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Planning CR trip August 2015 (1 Viewer)

B

bartho

Member
Hi all,

I am planning a trip to Costa Rica in August next year. This will be a family trip with a lot of general 'natural history' activities and as much hardcore birdwatching as I can get away with...
While making plans I run into some practical questions where I would like to appeal to the collective wisdom of this forum:

First, I am planning to visit the Serapiqui area (e.g. La Selva) and staying at the Hotel Gavilan. We would also like to visit Tortuguero. According to their website Gavilan offers a (4 hr) boat ride to Tortuguero.
* Would this be a fun/interesting way to travel to (and from?) Tortuguero, in terms of landscape, wildlife and/or birds?
* Any advantages or disadvantages compared to driving (rental car) to Pavona and continuing by boat from there?

Thanks,

Bart
 
Hi Bart,

As I see this is your first post, let me start by saying "welcome to BF!"

Regarding your specific questions, I’m afraid I have nothing terribly useful to say, not ever having been to Tortuguero. I am, however, a big Costa Rica “fan,” and heartily endorse spending some time in the Sarapiqui lowlands. On our first trip to CR, it was our second destination (after San Jose, where we stopped over for one night after our flight) – the bird variety was mind-blowing! It’s been over twenty-years, but I still vividly remember many first encounters there: first nunbird, first honeycreeper, first chachalaca, first antbird ....
We stayed at a little place called Selva Verde Lodge, which was fine for us at the time – I’ve subsequently heard that it is a lot “louder” nowadays, so El Gavilan is probably a better choice. Wherever you are in that part of the country, though, you’ll find the birds are just fantastic – if you can find a patch of forest (primary growth), it will be full of birds. I don’t know about your birding style, but I found that just the grounds of SVL (which were pretty extensive) gave us plenty of material for three days’ birding. We did try to drive to La Selva at one point, but somehow missed the turn, and never got there.

I’m not clear from what you say just how much time you’ve got, but I hope you’ll consider a trip to the highlands. There is a really different set of birds to be seen there (I imagine you know this already), and in CR, you can reach them quite easily by road. Although there are abundant choices of lodges to stay at in the highlands, I will recommend Poas Volcano Lodge in particular. This is partly because it is comfortable, and has good trails (and Black Guans), but mostly because of the location – being just north-west of San Jose a bit, it’s an easy drive from/to the Alajuela airport.

Peter

(If you want to know more about PVL, you can read about it here until you’re bored to tears...)
 
Last edited:
Hi Peter,

thanks for your quick reply (even though you have nothing terribly useful to say with respect to my specific question ;)

Maybe I should have given some additional info...
I am planning a 3 week trip, visiting some very well-known sites (La Selva, Tortuguero, Carara, San Gerardo)as well as a few lesser known ones (Volcan Tenorio, Drake Bay). I think I will be posting more questions as they pop up. This question was simply the first one.

Thanks for the extensive report from your trip to the Poas region. I have read it with great interest. We planon visiting Poas on our first (full) day, starting from the airport and hoping to arrive at Gavilan by the end of the day.
 
Bartho,
also a welcome to birdforum from me!

One little note: Driving in Costa Rica is slower than you expect. Therefore, going off the highway to chase around at Poas and then arriving later at Sarapiqui might not be realistic.

I have also never been to Tortuguero so no comments there. I hope some of our more knowledgeable members will show up soon.

Niels
 
Bart -
Though I've never been either, I would think a trip downriver to Tortuguero would be productive and good fun given you get a pilot who will be willing to slow down for you to view wildlife. If the other passengers have made their regular, say weekly, trip to the big city and want to get back home to Tortuguero, there will have to be some compromising. Hopefully, your contacts at El Gavilan can help you with your choice of boats.
Being from the Netherlands, I would have thought you might have heard of Heleconia Island Lodge (http://www.heliconiaisland.com/) near Sarapiqui. Having stayed at both the above mentioned lodges, I would much prefer Heleconia Island, run by a congenial Dutch couple. I wrote up a little about this beautifully laid out, five acre Botanical Gardens in a December '09 report. This might be a link to it:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=160995&referrerid=70825
You may have to scroll down to the appropriate entry on 27 Jan.

I agree with Peter in that Poas is convenient and has some excellent high elevation birds as well as a smoking volcano! Hard to beat that combiination! You might not want to rush through a visit there by adding a longish, mountain drive to the end of your arrival day.
Since you are not leaving until next summer, there's plenty of time to ask questions and we, who are in love with the country, will be happy to help.

Steve
 
Thanks for the warm welcome on the forum!

@Niels,

just to clarify... We will be arriving late afternoon and spend the first night somwhere near the airport. On the next day - the first full day - we plan on having a rental car dropped off at the hotel and driving to Poas and surroundings, planning to arrive in the Sarapiqui area before dark.
I thought this would be relaistic. Please correct em if I am wrong. Since this is a family trip, the very last thing I want to do is to 'rush' things or take risks in any way.

@Steve
I have indeed heard of Heliconia Island. To be honest, I have no idea why I preferred Gavilan... I might have to rethink, plenty of time left until August;). I have read the report you linked to, lots of useful info, thanks.
Having stayed at both lodges, would you please care to elaborate on why you would much prefer Heliconia Island?

Bart
 
bartho said:
just to clarify... We will be arriving late afternoon and spend the first night somwhere near the airport. On the next day - the first full day - we plan on having a rental car dropped off at the hotel and driving to Poas and surroundings, planning to arrive in the Sarapiqui area before dark.
I thought this would be relaistic. Please correct em if I am wrong. Since this is a family trip, the very last thing I want to do is to 'rush' things or take risks in any way.
Bart
Click to expand...

Hi Bart:

In terms of time, it certainly could be done. On that first trip to CR, we did something similar on our first full day. We stayed near San José on arrival (although, foolishly, on the east side of the city, opposite to where we were to be heading the next day), then drove to Selva Verde via Poas Volcano N.P. the next morning. We arrived at SVL late afternoon, and it wasn't a terribly rushed drive - stopped at a waterfall on the way, and we were stopped (briefly) by the "security" forces on the road to Chilimate. So, it is feasible - provided, of course, that Ruta #126 is open again north of Vara Blanca (is it? last time I checked, it had been closed by an earthquake).

That said, I would never do that schedule again - it gave us far too little time on the mountain, and so we had barely any time for birding there, and virtually none on the way down into the Sarapiqui. This is why, when I went back to Poas recently, into very similar habitat at PVL (just birded around the hotel, didn't go to the park at all this time), I got many new life birds.

Just as a general statement, I would agree with Niels that travel is much slower than you will be used to, and you need to adjust expectations accordingly. I calculate it this way - look at the distance from Point A to Point B on the Costa Rican map; if it looks like I could do it in 1 hour in Canada, allow 3-4 hours in Costa Rica, and prepare to spend much of that time hopelessly lost (and that's with a GPS!)

For me, I find that one week = two destinations is about as much as I want to do, to avoid losing valuable time running around.
 
Working from my feeble memory here: I did a similar drive once, except that I dropped the volcano and stopped for about 2 hours at the hummingbird gardens (http://www.waterfallgardens.com/hummingbirds.php), and it approached dark when we reached Sarapiqui.

If I were to do something like that today, I would probably stay really close to the volcano and use that entire day in that area, or I would start like you from near the airport, spend most of the day by the volcano, but end it with a reservation at the la paz waterfalls garden. Spend some time next morning enjoying the birds there, drive to Sarapiqui in the afternoon.

Niels

I don't know what they charge for a room, but the gardens are definitely worth a visit for the hummers.
 
Yes, plenty of time to plan. Based on the present plans, you should see a lot of birds and get a nice big dose of biodiversity. Fortunately, you can stay in places that are fun for the family and hardcore birders- should be able to get in quality early morning birding.

For the Tortuguero trip, they may refer to a four hour boat ride at Tortuguero itself because from El Gavilan, the closest way to get there is by driving to Pavona anyways. Boat rides there always turn up some good stuff. A boat ride on the Sarapiqui at El Gavilan can also be good for Sunbittern, Sungrebe, Green Ibis, and some other species.

The road past the waterfall gardens is totally fixed and better than it was before the quake. The waterfall gardens have lots of hummingbirds and a couple of mini zoos of sorts but expensive entrance fee. Whatever you decide to do, make sure to stop at the Colibri Cafe further down the road and past the waterfall. The birder and bird friendly owners have feeders with hummingbirds, Prong-billed Barbet, Emerald Toucanet, and other species, and good local food for good prices.
 
bartho said:
Thanks for the warm welcome on the forum!
@Steve
I have indeed heard of Heliconia Island. To be honest, I have no idea why I preferred Gavilan... I might have to rethink, plenty of time left until August;). I have read the report you linked to, lots of useful info, thanks.
Having stayed at both lodges, would you please care to elaborate on why you would much prefer Heliconia Island?

Bart
Click to expand...

Much of the difference was in the interaction with our hosts, Henk and Carolien. They are a warm and most accommodating couple. We had many enjoyable, evening conversations with one or both. They are also proud of their grounds and lodging, keeping them clean and beautiful. Not overly so, however, since a good part of the gardens has been left in a natural state, so much the better for the birds. The birding just outside their 5 acre "estate" is pretty good too. Although mature forest is missing, the open field or second growth species abound. They have no means to cook meals there but a flexible variety of meals can ordered ahead for a source they use. Otherwise, a 6km trip to town is necessary. At the time we stayed there, we didn't have a rental car so we usually opted to use their meal plan, especially since it was reasonably priced, vegetarian Tico food. We once picked ripe star fruit in their garden and Carolien made some delicious smoothies from them.
The fruit feeders there were close to the open porch and always active, as Carolien kept them constantly supplied with fruit from the garden.
El Gavilan's feeders were less active and fruit was only put out when requested. We eventually bought bananas and stocked the feeder ourselves. Though the birding on the rest of the grounds was so-so there, the weather was not, rain being the norm for much of the daylight hours. Possibly not a fair comparison of birding then.
We had a problem when it came time to pay for our three day stay at El Gavilan. Fortunately, we brought printed emails (take note!) so through a series of phone calls, the lodging price was lowered to our expectations but the total for the meals was higher than quoted on the night we ate them.
The rooms at El Gavilan were not memorable. The overhang outside our rooms faced an open lawn for views of flying birds or a few flycatchers. We preferred the up-against-the-jungle setting of Heleconia's lodging and the small deck overlooking the Sarapiqui river.

Okay, so that's more of an answer than you planned for! |:p| I'm a little puzzled why I haven't heard more about birders visiting Heleconia Island since I've tried to promote their special place. I admit, we've never been back; there's so many sections of Costa Rica to visit, we've still several to see. Like Tortuguero, for instance!
 
Hamhed said:
Okay, so that's more of an answer than you planned for! |:p| QUOTE]

On the contrary! This exactly the kind of information I am looking for - info from people who have actually been there.
I will put Heliconia Island on top of my list. And at the same time that solves the 'issue' with the boat trip to Tortuguero :)
Click to expand...
 
@Patrick,

thanks for your reply. I have been reading your blog posts over the past couple of weeks. They have been an inspiration and source of great information while planning this trip.


In general:
The Barrett Lawson book states 45-60 minutes from the airport to Poas. What would be a realistic driving time from Poas to the Sarapiqui area?

Bart
 
bartho said:
Hamhed said:
Okay, so that's more of an answer than you planned for! |:p| QUOTE]
And at the same time that solves the 'issue' with the boat trip to Tortuguero :)
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure Henk can arrange such a trip and will certainly be honest about choices of boats. They also do a tubing run past their property if you want to do a river trip of a different sort. I incorrectly named the river that borders Heleconia Island. It is actually the Puerto Viejo river. It eventually runs into the Sarapiqui.
You can't drive up to the cabins at Heleconia Island. But we didn't object having to use the entrance bridge.
By the way, I updated and arranged their bird list after our visit there. It is pretty impressive for the size of their grounds.

Steve

Steve
Click to expand...
 

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bartho said:
@Patrick,

thanks for your reply. I have been reading your blog posts over the past couple of weeks. They have been an inspiration and source of great information while planning this trip.


In general:
The Barrett Lawson book states 45-60 minutes from the airport to Poas. What would be a realistic driving time from Poas to the Sarapiqui area?

Bart
Click to expand...


That timing sounds about right for Poas. Rough guess for Poas to Sarapiqui is probably about an hour and 15 minutes without any stops.
 
njlarsen said:
The roads must have received an awful lot of improvement since I visited!
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I did that route in 1991, and I don't remember much about the first hour or so - must have mentally blocked it out, because of the trauma!* :eek!: What I do remember is a wave of profound relief coming over me as gentle slopes of the Sarapiqui lowlands came into view....

Patrick, I'm glad for your information about the road, and also for pointing out the Colibri cafe to Bart. I don't know if it was the same place, but I do remember reading about it (or a similar site along the same route) prior to our first trip; a must-see stop on for Caribbean-slope hummingbirds. That was one of my chief regrets about our decision to go San Jose - Poas - SVL all in one day; we were so anxious about getting in to Chilimate before dark, we just drove right past it.

Peter


*(Please keep in mind, this was the first time I had driven anywhere outside of North America - takes a lot more to phase me nowadays; the road up to Asa Wright, anyone?)
 
Peter C. said:
*(Please keep in mind, this was the first time I had driven anywhere outside of North America - takes a lot more to phase me nowadays; the road up to Asa Wright, anyone?)
Click to expand...

Where I live, the main highway is in relatively good condition after renovation about 2 years ago. Just about all other roads are at least not better than the road to Asa Wright.

Niels
 
Thanks for all the information.
I have put the Colibri Cafe on the 'to do'-list.

During the planning of our trip I came across another question....
We are planning on visiting Drake Bay, staying for about 5 days/4 nights. From Sierpe we plan to take a boat trip down the river to get there (and back).
This means will not use our rental car for quite a few days. I am thinking of planning Drake Bay at the very end of our trip, returning our rental car in/near Sierpe and arranging a transfer back to the airport.
* Is returning a rental car in/near Sierpe at all possible? Are there any rental companies doing this?
* Does the savings of not having to pay for a rental car for a couple of days outweigh the cost of a transfer?

Thanks,

Bart
 
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