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Marino Ballena National Park
The drive from Lapas Rios to Uvita took just under three hours and brought us roughly half way back to San José, so it makes a good stopping point for a few days.
The scenery up to now has been all jungle and forest, so Uvita’s beaches make a nice change. Our hotel is located high up in the mountains directly above the iconic Whale’s Tail – a rocky sandbar shaped like a whale’s tail that is exposed only at low tide. The reef that protects this remarkable formation from dangerous currents and strong waves makes it a good place to swim.
The walk from the Uvita entrance to the beach to the tip of the whale’s tail is about 2kms – far enough to walk in the tropical heat/humidity. The Kura Hotel runs a daily complimentary shuttle service down to the beach to coincide with low tide.
Entrance to the Marino Ballena National Park is $6 pp. It is, like all the Costa Rican National Parks we have visited so far, very understated.
Parks are part of the Costa Rica soul. When words like, “miracle”, “vision” and “conversion” are used to describe the process of creating the National Parks, you know it is something very dear to the national heart.
There is little else to do here but chill out and relax and at this stage of the holiday, that’s absolutely fine by me. You can do a day trip by boat to the Caño Island Biological Reserve where you can snorkel along coral reef. I’m sure this would be a great trip, but my snorkelling skills are not up to it – still work in progress.
Souvenir I am Glad I Bought
An original, water colour painting of a sloth from the local market in Uvita (Wednesday mornings) – a nice reminder of one of the highlights of our trip. His smiling face is a great souvenir and will help get me through the snow that awaits us back home.
