Barra Honda National Park in Costa Rica

National Park Barra Honda is located in the Guanacaste province of Costa Ric, 22 km northeast of the town of Nicoya and with an area of 2.295.5 hectares. The National Park Barra Honda was funded by executive decree of August 20, 1974. The Barra Honda hill with 300 meters high consists of lime stones of reef type, that’s mean by former reefs that emerged because of an uprising led by on tectonic faults, developed some 60 million years. These reef formations were formed by calcareous algae blue and green, plus foraminifera, tiny marine protozoa covered by a shell limestone, sponges and sea urchins.

Another important element of this area of Costa Ric is its capacity as a water reserve for the towns that are located around him. The hill of Barra Honda contains an extensive cave system independent of each other, of which 19 have been explored. The cave of Santa Ana reaches 240 meters deep, making it one of the most profound. The most attractive and interesting are La Terciopelo, the Tampa and Santa Ana, with a profusion of stalagmites, stalactites, columns, pearls, flowers, gypsum needles, helicitas, mushrooms, shark teeth and other formations.

La Terciopelo is the cavern that contains formations in greater abundance. One of these is called EL Organo and has the characteristic of giving different sounds, when it was hit softly.  La Trampa is the one that presents the deepest abyss, from the entrance to the first decline there is a perfectly vertical height of 52 meters. This cave also has the larger rooms that have been found, one of which is composed of white calcite, which gives an effect of dazzling beauty. In the Nicoa cave, were found a large quantity of human remains in 1970, and later, indigenous pre-Columbian artifacts.

The vegetation of this park in Costa Ric is in most deciduous; some of the most common species are Ron-Ron, Tempisque, El Jobo, the Indian naked, the poroporo, the gallinazo, the soncoya, the guanacaste, the carao, the madroño and peine de mico. The fauna is not very varied: the monkey white faced, coyotes, the cusuco or armadillo, deer, the mapachín, the pizote, skunk, magpie, the zapayol, and the red head vulture are some of the species that can be observed in different areas of the Barra Honda National Park in Costa Rica.

Sailing in the north Pacific of Costa Rica

Imagine an afternoon sailing on the waters of the Pacific in Costa Rica, seeing the beautiful landscapes of the coast in a modern boat. Its professional crew is responsible for bringing you to places of great beauty and unique, without a doubt the tour is unmatched when it is possible to see the dolphins. Even there is the possibility to take a break to do a little scuba diving without having a delicious lunch. You can get all of these and more when you travel through the waters of the north Pacific of Costa Rica in a sailing tour. The tours in most cases last half a day and can make special occasions for a honeymoon.

The sailing tours of the North Pacific are among the most acclaimed tours in Costa Rica. Come on board in a sail boat of 43 feet for an adventure that will be long remembered. These tours generally offer all beverages, snacks, lunch buffet, snorkel equipment, kayaks, fishing gear, and a smiling and professional crew that will serve you while the boat is sailing along the coast looking beautiful butterflies, turtles, manta rays jumping, and other marine life on the road to an isolated site perfect for diving. When the tour returns, you will see one of the most beautiful sunsets.

The boat tours can be hired in many coastal areas of the Pacific of Costa Rica, especially in the province of Guanacaste near the Gulf of Papagayo in Costa Roca for example. You will share the boat with other tourists. Currently, a very famous tour is the sailing tour to see the sunset, where visitors can see the sunset of the coast of Guanacaste from the sailboat. Usually roam the coastal areas near the famous beaches of the Costa Dorada of Guanacaste such as Tamarindo. In this way you can enjoy the beautiful coastal scenes, spectacular travels and the opportunity to see some marine life in the area.
Take advantage and enjoy a sunset cruise on the beautiful Guanacaste. This cruise generally leaves Flamingo from where it will sail towards the spectacular beaches and small islands in the area while the tourist is enjoying snacks and beverages. In this kind of trip you can swim, practice snorkeling, watch the beautiful fish and coral reef and after you come back on board you can calm your thirst and taste delicious gourmet sandwiches. The adventure will continue searching dolphins, turtles and devil rays. Then comes the cocktail hour while it starts the evening, the tour will return to port around 6:30 pm.

The beautiful area located in the north of the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica is made up of rivers, mangroves, wetlands and seasonally flooded fields. It is one of the key wetlands in Central America and home to many resident and migratory waterfowl, such as the crow marine and pink spoonbill. The tour boat on the Tempisque River near the National Park Palo Verde provides an opportunity to watch closely the nature and observe a wide variety of birds, crocodiles, monkeys and iguanas. Groups can combine this tour with a visit to Guaitil, a small village that has maintained traditional skills.

Diving in the North Pacific of Costa Rica

Costa Rica not only offers virgin rain forest, volcanoes and fascinating solitary beaches but also an impressive submarine life mainly in the north Pacific. At a distance of 2 to 15 miles off the coast of the Nicoya Peninsula in the north-west lies the archipelago of the Catalina Islands. It consists of about 20 rocks of different sizes. A little further north, there are the Murcielago islands. Due to the exposed location of these islands, the abundant variety of underwater life is hardly found anywhere else. For some reason - not even explored - Catalina Island and Murciélago is a point where you can meet very different submarine species and fishes of all kinds that usually are not found together in other places. With good luck, you can see up to Whale Sharks in the Islands of Murcielago.

Visibility: is around 18 to 75 feet. Strong currents are presented from time to time. But you will be highly recommended to go there to see a spectacle that will not allow you even a minute of boredom: huge banks of snappers, sharks, mantas, turtles and barracuda are waiting for the diver, like an immense variety of tropical fish and other reef life. The giant manta rays can be seen between from November and May and the sea turtles can be seen throughout the year.

Water temperature: It’s between 75 and 85 ° F; diving season is all year, because there are no large rivers that may carry rocks and mud during the rainy season and thus affect visibility. Between late November and late February trip to the diving island of Murcielagos might not always done, because at this time of year there is a strong wind that could prevent the boat leaves the dock. In that case you should go to other places such as Catalina Island. In the waters of the north Pacific is easy to see spectacular specimens of marine life. The best months for diving in the Catalina Islands are December to May, where it had been up to 50 Manta Rays with a wingspan of 14 to 20 feet in a single immersion.

Marine life around the islands Bat: The best months for the long trip to the Murcielago Islands are March to November. Here will be the impressive bull sharks from 8 to 15 feet long, banks of all kind of little fishes, eagle rays and horse-eye jacks, Spade fish, pompano, snapper and Wahoo.

Marine life at the local dive sites: The local dive sites offers many sharks fin tip white huge banks of grunts and yellowtails, spotted eagle rays, turtles, giant stingrays, angel fish, octopus, sea horses, starfish sea, frog fish and several species of eel. With some luck you will see whale sharks up to 35 ‘long and spinner dolphins, humpback whales, pilot whales, orcas and false killer whales.