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May
16
Reef Runners: Expanding Your World
May 16, 2010 | Tags: Local Business News, Tourism | Comments Off
It’s a little disappointing but we have to face it: humans cannot fly without the aid of a flying contraption.
But if you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels like to swoop, hover and move in 3 dimensions there is a way to experience that: Learn to dive.
Underwater you can move like a bird moves in the sky…you can hover, swoop, nosedive…actually you can also do a few things birds rarely do – like back flips, cartwheels and lie motionless on your back viewing fish above you.
The feeling of diving is an exhilarating sense of freedom and conversely deeply calming – a feeling quite incomparable to those we experience in our everyday lives. Imagine yourself moving in slow three dimensional motion, with the sound of your breath and the static of the water as accompanying rhythms.
Of course it’s not only about freedom of movement and different sensory perceptions: as most divers will tell you, it’s about discovering a different world. And that underwater world is beautiful, fascinating, stunning in its diversity and just off the beaches of this coast. You could say that the difference between snorkeling and diving is that the snorkeler remains an observer and the diver becomes a participant. Below the surface you become part of that underwater world and that is a thrill in itself.
It’s easy to become enthusiastic about diving before you’ve even tried it when you listen to Robin (Dive Master), Jessica (Dive Master) and Esteban (Instructor) describing diving with turtles, getting up close and personal with multicolored tropical fish, sponges and healthy coral reefs. Robin, Esteban, Jessica and Austin are passionate about what they do and they are the team that form Reef Runners.
Reef Runners was the first dive shop in Puerto Viejo, opening in 1997, so Reef Runners have been exploring the local reefs for 13 years now. One of two operating dive shops in this area Reef Runners has good relations with Punta Uva Dive and the friendly competitors regulate their prices to benefit both customers and operators. The current team run a tight ship at Reef Runners. Professional and efficient they are also approachable and friendly – and passionate about diving! Safety is paramount and equipment is new, maintained in good condition and regularly replaced. Robin, Jessica, Esteban and Austin all agree that the focus at Reef Runners is Customer Service with an emphasis on Quality rather than Quantity – which means that you won’t be one of the masses.
It’s 8.30am at Reef Runners on a Monday morning and the diving conditions are perfect: calm and sunny. The sea is like a bolt of blue silk laid out in front of us as we sip some coffee and prepare to leave for Uli Fish Reef.
There are 10 of us: 2 students taking the Advanced course with Austin (Instructor), 2 students taking the Open Water course with Esteban (Instructor), and a certified diver with his buddy.
The short boat trip is a pleasure in itself … Puerto Viejo from the water looks almost uninhabited. Kitted up, the divers disappear off the boat, returning with enthusiastic reports of great visibility (25 meters), colorful reef and myriad types of tropical fish. (Attention Divers: According to Robin, the best visibility on this coast is usually during May, end of August, all of September and most of October.) It’s been a good dive and we head back for a lunch of pizza and watermelon before the afternoon dive.
Chatting with Esteban and Robin back at Reef Runners (one of the prettiest views in town incidentally) I acknowledge that diving for them is a way of life, but what do they think makes diving special for the rest of us that do it occasionally? Esteban replies: “There are two answers to that: Land and Sea. Most places that offer good recreational diving are also beautiful places with much to offer visitors. And diving, you feel part of the environment you are in, rather than just a spectator. You move within that world rather than observing it from a distance.”
Reef Runners offers the diver plenty of choices:
- All PADI courses from Open Water up to and including Dive Master
- Recreational Dives for Certified Divers: 2 Tank dive including all equipment and lunch: US$ 90
- Discovery Dive: US$ 55
If you still don’t feel like getting up close and personal in the marine sense, Reef Runners offer other treats in and around the ocean: How about Dolphin-spotting off the coast at Manzanillo or taking a Sunset Booze Cruise followed by a beach barbecue? Naturally there are snorkeling trips to be had too: allow the experts to take you to the best spots and en-joy a boat trip too!
Drop by, have a look at their newly updated Tour book and have a chat – with a good soda right next door Reef Runners is a fun place to spend an hour or two.
If now, you’re even just a little bit curious about what it feels like to ‘fly’ underwater, be adventurous and try a Discovery Dive in the clear, warm Caribbean ocean.
Reef Runners can be contacted via their website www.reefrunnerdivers.com, by telephone at +506 2750 0480 or book online through Gecko Trail Adventures at www.GeckoTrail.com/tour.htm?tid=scuba
 Article by Zoë Courtier. Zoë along with her husband Tom Keller are the proprietors of Geckoes Rainforest River Lodge. Two luxurious holiday houses with private plunge pools in a magnificent rainforest and river setting minutes from Playa Cocles. More information at www.geckoeslodge.com |
May
14
Census in Panama Sunday will Disrupt Tourist Schedules
May 14, 2010 | Tags: Community Calendar, Tourism, Transport | 2 Comments
| May 16, 2010 |
This Sunday, May 16, is census day in Panama.
Panama has an interesting census system that counts the entire country in one day. To do so, the government requires that everyone, even tourists, remain in the building where they slept that night until they are given a document confirming they have already been counted.
If you are in the street, you will be ticketed and possibly arrested and detained until counted. This applies to captains of the boats, drivers of minibuses and tourists, everyone.
As such, the entire country shuts down until this process is complete. Sort of like putting the whole country under house arrest, but is the only practical way for the government to count everyone in one day. Most people should be counted by noon, so that businesses can open and life can return to normal.
Shuttle and boat services from Panama to Puerto Viejo will therefore not operate on Sunday morning so travelers planning to leave that day will have to do so later in the day.
Caribe Shuttle which normally operates a morning service from Bocas del Toro to Puerto Viejo has advised that they will pickup passengers who are booked for that service for their afternoon service instead. Hotel pickups will begin at approximately 1:00pm.
Apr
7
Caribbean Coast Attracting a New Kind of Traveler
April 7, 2010 | Tags: Site news, Tourism | 6 Comments
While the recession took it’s toll, the Caribbean Coast continues to be a bright spot in Costa Rica’s tourism industry with visitor interest growing.
A feature article in Sunday’s New York Times travel section has many locals and business owners talking optimistically about the future.
This article and others from publications which generally focus on higher end travelers such as Travel+Leisure Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler or USA Today also make official what we’ve all been seeing for some time now: Puerto Viejo isn’t just for backpackers and surfers anymore!
The number of visitors to the Puerto Viejo Satellite and Talamanca News sites also indicates a strong interest. There were more than 20,000 visitors to the sites each month for the first three months of 2010! Page views were 43,800 per month in this period (see the full traffic graph here).
Jan
3
Visitor interest in Puerto Viejo continues to grow
January 3, 2010 | Tags: Site news, Tourism | 3 Comments
While most hotels and other businesses reported a slow 3rd and 4th quarter of 2009, the end of the year brought high occupancy rates and growing visitor interest to Puerto Viejo. A walk through center of town during the Christmas Holidays showed a very bustling town full of Ticos and foreigners.
 Downtown Puerto Viejo, Dec 19, 2009. Photo by drewdomkus. |
The Costa Rica Chamber of Hotels surveyed hotels around the country and the Caribbean hotels surveyed had a 100% occupancy rate. Other beach areas also reported very strong occupancy numbers although San Jose results were less positive.
Here at Puerto Viejo Satellite, the year also ended very strong with more visitors to the site than ever before: December ended with a record 15,735 different visitors coming to the website (32% over last Dec) and over 34,000 page views (37% over last Dec)! That indicates a lot of potential visitors researching the area for the future vacation planning. Of the visitors about 40% surfed the site from the United States, 10% from Canada, 26% from within Costa Rica and the remainder from the rest of the world.
The site also hit a new high ranking on the Alexa web tracking service; steadily rising through the rankings to break through into the world’s top 500,000 websites and is currently ranked 455,390. This is substantially higher traffic than any of the other Puerto Viejo area websites.
Why are these numbers significant? Vacations always start with research and planning. Bigger numbers can indicate more people are looking to plan their vacation on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. An informal survey shows that much of Puerto Viejo’s popularity has come at the expense of the traditional Pacific vacation crowd. Despite decreased travelers overall due to economic slowdown, there continues to be a growing interest in the South Caribbean of Costa Rica.
We attribute this to our great community of users who over the year have left 100’s of comments on listings and on news articles and have helped us keep all our information current. There are now 204 places listed on the map: hotels, restaurants, stores, services, tours and more. The site has also had a lot of new features added over the last year to keep up with the growing interest in the area and make one comprehensive place where visitors can find out everything they need to know about Puerto Viejo.
Here’s to a prosperous and safe 2010 for residents and visitors alike!
Nov
4
Transat racers expected to spend $25,000,000 in area
November 4, 2009 | Tags: Sports, Tourism | 2 Comments
The 2009 Transat Jaques Vabre sailing race starts in La Havre, France on November 8 and is expected to arrive in Limon 11 days later.
With it are expected to come some 20,000 visitors, 5,000 all the way from Europe. Those visitors have reserved local hotels rooms from Limon to Manzanillo and are expected to spend an estimated $25,000,000 while in the area. The estimates are based on the amount of economic impact that the race had on Salvador de Bahia, Brazil in 2007.
The race finished in Salvador de Bahia from its inception in 1993 to its last occurrence in 2007. The Costa Rican government is using these economic impacts to justify the investments they made to lure the race to Limon.
The biannual race is huge in Europe, considered one of the major sporting events of the year so will also bring lots of media attention and reporters to the area.
Transat route from La Havre France to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
More: La Nación: Regata dejará más de $25 millones en el país
Nov
1
Chocorart: A Refined Affair
November 1, 2009 | Tags: Tourism | Comments Off
“Forget love … I’d rather fall in chocolate…” – Anonymous
Sitting at Chocorart looking out at magnificent rainforest I sipped my freshly made hot chocolate and sighed with pleasure… Chocolate and Humans were made for each other.
It’s the smell isn’t it, or is it the taste or the velvety feel of chocolate melting on your tongue? Ah, but it’s all of that and more. Our love affair with chocolate is an ongoing global passion … we give it as gifts, use it to express love or friendship and associate it with luxury. It’s indulgent, delicious, uplifting…chocolate makes you smile.
A tour around Chocorart in Playa Chiquita is a pleasure trip for the senses culminating in a wonderfully aromatic tasting session!
Following owner Marcos along woodland paths it wasn’t only the coloured cacao pods that caught our attention, but also the beauty of the surrounding forest, alive with butterflies and birds.
As we tasted the fruits of a cacao pod and chewed on a sliver of sugar cane there was a subtle aroma of chocolate wafting from cacao beans drying in the sun.
Meanwhile at the rancho Claudia had been busy….and on arrival we were presented with the purest hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Delicious, smooth and strong, it was a taste-bud sensation. As we listened to a little about the history of chocolate, Marcos crushed the beans and a heady perfume of chocolate filled the air.
No wonder the Aztecs considered chocolate as precious food for the Gods, using it in religious ceremonies and also in trade. And did you know that Costa Rica was the last country in the world to use cacao beans as currency? My mind drifts with the mouth-watering possibility of paying in chocolate…
Originally from Switzerland (also synonymous in my mind with chocolate) Marcos & Claudia are mines of information on ‘chocolatey facts’, having been farming their cacao plantation and creating organic chocolate here in Costa Rica for the past 15 years.
Their hand rolled chocolate batons, some with ingredients such as orange peel direct from their farm, are on sale in this area and further afield. Whenever I taste them I’m transported back to that fun sunny day that smelt of chocolate.
But before we leave, Claudia and Marcos have a final treat for us…A paste of organic chocolate and brown cane sugar with a slice of banana. It looks like the perfect chocolate mousse and tastes…yes, you guessed it: sublime.
There’s one little problem I should warn you about before you decide to take a Chocorart tour: you may find it very difficult in future to accept anything other than the purest in chocolate perfection. You have been warned: Once Tasted, Never Forgotten.
To take a guided tour of Chocorart:
Telephone: 2750 0075
Tour duration: Approximately 2 hours.
Advice: Wear closed shoes.
Price per person: US$22
Reduced rates for children: please inquire.
Spanish, English, French, Italian and German spoken.
Email: Chocorart@racsa.co.cr
| Article by Zoë Courtier. Zoë along with her husband Tom Keller are the proprietors of Geckoes Rainforest River Lodge. Two luxurious holiday houses with private plunge pools in a magnificent rainforest and river setting minutes from Playa Cocles. More information at www.geckoeslodge.com |
 Gecko Trail Adventures also offers a combination tour which includes a visit to a local indigenous Bri Bri family which grows their own Cacao and demonstrates the process of making chocolate from scratch as they’ve been doing it for generations. You can get details on that tour here. |
Sep
1
No sign of an airport for the Caribbean Coast (even Limon no longer is seeing scheduled flights) but if you want to fly anywhere else in Costa Rica, Nature Air is offering incredible deals on domestic flights within Costa Rica for just $15.
The prices are only available for tickets booked on their website by Sept 15 for travel completed by Oct 31 and is subject to availability. But there are real tickets for sale on this deal: I did a quick search for a flight between San Jose and Tortuguero in September and sure enough a $15 flight was offered.
Go to www.natureair.com, put in your flight search details and look for the “Locos” fare category.
Remember that these are small prop planes with strict luggage limits of 30 pounds (13.6 kg) per person. If you exceed this, expect to pay more for your excess luggage than you paid for your ticket!
Aug
13
The Stars of the Rainforest
August 13, 2009 | Tags: Environment, Tourism | 5 Comments
 Angelina Jolie as worn by Encar, Jaguar Centre |
Angelina Jolie stretched out a delicate hand and gripped mine tightly. I was enchanted. After all it’s not every day that you meet a star. Impressively beautiful but also graceful, her charisma was palpable.
As she wound her tail around my neck and swung upside down I wondered if her namesake has the same ‘star presence’… For the Angelina Jolie I met lives in Playa Chiquita, not Hollywood, but like her namesake, is surrounded by stars – of the Rainforest.
At Jaguar, Rescue Centre for the Protection and Conservation of Wild Fauna of Costa Rica, orphaned, mistreated, injured and confiscated animals are brought to heal and/or grow before being reintroduced where possible, back into their natural habitat in protected areas.
 Young smiley sloths with Blanca, the famous ‘Barefoot Vet’ |
Angelina Jolie and friends are lovingly looked after by the owners of Jaguar, Encar & Sandro who are ably assisted by this coast’s own ‘Barefoot Vet’, Blanca, and enthusiastic volunteers. Encar & Sandro created Jaguar to fulfill a need and it has become their passion and indeed a way of life. Totally committed to conservation and rehabilitation, Encar & Sandro can be found surrounded by an ever changing ‘galaxy of stars’. For a guided visit please telephone 2750 0710 or you can book a tour online through Gecko Trail Adventures which includes transport and other area spots of interest.
 Amanda, dreaming up some new seductive moves. |
Your donation of minimum US$10 will go in entirety to caring for their stars of the rainforest.
Angelina Jolie may be one of the newer stars, but she shares the stage with an impressive cast. Amanda, a flirtatious kinkajou with an eye for a good looking man, is a permanent resident. With three feet instead of four, she lives at Jaguar and practises her seduction techniques on visiting men.
Hollywood stars often claim that working with children or animals is to sacrifice their share of the limelight and certainly the ‘baby stars’ at Jaguar steal the show.
The baby stars at Jaguar may be adorable but the ‘dangerous’ stars have an appeal all their own. Ever seen a Margay up close? Stunningly beautiful, fantastically feline and deceptively cute, try and resist the temptation to play with them…they’re wilder and stronger than they look!
 Eyelash Palm Pitviper |
And last, but certainly not least, are the creepy, slithery stars that can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck if you come across one unexpectedly…The Snakes.
Venomous and non-venomous, Jaguar’s snakes are reassuringly housed so that you can see them up close without fear. But perhaps after listening to Encar or Sandro you might feel quite differently about the Snaky Stars and applaud their efforts to breed endangered snake species to reintroduce into the wild.
So the next time you’re in the area, give Jaguar centre a ring and visit some of the ‘stars of the rainforest’… you’ll be helping to protect the wildlife of Costa Rica and enchantment is guaranteed.
 Amanda enjoys a snack from a volunteer and Sandro |
 A baby raccoon cuddling up with brothers and sisters |
 Baby Ginger monkey with cool dude hairdo |
 Tigrili, the Margay, on the lookout for a game at Jaguar Centre |
 Gianni the owl at Jaguar Centre |
 Terciopelo / Fer de Lance at Jaguar Centre |
All photos taken at Jaguar Centre and used by kind permission.
| Article by Zoë Courtier. Zoë is the proprietor of Geckoes Rainforest River Lodge. Two luxurious holiday houses with private plunge pools in a magnificent rainforest and river setting minutes from Playa Cocles. More information at www.geckoeslodge.com |
Jul
22
Puerto Viejo named to list of “Top 10 Cheap Beach Vacations” Worldwide
July 22, 2009 | Tags: Tourism | 6 Comments
The website Away.com has named their list of their top 10 cheap beach vacations and Puerto Viejo has landed right in the middle of the list! Their list is:
1. Cannon Beach, Oregon
2. Tulum, Mexico
3. Placencia, Belize
4. Morro de Sao Paulo, Brazil
5. Negril, Jamaica
6. Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
7. Cape Ann, Massachusetts
8. Huntington Beach, California
9. Outer Banks, North Carolina
10. Destin, Florida
We think we’re #1 but we’ll take the compliment! You can read the article here.
Apr
21
Le Caméléon Opens – Adding a New Class of Accomodation to Puerto Viejo
April 21, 2009 | Tags: Local Business News, Tourism | 35 Comments
The new Le Caméléon Hotel has opened at Playa Cocles offering something that the laid-back, backpacker-haven of Puerto Viejo has never seen before – 5 star luxury accommodations.
With average $250 a night rates, its also in a price class by itself.
A member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World association, they offer a pool, spa, rooms with lighting which can change with your mood, restaurant and bar.
You can make reservations inquiries here.
Pictures, as they say, are worth a thousand words, so here are a few:
Reception and Lobby
Room
Pool
Apr
3
Interest in Puerto Viejo Continues to Grow
April 3, 2009 | Tags: Accidents and Natural Disasters, Crime & Punishment, Site news, Tourism | 2 Comments
In these challenging economic times, many local businesses seen a drop in business. But there is some good news too: interest in Puerto Viejo and the South Caribbean coast of Costa Rica remains very high. You can see this by looking at the growth of visitors to Puerto Viejo Satellite. In the quarter just finished, there were over 40,000 unique visitors to the website!
Traffic has grown at a very fast rate ever since the website has launched and the website is bigger and better than ever with:
• More listings than ever
• More features than ever like the recently added restaurant page or the listing detail pages (see this one for example)
• More complete information than ever – additional transport options for example added to the transport page as we find out about them
The area has also benefited from the marketing savvy of the owner one of the newer hotels in town, Banana Azul. Banana Azul was recently even mentioned on the Today show as a affordable vacation spot in these recessionary times. As more people find Banana Azul, they also discover the whole area as they discover the place that is a good fit for them or visit local restaurants and tour providers.
The growing tour company Gecko Trail Adventures has also contributed. Their Costa Rica tour packages have a strong emphasis on the Caribbean coast and so many people discover this area even if they don’t know Manzanillo from Montezuma.
All in all, we see great things ahead!
Apr
2
Hotel Taxes Down, Airline Taxes Up
April 2, 2009 | Tags: Government and Politics, Tourism | Comments Off
Costa Rica has eliminated the 3% ICT tax from hotel stays. ICT is the agency charged with promoting tourism in Costa Rica and the tax funded their operations. The tax has been replaced by a $15 tax on airline tickets into Costa Rica.
With this change, the nightly room tax for a room in Costa Rica will now be 13% instead of 16.39% so for most visitors the savings from the hotel tax should offset the $15 additional paid for their tickets.
The government is also hoping that the new airline tax will be easier to collect and less subject to evasion as well.
The airline ticket tax took effect on April 1st. The hotel tax change was effective as of Friday March 27 but many hotels are just now hearing about the change and making it effective. For those hotels which include taxes in their rates, it will be up to them whether to decrease their rates accordingly or just take a little extra profit.
More: La Nación: Aerolíneas advierten que cobro de $15 más en boletos afectará turismo
Update Apr 4: The new tax rate in this article was initially erroneously reported as 13.39%. It should be 13.00%. The old tax was 16.39% since the 13% sales tax was also applied to the 3% ICT tax.
Mar
9
Turtle Nesting Season in Gandoca
March 9, 2009 | Tags: Tourism | 6 Comments
It’s the prime time of year to see turtles come ashore for nesting near Gandoca. There are a few things though to keep in mind if you want to see these incredible wonders of nature, some weighing in at over 600 pounds (the leatherbacks)!
- You will need to go at night and you must be properly equipped – for example flashlights will confuse the turtles and they may abort the nesting.. Only special red lights can be used.
- You must go with a guide. Not only is this the law and is needed for safety given that you are out at night on a remote beach but you are much more likely to see the turtles.
- You should work with a guide who is supporting conservation efforts.
Beyond that, this is an unforgetable experience, not to be missed!
We recommend the tours with Gecko Trail Adventures. They hire the guides through ANAI, the local turtle conservation organization, so you are supporting their conservation work. They also hire reliable local drivers and vehicles who can get you to the Gandoca beach without mishap. Because much of the cost of this tour is the transportation to the remote starting point, the more people who do this tour, the cheaper it is per person!
You can get more information on this tour and make a booking here.
Feb
25
Limon Chosen as Finish Line for Large Sailing Race
February 25, 2009 | Tags: Community Calendar, Sports, Tourism | Comments Off
| November 19, 2009 | to | November 20, 2009 |
The Transat Jacques Vabre, the world’s third largest sailing race will finish up in Puerto Limon in November. The race is expected to draw a large amount of international attention and tourism to the region with 50 vessels participating in the race and 350 journalists expected to cover it.
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The race leaves France on Nov 7 and 8 and will arrive in Limon 12 days later after a voyage of some 5,000 km. Costa Rica’s Caribbean development agency JAPDEVA along with the Costa Rican Tourism Institute ICT and the municipality of Limon have plans to build a marina there for the race which will remain afterwards.
This years race theme is the Coffee Route, and Costa Rica was chosen not only because of its status as a producer of coffee but because the country has a good record of producing sustainable coffee and of protecting the environment. The race’s sponsor is a coffee producer.
Read more: La Nación: Puerto Limón será la meta de regata mundial
Feb
15
If you live in Puerto Viejo or you run a business there, chances are you get the same questions asked over and over again about money issues.
“What’s the currency?” “Are US dollars accepted?” “What kind of money should I bring?” “Is there an ATM?”
Well I’ve gotten many of these questions over the years and have finally compiled them into a Money Matters page on Puerto Viejo Satellite. You can get the full list of questions and answers here or if you’re replying to an email, just send them to www.puertoviejosatellite.com/money.php.
If you’ve got more or better suggestions for people on how to deal with money matters, feel free to comment on the article. Feedback is definitely appreciated.
Costa Rica Colones
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