Sat. April 27th Puntarenas

Here are the pictures of our day.

 Your day begins when you are greeted by our friendly staff who will meet you at the cruise 

dock or hotel. From there, you’ll be escorted to a clean, comfortable, air-conditioned tourism

 vehicle by one of our certified English speaking guides.

The first  stop will be in an area where we commonly spot the white-faced Capuchin monkeys

, sometimes even the Howler monkeys come out for the show! But have your camera ready 

as these monkeys are very curious and active and sometimes come close to greet us!

 They might even try to steal your cookies or camera! As the tourism industry in Costa Rica 

is one of the strongest and largest industries, monkeys have grown accustomed to seeing

 people on a daily basis and are typically very friendly and smart creatures! 

 After learning interesting information about them from our certified naturalist tour guides-

 (we have the MOST AMAZING GUIDES) we will board the van and travel 

on the new highway passing by seasonal plantations as your guide entertains

 you with rich history and facts of our amazing country!

​

 On the way we make a stop at a fresh fruit shop so you can try and learn 

about our various exotic fruits such as lychee, tamarind, sour sop, as well as

 commonly known fruits such as mango, watermelon, pineapple and more! 

The fruit shop, owned and operated by a Costa Rican family of farmers make

 some of the best tropical smoothies we have ever tasted! 

​

This is the most popular bridge in all of Costa Rica! You will have the opportunity 

to see up to a dozen crocodiles up to 20 feet long sunbathing under the bridge! 

 Next is the main event – a 75-minute safari boat tour on the Tarcoles river

 with an experienced naturalist guide. You’ll see egrets, herons, storks,

 cara-caras and many other migratory birds “on vacation” here in Costa Rica,

 but the kings of the river are the american crocodiles, some reaching lengths of nearly

 20 feet long!  In addition to having one of the largest population of crocodiles
 in the Americas,

 the river also supports more than 50 species of migratory, 
native and coastal birds, including a variety of heron and egrets,

 crested cara-caras, roseate spoonbills, scarlet macaws and more. 

Iguanas can often be spotted along  sides of the river as well. If you are lucky 

you will spot a rare specie of lizards famously known as the Jesus Christ lizards!

 These lizards have the ability to run across water whenever a predator

 or boat closes in. 

 Your trained naturalist tour guide will work hard to spot these beautiful birds 

for you to photograph in the wild. You will visit an area in Tarcoles by the beach

 where the macaws are normally found amongst the almond trees. 

These beautiful red macaws birds are endangered all across the world 

but with a little luck we will spot them, of course we will climb off of the vehicle for photos!

Afterwards, enjoy a traditional Costa-Rican style lunch with wi-fi available 

to upload your best photos taken so far. The restaurant providers for this tour is

 Ti-Ko Surf & Turf  Restaurant, a SPECTACULAR Rainforest & Ocean View Restaurant

 situated in the Biological Reserve of Carara National Park,

Ti-Ko Restaurant has gained recognition for their amazing service and delicious meals, 
as a bonus, you may witness wildlife such as scarlet macaws and toucans overpassing 
your lunch table. 

You will have the chance to sit down and eat fresh fish filet (typically sea-bass or mahi-mahi,

 chicken breast filet or the vegetarian option all accompanied with rice, beans,

 salad and natural fruit beverage-

​

After lunch we’ll travel 1,000 feet above sea-level to a majestic lookout point 

overlooking the Tarcoles River, Carara National Forest, Gulf of Nicoya, and Puntarenas

 coastline- complete with a picture taking stop for you cherish this memory. 

These are also common grounds to find wild Toucans! We will climb off of the vehicle

 here for photos! If time and weather permits, we will enter an eco hotel on the way

 that was built inside the forests of Carara with a flat and leisure, paved walkway,

 the trees will provide use with shade and there are beautiful trees, plants to see

 and learn about, green iguanas and the amazing colony of leaf cutter ants

 that transport leafs on their backs in single file lines (nick-named the last standing

 Costa Rican military) are very common to spot here as well! 

There are colonial style architecture and trees over 400 years old 

that you will witness on this leisure 25 minute walk! 

On arrival in Puntarenas, we’ll take you on a loop through town past points 

of interest like the church, soccer stadium, light house and ferry station,

 before dropping you off at your hotel or cruise port.

For anyone interested in making a run to the supermarket, 

we can gladly take you and bring you back after the tour is finished. 

​

 If drop-off is at the Puntarenas or Caldera cruise ship port,

 be sure to admire the hundreds of artisanal handicrafts and souvenir shirts

 from over 100 local vendors selling their goods at the most competitive prices. 

These English speaking local vendors have kiosks by the pier

 where we drop you off, prices are duty free and you can negotiate a great deal with them. 

​

The day was great, the food was very tasty, It was HOT.and the humidity was so oppressive
We even saw a bonus lighthouse.














I was so tired coming back that I was dragging. 
There is a beach right at the dock and if it had not 
been so late I would have at least waded in the water to cool off.

This all day excursion certainly took its toll. I don't think I will plan one of those again.
 I think a half day one is good enough for us "OLDER FOLK"

This is the tour summary that we received from Thumbs Up.
 It looks as if we will have a very busy day..

I have decided to insert pictures of the events promised on this tour.