of dried leaves. We walked until we came to a fence, where we spotted a Great Kiskadee. On the way back we saw a black headed Trogon and finally got close enough to identify the parrots that had lured us out on our quest. They were white-fronted Parrots. Above us we saw a flock of parakeets, but couldn’t tell which variety they were. In the distance we heard howler monkeys howling. It truly gave us the “jungle” feeling!

As the afternoon wore on the clouds started moving in, but we could see the sun still shining on the mainland in the distance. We began to wonder if we were in for rain! Luckily it stayed dry and as the night wore on the clouds broke up and the moon came out, making for a nice evening. We had a bonfire on the beach. This time we made sure the wind wouldn’t blow the smoke into the “kitchen” area!

Day 6
I woke up after having fallen asleep under the moon and the stars on the pebbled beach of Ventanas. The sun was about to rise and the sky was turning orange and pink. It was so pretty that I felt compelled to get out of "bed" to grab my camera and take a photo of the beautiful daybreak. Then I got back in bed to watch 4 hummingbirds play in the sunrays in the forest behind me. Soon the rest of the gang got up. The guys started coffee and made a nice breakfast of hot cinnamon oatmeal and roasted pieces of apples – delicious! After breakfast Jan and I took a quick dip and then helped break camp for the last time! We felt kind of melancholy. We had had such a wonderful time and didn’t want to get back to reality quite yet!

After we had the boats loaded – a much lighter load than when we first headed out 6 days ago – we headed out to go North towards Tambor. The water was calm and we rode the tide, reaching Bahia Ballena about an hour later. Since we were not ready to end the trip quite yet we decided to paddle up the river into the mangroves of Tambor. Even though it was mid-day and not the best time of day for bird watching, we did see a number of ibises and egrets, as well as herons, night herons – and a couple of king fishers. As the day wore on it started to get really hot, so we headed out of the mangroves towards the beach again. We landed the boats in front of Nate and Christian’s bungalow and helped them carry and drag the boats into their back yard. We got out our dry bags and went for a dip to cool down. We changed clothes and met Nate and Christian for lunch at Playa Estrella, where they treated us to lunch, the first they hadn’t prepared themselves for 6 days! During lunch we were joined by Nate’s girlfriend, Sue, who had just arrived from the States.

After lunch Jan and I really cleaned up. Boy it was a shock looking in the mirror for the first time after 6 days camping and roughing it! Not a pretty sight! We both really enjoyed the hot shower and not least washing our hair! You get pretty sticky after 6 days! We felt like real women again after being dirty and gritty for 6 days! Afterwards we walked over to Nate and Christian’s house to drop of the dry bags, thank them for a great trip, and say our good-byes! At the house we got to meet another member of the Crystal Sea’s team, Patrick and his girlfriend Keala, and we got to see the inside of the house, which Johannes, the owner of Crystal Sea’s had just purchased. It’s a great piece of property, right on the beach of Bahia Ballena! Hopefully the area will not change too much in the future.

After saying goodbye, Jan and I went for a little stroll on the beach at sunset. As we got to the river we had been paddling up earlier that day we first heard and then saw a group of howler monkeys up in the trees on the other side of the river. We also saw a couple of black hawks and groups of egrets flying home to their resting-places in the mangroves. A perfect ending to a perfect trip!