Most of the locations where dolphins frolic are along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast as far north as the Gulf of Papagayo in the protected waters of Santa Rosa National Park and beyond. Though Cocos Island National Park is not exactly on the beaten path for most visitors who travel to Costa Rica, the waters that surround it are home to a group of bottlenose dolphins. Since baby bottlenoses spend their first three to six years at mom’s side, watching pods of this species is always entertaining. The marine park is located three hundred miles off the Nicoya Peninsula. The species also shows up closer to the mainland. Down the coast in stellar 13,344-acre Marino Ballena National Park, visitors who travel to Costa Rica will see bottlenose dolphins year-round. Continuing towards Panama on the Osa Peninsula lies Corcovado National Park where dolphins are seen during the dry season in the Golfo Dulce east of the park, in the vicinity of Puerto Jimenez. Dolphins also swim in Drake Bay off the shores of the Isla Cano Biological Reserve near Corcovado National Park. Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean coast is home to three species of dolphins, the bottlenose, the Atlantic spotted dolphin, and recently discovered there, the Guyana tucuxi, a freshwater species. This stretch of coast includes two protected areas, Cahuita National Park and the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge. Southern Explorations’ eight-day Costa Rica Adventure trip visits the park and includes free time in the area for dolphin-watching or other activities. Visitors hoping to swim with the dolphins during their Costa Rica tours will be disappointed. In 2006, this practice, which had grown in popularity in recent years, was banned for the sake of the species’ health. Four of Southern Explorations’ guided Costa Rica tours and two of its self-guided Costa Rica trips include leisure time along the Pacific coast in the region where dolphins and whales are found. These are the seven-day Coast to Coast tour, the eight-day Rainforests and Beaches and the Rainforests and Volcanoes tours and the ten-day Classic Costa Rica trip. The self-guided trips are the eight-day Adventure Fly and Drive and the Classic Fly and Drive tour.
Most of the locations where dolphins frolic are along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast as far north as the Gulf of Papagayo in the protected waters of Santa Rosa National Park and beyond. Though Cocos Island National Park is not exactly on the beaten path for most visitors who travel to Costa Rica, the waters that surround it are home to a group of bottlenose dolphins. Since baby bottlenoses spend their first three to six years at mom’s side, watching pods of this species is always entertaining. The marine park is located three hundred miles off the Nicoya Peninsula. The species also shows up closer to the mainland. Down the coast in stellar 13,344-acre Marino Ballena National Park, visitors who travel to Costa Rica will see bottlenose dolphins year-round. Continuing towards Panama on the Osa Peninsula lies Corcovado National Park where dolphins are seen during the dry season in the Golfo Dulce east of the park, in the vicinity of Puerto Jimenez. Dolphins also swim in Drake Bay off the shores of the Isla Cano Biological Reserve near Corcovado National Park.
Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean coast is home to three species of dolphins, the bottlenose, the Atlantic spotted dolphin, and recently discovered there, the Guyana tucuxi, a freshwater species. This stretch of coast includes two protected areas, Cahuita National Park and the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge. Southern Explorations’ eight-day Costa Rica Adventure trip visits the park and includes free time in the area for dolphin-watching or other activities.
Visitors hoping to swim with the dolphins during their Costa Rica tours will be disappointed. In 2006, this practice, which had grown in popularity in recent years, was banned for the sake of the species’ health.
