Costa Rica Excursions Feb 09

[tomstur]

Just booked the Windstar for a Feb cruise! Can't wait! I need some help on excursions or tours that should NOT be missed!

[whatnot]

I would answer your post but I think it would be better if you looked at the thread posted a couple of lines down by Len3, Thinking of booking the West Coast of Costa Rica. I wrote a fairly long post on shore excursions etc. Check it out ! It may answer your questions, if not I will try to help .

[Len3]

This is what we have booked to date:

Feb. 16 - Granada, Massaya Volcano and Craft Market

Feb. 19 - Corcovado National Park and Pedrillo Station

 

Have we missed something special that should be added?

[whatnot]

I think you have booked the must do early ones. The other days will come together once you get on board and hear more about them.

[andyonli]

We just came back from this cruise on Dec 27. By far, the best excursion was Manuelo Antonio Park. The others are very similar, and you can probably save some money. For us, Antonio was the last excursion. On the other tours, we saw virtually no wildlife and had mediocre guides. Antonia was better on all fronts.

[ckcruise]

We just returned from the Wind Star Costa Rica cruise. Below is a list of what we did in each port:

 

Nicaragua - we did the ship's full day tour visiting the Masaya Market, the Masaya Volcano and Granada and the tour in Corocovado National Park. We felt the Nicaragua tour was long but worth it. The guide was very knowledgeable and we learned lots about Nicaragua. I would recommend this tour.

 

Playa del Coco - I hired a private guide, Mainor Lara (www.tours-your-way.com) and he took us on a private tour of Palo Verde. He met us on the beach and transferred us in a comfortable van to the Tempisque River. Here we boarded a small motor boat for our trip on the river. We saw monkeys, lots of birds, iguanas, crocodiles, lizards, bats. It was a very enjoyable day and Mainor was a great guide - very knowledgeable and informative. Mainor was conscientious of the time and we were returned to the beach in Playa del Coco with plenty of time to get back to the ship before sailing.

 

Quepos - Again I hired a private tour guide, Juan Brenes (aguilatour@hotmail.com) for our tour of Manuel Antonio. He met us at the dock with a comfortable van and took us to the Hotel La Mariposa where the view was amazing. We were able to use the swim up bar and had lunch and drinks. It was very relaxing. This was followed by a tour of Manuel Antonio National Park. We were amazed at how much wildlife we saw that we would have missed entirely if we were on our own. We saw howler, capuchin, and squirrel monkeys, sloths, iguanas, lizards, lots of birds, a tree frog. Juan has his own telescope and not only were we able to see everything up close through the scope, but he was able to capture these close ups on film with our camera. Our favourite picture is of a mommy squirrel monkey with her newborn baby clinging to her back - amazing. Following our tour, Juan took us to Barba Roja for sunset. It was an amazing day and the highlight of our trip. Juan is a great guide - I highly recommend his services.

 

Drake Bay - We did the ship's tour of Corcovado National Park. After our experience the day before with Juan, this tour was a disappointment. We expected to see the most wildlife here but barely saw any. Our guide was knowledgeable but very quiet and hard to hear. Unfortunately, her telescope did not allow for taking close up pictures. For anyone considering this tour, the final hike to the waterfall is fairly strenuous and there is lots of uneven ground. We took our hiking poles and were glad we had them.

After the tour, we made use of the swim platform. It was great floating in the warm ocean water and very relaxing after the heat of Corcovado.

 

Curu - We did Curu on our own and enjoyed the walk. We didn't see a lot of wildlife but did see some birds, monkeys and iguanas.

 

Tortuga Island - great barbque on the beach and a relaxing afternoon.

 

Hope this helps others looking for info on what to do in each port. There really isn't very much feedback on this cruise. This was our third Wind Star cruise and we would recommend it to anyone.