It Is That Time Again: Say Goodbye To Old Man Winter And Make Plans For Your Costa Rica Vacation
1. Airfares have not been this reasonable in years. The world economic downturn has come to Costa Rica. Tourism in Costa Rica is down by at least fifteen percent this year, presenting terrific travel deals to an informed and frugal traveler . Want affordable luxury? Budget-conscious folks who travel Costa Rica can rent very nice Costa Rica hostels (some with private rooms) for about $12.00. If you are a bit more flush with cash, but still looking for a deal, the Hilton Papagayo Resort is offering rooms as low as $160.00 a night. Seniors can get an extra discount. Travel Tip: always ask the hotel, resort, or hostel if there is a discount for cash. And, keep in mind that the very best rates are between May to mid-November and the premium prices are over the holidays.
2. With almost eight hundred miles of coast visit one or more of hundreds of pristine Costa Rica beaches. Fish off of Drake Bay, named after Sir Francis Drake, who visited the southern Costa Rica Pacific coast a decade before sinking the Spanish Armada and saving England in 1588. You can even walk the same Caribbean beach where Columbus named Costa Rica 600 years ago. Black, brown, and white sand beaches, sea shell beaches, rugged rock-strewn beaches are everywhere.
3. All Costa Rica beaches are public so you can frolic on the same Costa Rica beaches enjoyed by Britney Spears or Mel Gibson (but you need to bring your own Russian model). Take romantic walks or just be lazy. Do not forget to bring your surfboard because some of the best surfing on the planet is found here. Most beaches are completely free but if you prefer to visit a very popular national beach park called Manuel Antonio, there will be a small entry fee.
4. Become an ecotourist. Costa Rica ecotourism has become a booming industry and is helping to preserve endangered sea turtles, exotic macaws, and many other species while bringing in much needed revenue to local communities. Be sure to check out Ostional National Preserve on the popular Pacific Gold Coast, where thousands of olive ridley sea turtles come ashore in massive nestings, called "arribadas", perhaps the largest spectacle of its kind in the world. Arribadas take place year-round but the biggest (sometimes involving hundreds of thousands of turtles) typically are when the moon is in its last quarter during the months of July to November.
5. Costa Rica has been called the "Switzerland of Latin America." This mountainous little country has nearly as many species of birds as in the entire continental U.S., more than 900. You can hike every inch of Africa without seeing as many species of butterflies as there are in Costa Rica. Twenty Percent of all animal and plant species on the world are found in this country.
6. You can hike the tallest mountain in Latin America, Mt. Chirripo. Voted one of Costa Rica's Seven Natural Wonders, hikers start at its tropical forest base and, if they have the stamina, end at its cold alpine summit. Bring a backpack with warm clothes as you climb this beauty to a little night time shelter overlooking remnant glacial lakes carved from ancient glaciers. Climbing requires a permit and reservation but the cost is very modest and when you reach the top you may be reminded of the mighty Andes. Most hikers make this a two day trip.
Writer Victor Krumm posts from his home in Costa Rica. Visit his authoritative, lovely website about and be sure to check out the spectacular
A Costa Rica Vacation Will Make You Forget The Beach
Costa Rica vacation can be such a rewarding experience it can do without the beach. Most individuals cannot imagine a vacation without going to the beach. However, being at the heart of a Costa Rica can completely change your mind about beaches being the only place to go on vacations.
Of course, you might still insist on going to the beach. That is not a problem in Costa Rica. The unmatched clean and crystal clear beauty of Samara, Playa Grande and Pan Dulce can give every beach hungry tourist the most invigorating time of their lives. With water activities like wind surfing, sea kayaking, snorkeling and diving, there is not a lot left to ask for.
Beaches are not the only hot spot in Costa Rica. The real heart of Costa Rica lies in its expansive rainforest system, natural reserves and nature parks. In other words, visiting Costa Rica is the same as taking a plunge deep into the very core of natures beauty and bounty.
Tour choices are numerous and varied. You can go on a rainforest safari on marvelously unexploited sites like the Savegre River Valley where plant and animal species explode with color and energetic life. You can also alternatively head off to a park where there is even more natural grandeur on display. Some parks are the homes of active volcanoes like the Arenal volcano that simply wont fail to impress.
You can also enjoy nature at close range. Vacationing in Costa Rica almost always includes looking for and watching different species of butterflies and birds. Turtle nesting at Tortuguero National Park is also a common sight to watch out for.
In Costa Rica, you are not just a mere observer or watcher of nature. Every adventurous soul has the chance to become part of the astounding wonders of nature. When you are in an exotic location, consider enjoying it while on a canopy ride over a forest or while rappelling down a water fall. If these extreme activities seem too mild for you, you might want to try canyoning and bungee jumping.
Accommodations also offer the rare chance of participation. You do not need to travel far to get to breathtaking locations. All you need to do is book in advance in any of the lodges or hotels that are located right inside the parks and forests. Wine, dine and sleep right beside a forest and wake up to the early morning call of unspoiled nature.
Clearly, there is more to a Costa Rica vacation than beaches. If you do not want to get confused over the many options available, pick specialists in Costa Rica vacations to help you out. Package deals from several travel agents are well worth considering so you can get guided tours at reasonable prices. Of course, you might not get to see all of Costa Rica even on a guided tour. You just have to come back later for more.
Costa Rica’s Olive Ridley Sea Turtles
The fact that olive ridley marine turtles are endangered is really almost unfathomable because, after all, they have been swimming the oceans more than one hundred million years.
To put some perspective onto this number, consider the mighty T Rex. It roamed North America sixty-five million years ago and, as surely as night follows day, it feasted on these sea turtles when they came onto beaches to nest.
Over unimaginable eons, these animals have flourished, despite being prey for nearly everything under the sun for tens of millions of generations. Probably 30,000,000 or more generations were preyed upon by dinosaurs and other reptiles and fish before the first T Rex evolved and, since then, another seventy million generations have fed a lot of critters. Still, they flourished.
They even survived the greatest extinction the earth has suffered, a calamity that killed all of the mighty dinosaurs---and yet the turtles flourished.
Over millennia, spreading across the face of the planet, these ancient mariners swam all of the tropical and temperate seas. From the Arabian Sea to the Atlantic coast of the American continents and from India to the Pacific coast of the New World, they thrived all around the world. Untold millions.
When I was a child everybody loved watching "I Love Lucy." When the first episode of that TV show aired, the oceans were still filled with olive ridley turtles. On Mexico's Pacific coast alone, there were 10,000,000 olive ridley nests that year---1951--- and every nest contained about 100 eggs per clutch. That is a billion eggs on a single coast in just one small country. A billion eggs every year. And, of course, these marine turtles were found virtually everywhere there were warm or temperate waters. The bounty was limitless.
There were so many eggs that were gathered so easily and so much profit to be made that, during the incredible arribadas, or nestings, huge pack trains of horses and mules were brought to the beaches. These pack animals and our mechanized trains and trucks carried out hundreds of millions of eggs each nesting season, year-after-year. And, so it was that within twenty years, there was only one nest in one year on a beach where there had been several hundred thousand when we first laughed at Lucy and Desi. Unfortunately, this was being repeated around the world.
At the same time, country-after-country opened sea turtle fisheries.
The result? From limitless to endangered in a couple of decades. A single generation of men nearly accomplished what seemed impossible: nearly destroying in the blink of an eye what had taken a hundred million generations to create.
Fortunately, some countries finally realized the extent of depredation and began taking steps to conserve and protect sea turtles. Tiny Costa Rica has helped lead the way, creating reserves and working with dedicated conservationists and local residents to not only conserve what is left but to rebuild stocks.
Today, Ostional Beach, on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, may have the world's largest arribadas of olive ridley sea turtles. Every month, often when the moon is in its last quarter, female turtles gather close to shore for several days and suddenly come to the beach en masse, day after day. The greatest arribadas are often in October, November, and December and the biggest mass nesting in recent years was half a million females coming ashore in 1995. If you are interested in Costa Rica ecotourism, this is a must-see.
Today, Costa Rica recognizes that these creatures are worth more alive than dead. And, remember that Mexican beach that was reduced to a single nest? Well, the government finally protected it and it recovered to 50,000 nests in 1988---and more than a million in 2000.
May God and mankind grant the olive ridley another 100,000,000 years.