Cahuita NP and Bigger Waves

Saturday, November 21, 2015
Cahuita, Province of Limon, Costa Rica
It rained most of the night but we woke up to sunshine. Breakfast would be the same, but today we had no deadlines, so it was much more relaxed. Brennan was able to take a few pictures of the parrots and we had time to enjoy the coffee.

By 10:00 we were at Cahuita N .P., which is located just on the south edge of Cahuita. The admission is by donation and the single trail runs pretty much parallel to the beach with the inland side being all jungle. The trail runs about six miles with entries at Cahuita to Puerto Vargas. There is a set entry fee at the PV entrance. Our plan was to go about half way to Cahuita Point.  

The trail was pretty crowded and there was always someone in sight. However, we actually got to see quite a lot: two poisonous snakes, a bright yellow one and a white viper, a two-toed sloth, a family of white faced monkeys, dozens of very colorful crabs, a spider and its web (spider a couple of inches and the web a couple of feet), hundreds of hermit crabs, and thousands of cutter ants. The snakes were pointed out to us by other hikers. In the case of the sloth and monkeys, it resembled "bear jams"!  

We were quite upset with a tour guide who was shaking the tree that the sloth was in so it would move for the people in his group . In the case of the white faced monkeys, as we approached the "jam", one of the monkeys threw a piece of fruit down and nearly hit Sue - everyone got a laugh out of that, except Sue!  

At the Point, Brennan went in the water for about an hour. The water was very shallow for about 10 feet and then had a deep drop off - he stayed in the shallow. A few years ago, the white faced monkeys were so thick at the Point that you felt threatened and if you had food, they simply wouldn't leave you alone. This time, not a monkey in sight. There was a ranger there and a sign not to feed the monkeys.  

On the return from the Point to the park entrance, we walked the beach most of the way. The waves were gentle and not as crowded as the trail.  As a general observation, there were many more Europeans than North Americans. We also got to see a wedding being performed, long white gown and all.  

After leaving the park, we had lunch of nachos at Coco's . From an ice cream shop, Brennan had a double dip waffle cone of pink, green, yellow and white that tasted like lemon cake. Sue's leg bites were no better and actually looked like there were many more. We stopped by a pharmacy and got the diagnosis of an allergic reaction and a prescription. The pills were $7.50 each and Sue asked for only two that were to be taken one every 12 hours - she should have gotten more! The bites would itch for the entire trip and looked nasty.

Onto Playa Cocles just south of Puerto Viejo. This is a real surfers beach with swells of 10 to 12 feet and the waves crashing at five feet. Brennan loved it! We spent a couple of hours there until the sun set. He must have attacked a couple hundred waves and only got swept up the beach a couple of times. Grandpa was always within a few feet.  

Back at the Magellan, we cleaned up and headed to dinner at the best restaurant in Cahuita -- Sobre  Las Olas.  Dave had probably the best meal of the week, a whole, fire grilled red snapper. Sue had probably the worst meal, garlic sauce with a little octopus!!!  Brennan's fish and chips were right in the middle!

By the time we got back to the Magellan, the rain had started and it rained hard all night. Brennan headed right to bed and we had a glass of wine on the porch and watched the rain before calling it another great day.  

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2025-02-15

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