A day at the beach, or Catamaran trip and return to San Jose

There are two choices of activities today:

Option:1- See the whales and dolphins on the Catamaran tour! Meet the most beloved animals of the seas.

We depart on the Catamaran tour to see the whales. This is a great way to get out of the hustle and bustle and sit back, relax and enjoy yourself with a nice cocktail and an ocean breeze. There are two whale migrations that calve here in the warm waters of Marino Ballena National Park.  Antarctic families arrive in July and depart in November while their northern cousins from California and Canada come in December and leave in April.  But don’t forget you can catch the glorious dolphins all year round.

Everyone will feel like a kid again when your whole group gets to greet whales in person! Our Costa Rican whale encounters are as intimate as you could ever hope for, with these gentle giants often coming close enough to get us wet!

We zoom out to meet migrating “pods” (groups of whales) on a comfortable and super-stable catamaran (a twin-hulled ship) as Gray and Humpback whales - and sometimes Blue whales up to 100 feet long - pass within a few miles of the Costa Rican shore.

*** Alert! ***

Talk about something special! Whales are extremely gentle and often come right up to the boat, so it is sometimes possible to actually *touch* a whale! Whales enjoy interacting with boats and people, so much so that you could be greeted personally in a close approach – or by getting a good close up “once over” as a whale investigates and stares at our group.

When whale groups encounter a tour boat, they very often put on a deliberate show with fantastic aerial jumps, rolls, and splashes. Humpbacks in particular love to cavort about and play, posing with their huge pectoral fins pointed up out of the water and showing off their bellies.A curious humpback or gray whale will “spy hop,” by raising herself vertically above the waterline to check out what’s going on. It’s an exhilarating, yet remarkably intimate,experience when the whales eyeball passengers and move in to be patted. Their brains are larger and more complex than ours,and it is clear when they swim up to us and look us straight in the eye it is a deliberate move,yet they are gentle and thoughtful in all of their interactions with us.

We also often hear whale songs! While whale songs are known to travel miles underwater, when whales are close by it is actually possible to hear singing from the boat.

 Watch them breach and entertain the children in the short video.

**Note: Booking to be made in advance Price $80/person

learn more about humpbacks here in our blog 

 

 

Option: 2

Relax on the beach, and see you at 3 pm for our flight to San Jose.

We will depart Manuel Antonio Hotel at 3:00 pm to arrive at Quepos Airport to board our charter flight Nature Air at  4:00pm  for San Jose.

We arrive in San Jose at 5:15 pm and check into our hotel The Crown Plaza where you will have the evening free to choose and pre-book your tour of choice with advance payment for the next day’s adventure.