Posted on: 6:55 pm, today Save
Hi Folks: I just wanted to check in and let you know about our sunset cruise onboard the Marlin del Rey which ran us $75 per person. We booked it ourselves directly as our hotel (Las Tortugas) did not want to be bothered. Booking it over the phone with Jeff was no problem at all. We left from in front of the Pescadore restaurant down the beach from the the Diria traffic circle..keep going until you see the two overturned boats. It is not the same restaurant as Pedro Pescadore which caused some people to miss the boat, as they were waiting at the wrong restaurant. We boarded a very clean, big and beautiful catamaran at 1:30 with about 11 guests onboard. It was open bar the whole way with readily available drinks just for the asking. Cruised up past Playa Grande and Playa Carbone to Playa Huevos which is a privately owned beach on a very large private property owned by an Iranian family in London. The beach is black sand. The crew has snorkles, fins ready for all and two ride-on-top kayaks for guest use. There is a coral reef, but the day we were there it was rainy and cloudy and zero visibility on the reef. But we did take the kayak into shore to explore. We dumped the kayak in the surf which was pretty heavy and could be a problem for children. Also anchored there was the catamaran Blue Dolphin which had far more guests on board. Both crews seemed very friendly and cooperative with each other. You are allowed to hang on the beach, but the park like area surrounding the house is strictly off limits. The house is gorgeous and looks like a temple ( I wish I had taken a picture of the house). One father and daughter team saw a troop of howler monkeys in the trees, but we never saw them. Back on board after kayaking and snorkeling the crew laid out a heavy snack of gaucamole, chips, cookies, pasta salad. On the ride back one guest had put out fishing lines and caught a jack fish which was thrown back in. We returned with lights coming up on the hillsides of Tamarindo at around 5:30 PM. The crew Barbie & Olivia were great; very personable, but kept a close watch on the situation just in case open bar mixed with water sports got out of hand. I finally felt that I had seen the "real Costa Rica" after seeing the coastline from the water. We cruised past miles and miles of almost deserted coastline without the hassles of bumpy roads and construction equipment pounding away. Once we anchored there was only one human habitation for miles and miles which was incredibly peaceful and strangely eerie. I took a bunch of pictures for you and hopefully I will post them successfully.