Costa Rica Whale Watching Tours, Dolphins, and Turtles, 8 Days / 7 Nights

Costa Rica Whale-Watching Tours Highlights

Watch green sea turtles nest on Caribbean beaches (seasonal).
Immerse yourself in the wild canals of Tortuguero, Costa Rica’s “Little Amazon”.
Explore the misty highlands of Cerro de la Muerte, home of the resplendent quetzal.
Experience the warm hospitality and culture of Costa Rica’s Caribbean and Pacific regions.
Search for whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and sharks in Marino Ballena National Park.
Discover the pristine mangrove forests of Sierpe, Central America’s largest mangrove system.
Relax in small-group travel with expert bilingual naturalist guides.
Stay in eco-lodges and boutique hotels close to nature.

Itinerary

Day 1

Welcome to Costa Rica! Upon your arrival in San Jose and after passing through Immigration, your guide will meet you at the arrivals terminal with your name board. and transfer you to your hotel in San Jose.

Day 2

Early this morning you will be met by your local guide who will take you on shared land transfer to La Pavona Dock in Guapiles. Here you will board a boat to Tortuguero where your beautiful hotel is located, surrounded by the forest and next to the sea (not recommended for swimming due to very strong currents).

Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica’s “little Amazon”, is located on the Caribbean coast. This remote area is accessible only by plane or by boat; nevertheless, your lodging will still be first class. Wildlife-rich Tortuguero will allow you the chance to see a large diversity of bird species, monkeys, sloths, crocodiles, and iguanas as you tour the navigable rainforest canals by boat. The tropical beaches around Tortuguero are key nesting sites for green sea turtles during July to September.

After lunch, join your local guide to explore the picturesque little village of Tortuguero. It's one and only street is comprised of a few stores and small restaurants "sodas".

During dinner your guide will brief you on timing and needs for the night walk to look for turtles nesting on the beach. A thrill of an experience!

Day 3

After a hearty breakfast, set off for another day in paradise. Today you will continue exploring the different beauties of Tortuguero.

Start the adventure with your guide to explore the beautiful gardens surrounding your hotel, he will be on the look for beautiful birds like the Collared Aracari, the Common Black Hawk, the Long-tailed Hermit, and Slaty-tailed Trogon. Explore the top of the trees to look for large iguanas or calm sloths sleeping in high canopy branches. Find butterflies of many colours like the blue morpho or the postman butterfly. And if you venture to the beach, you may see tracks of the nesting turtles of the last night event!

In the afternoon we have arranged a two-hour boat tour gliding through the lush canals of the national park - a great opportunity to sit back and explore and enjoy different sections of the park (this boat ride is a shared experience). Look for tropical wildlife in these unique wetland and rainforest habitats! You expect to find 3 species of monkeys, caimans and crocodiles, Jesus Christ Lizards and large iguanas in the canopy of the rainforest, and many birds such as sungrebes, anhingas, herons and egrets, ibis, spoonbills and kingfishers. Also you have great chances to see famous and emblematic birds of Tortuguero such as the Black Mandibled Toucan, the Great Green Macaw, the Great Curasow, the American Pygmy Kingfisher and the Laughing Falcon.

Day 4

Following another fresh and filling tico breakfast, you bid farewell to your hosts and board a boat transfer to La Pavona dock where your private bilingual Host-Driver will meet you and take you to your next destination in the highlands, Cerro de la Muerte. Begin your tour of Costa Rica’s high mountains traveling along the famous Panamerican Highway, well known for its outstanding scenery and for excellent high elevation bird watching. Most notable is that this region is very likely the best place in the world for observing resplendent quetzals-birds so spectacularly beautiful they were considered divine entities by the ancient Aztecs and Mayans. Today you will go from sea level up to more than 8000 feet!

Upon arrival, you’ll be welcomed by birdsong and enjoy the fresh air of the highlands! Many native fruiting trees and blooming hedges are like the “fast food” restaurants for famous birds of these highlands like the Emerald Toucanet, Volcano Hummingbird, Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Magnificent Hummingbird, Flame-collared Tanager, Spangled-cheeked Tanager, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager, Yellow-thighed Finch, Slaty Flower piercer, and Golden-browed Chlorophonia.

At night take a walk to listen for owls or if you´re lucky you may even find the little know Cacomistle foraging in the canopy of the oak trees!

Day 5

Today at Paraíso del Quetzal tour you will look for a variety of high elevation birds in oak forests and visit private hot spots in search of the legendary Resplendent Quetzal, an unmistakable member of the trogon family with long, iridescent slender tail that goes far beyond the body.

After a nice warm local lunch, you will descend to the tropical rainforests and beaches of Dominical-Uvita region.

This evening after dinner you will learn from your guide about your next day adventures in the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica!

The Southern Pacific Coast in Costa Rica’s southwest corner stretches from Dominical to the Osa Peninsula at its southern end. The rugged coastline in the Dominical-Uvita area is famed among surfers seeking great waves, warm water and long uncrowded beaches. In season, area tours can be arranged for watching migrating whales and dolphins. The 100,000-acre wilderness park of Corcovado offers ancient forests, scarlet macaws, all four of the nation’s monkey species (the only park that does so), plenty of other wildlife and the slight possibility of encountering a jaguar-or more likely jaguar tracks crossing a trail. Although this region is remote and the rainforests pristine, attractive area nature lodges make one’s visit comfortable.

Day 6

After breakfast, you will drive 40 minutes to Sierpe town for the Mangrove Boat Tour. In this half day guided tour you will explore the beautiful maze of canals, rivers mouths and estuaries that flood the largest untouched mangroves in all of Costa Rica and Central America. There is a wide variety of opportunities to see tropical wildlife and photograph the riparian scenery in primary mangroves.

After learning from you guide about this unique ecosystem, its importance and benefits, in this journey, with luck you will be able to observe some 40 different types of birds, mangrove boa snakes, cat's eyes and corals, squirrel monkeys or white face monkeys, caimans, crocodiles, and Jesus Christ lizards, among other species.

Large troops, up to 40 individuals, of squirrel monkeys can be found along the river edge foraging for fruits or little animals.

Later after lunch you will have time to see the famous stone carved spheres of the Osa Peninsula. These impressive stone spheres were declared by the UNESCO as World Cultural Heritage.

Day 7

Today after you have enjoyed breakfast, your local captain will take you to explore the sea looking for the famous humpback whales, as well as different kind of birds and sea life like bottle-nose dolphins, sharks, starfish, false orca, Olive Ridley and hawksbill sea turtles and more! Ballena National Marine Park protects more than 5000 hectares of ocean and 171 hectares of coastline.

Costa Rican waters are famous for the humpback whales that migrate to the region from late July to September (heading north from Antarctica) and from late December to early April (heading south from Alaska), each year.

Besides the whales and beauty of the Islands and shorelines of the park, there is also another highlight to explore! When the tide is low, don’t forget to explore the Punta Uvita Tombola, known as “The whale tail”, a rocky and sand formation that appears about 1 kilometer from the shore only in low tide.

After this tour your host-driver will take you to back to San Jose where you will spend your last night in Costa Rica.

Day 8

Well, it is time to say adios to Costa Rica, we will provide you with a private land transfer from your hotel to San Jose Intl. Airport.

Download Detailed Itinerary

COST:
$3,320.00 per person for 2 pax
$2,825.00 per person for 3-4 pax
$2,595.00 per person for 5-6 pax

Single Supplement: $1040.00
Child Supplement: $1,525.00 sharing the room with the parents, maximum two children 2 - 10 years old

These rates are per person. The best time for this itinerary is from July - September.

For more information
Contact:
Dive Discovery
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1 800 886-7321
(415) 444-5100
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