What a messy bunch! My friends were gathered on the beach, spattered with mud, especially on their behinds. “Since when,” I asked, “do you hike on your backsides?”
“Well, we certainly did today!” was the exuberant reply. “Most of us spent more time on our bottoms than on our feet . . . we slid up and down the hills and climbed over logs bigger than we were. Sometimes we had to hold each other up . . . It was the best yet!”
Best yet? Wait one minute. Here I’d been secretly applauding my decision to take the easier (and later in the morning) bird-watching hike and when I’d seen how these folks had come out of the Costa Rican rain forest, I was sure I made the correct decision. Now, I was getting just a tad envious . . . after all, these folks would be chattering about this particular adventure for the rest of the week and I’d be out of that particular loop.
We were on Day 3 of our six-day cruise aboard the M/V Temptress Explorer, a 100-passenger ship that offers “eco-adventure” cruises along the Pacific shoreline of Costa Rica, and were finding it to be a distinctly different experience than a typical cruise for a couple of reasons. One is that passengers are quite active, participating in daily hikes, birding walks, kayak trips, swims and scuba dives. The second is that the ship itself is a cultural experience: It is owned by a Costa Rican, the entire crew is Costa Rican, and the ship only visits Costa Rican ports and national parks. As a result, you really do get an intimate view of the country, presented by its people. In fact, at one village local children came aboard to dance.
But this not the only ship plying these shores. Costa Rica has become extremely popular for eco-tourism because of its stable government, natural beauty and relatively low prices.
Most ships visit for only part of the year and some include other countries in their itineraries. For example, Windstar Cruises is basing its 148-passenger Wind Song in Costa Rica through mid-April, offering weeklong trips while Clipper Cruises will have its Yorktown Clipper (carries 138) here in March and again in December, offering nine-day trips, which include Panama.
Special Expeditions also comes here every year. Its 80-passenger Polaris will offer a series of eight-day trips March 8-April 19 that will include Panama. The Radisson Diamond will offer seven-day trips between Costa Rica and Aruba through April 9. The Diamond carries 354 passengers.
Other ships visit briefly, some stopping only for a day in Puerto Caldera. These include the Crystal Symphony, the MS Hanseatic, the Silver Cloud and several of the Princess ships. Frankly, the ports in Costa Rica are so small that big ships simply don’t work out well here.
However, for those small ships that sail here, most days are scheduled similarly. The early hikes, which are usually the most challenging, begin around 6-6:30 a.m. Easier hikes follow until about 8 a.m. On the smallest ships, these are led by English-speaking guides, who also conduct most passenger programs. Often one of the guides is a birding specialist who will lead a special walk each day for birders. (Enthusiasts should check in advance on this offering.) Passengers usually sign up for the hikes the night before.
For ships that use small boats to tender passengers to the beaches (Temptress, Polaris, Yorktown Clipper), you can expect “wet landings.” For these, you tie your sneakers together, string them around your neck, climb into the craft that will carry you to the beach, jump off into the surf, walk on to the beach, wipe your feet off with towels provided by the crew, put those shoes back on and you’re ready for the day’s adventure.
On my cruises, lunches were more than ample on-deck buffets. Afternoons were usually spent sunning or in water activities . . . except for the hardy folk who participated in the afternoon hikes! No one had an excuse to be bored.
One of our hikes, through the Corcovado National Park, took us to the Rio Claro River where we had the opportunity to swim up to a small waterfall. Another day we took a kayaking tour up the Agujitas River to another small swimming area.
We had a different type of adventure in Golfito where my friend and I attempted to find a post office and public telephone. This eventually involved a police officer, who hailed a taxi that transported us to an adjoining town just to buy stamps! And, no, the locals did not speak English.
Costa Rica is extremely popular with tourists right now and most visitors are impressed with the friendliness of its people. This ship is certainly an example. The 25-member crew was top-notch and couldn’t have been more accommodating to its guests. Few spoke English, but that hardly mattered; they would just give you a big grin and go about their task. Passengers were even welcome to join the crew’s evening games of dominoes.
It happened that the crew had four Joses, and to distinguish them we gave them nicknames: Jose Hotel (hotel manager), Jose Science (birding guide), Jose Waiter (waiter) and Jose Smile (another guide). They seemed pleased.
The MV Temptress Explorer is probably the simplest ship in this market. It is 185 feet long with a 38-foot beam and carries 100 passengers. It was refitted in 1995. Its lines are not particularly graceful, but it does the job. The cabins are particularly nice for this size vessel (some even have queen beds) and the fact that the stewards tended them several times a day was an unexpected nicety. Wet towels were whisked away before you knew it. There are no TVs, VCRs, phones or radios in the rooms . . . but, most important, they are air-conditioned!
In contrast, the Wind Song (to be refurbished in April) is 360 feet long with a 52-foot beam. It carries 148 guests in much larger cabins, known for having some of the nicest bathrooms afloat. It offers all the amenities: TV, VCR, CD player, safe, mini-bar, refrigerator and phone. It has a beauty salon, laundry and boutique.
The per diem rate on Temptress is about $300 per person, while Windstar costs about $525 per day. Most of the other small ships sailing here are somewhere in between these two. Temptress offers two three-day itineraries. Many tour companies incorporate one of these three-day trips into their longer land tours; however, I recommend my trip, which combined the two shorter trips into six days. We were able to settle into our cabins, make more friends and see a lot more of the coast that our touring friends.
The best time for cruising in Costa Rica is during the dry winter months. Summers are wet and extremely humid; however, Temptress Cruises does offer some very attractive deals for families from June through late September, when the ship employs an activities coordinator for kids. This is a cruise that families–particularly those with children in their young teens–would enjoy because there is a lot to do.
You won’t spend a lot of money on this cruise except for T-shirts and such from the ship’s store. Only two places during the trip offered any shopping at all, and they were pretty basic. The best souvenir of Costa Rica is a bag or two of its scrumptious coffee, which you can purchase at the airport on your way home.
DETAILS ON COSTA RICA
To get to the M/V Temptress Explorer, we flew into San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, and were then transported by bus to Puntarenas. This overland trip took several hours over bumpy roads. (Little wonder visitors are always cautioned to rent four-wheel drive vehicles for the countryside.) Other ships embark from different cities, some in other countries.
Know that most excursions in Costa Rica involve walking or hiking so bring good shoes–either sneakers or hiking sandals. Be prepared for rain, mud and some bugs.
Those with physical disabilities should choose ships with appropriate facilities. It is difficult for those using wheelchairs to take part in many of these shore excursions.
For more information:
– Temptress Cruises at 800-336-8423 or www.temptresscruises.com
– Windstar Cruises at 800-258-7245 or www.windstarcruises.com
– Radisson Seven Seas at 800-333-3333 or www.rssc.com
– Special Expeditions at 800-397-3348 or www.specialexpeditions.com
– Clipper Cruise Line at 800-325-0010 or www.clippercruise.com
