Dominical

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Dolphins at Dominical

Next "stop" on the December blog catch-up is Dominical, which is located on the Pacific coast in the middle of the country. Steve's dad arrived late Wednesday night, the 12th of December and the next morning we all piled into a rented Toyota Prado 4x4 for the 4-hour drive to the coast. The drive included climbing to the highest point (10,000 feet) on the InterAmerican Highway within Costa Rica - called Cerro de la Muerte (the Hill of Death!). It was a beautiful (and thankfully non-fatal) drive.

Turning off the paved road, we had to engage the 4-wheel drive in order to get up the road to the house that we had rented for 5 days - called Villa Baha. It is - in a word - spectacular. There is a pool, a great kitchen, and a big wraparound porch (with a ping pong table). The view from the pool area is awe-inspiring; you look down the coast all the way to Manuel Antonio National Park. Hummingbirds dart back and forth among the flowers and toucans flew in about once a day to eat the nuts in the trees next to the house. On hikes around the house, we saw a family of white-faced capuchin monkeys, some toucanets, and a family of pizotes (racoon-like animals). Around the house, there were also various butterflies, lizards, beetles, and grasshoppers. And there was an amazing diversity of flowers and other plants. We spent many hours swimming, lounging and reading by the pool but obviously took many excursions around the area:

1 - On our first full day, we went to the surfer village of Dominical where we stopped in at a farmer's market and bought some amazing fruits and vegetables - the mango was particularly tasty. Then we headed south down a very nice paved road to Playa Ventana (WindowCave Beach) where we enjoyed the amazingly warm water, wonderful waves, and very cool naturally formed caves.

2 - The next morning we went on a hike in a reserve called Hacienda Baru. The hike winds through the jungle and then ends at a beach that stretches for miles. Along the hike we came across a group of capuchin monkeys eating and playing in the trees. We also spotted various birds, lizards, and the fascinating leaf-cutter ants, who haul huge (relative to their body size) pieces of leaf through the jungle. In the afternoon, we went to Sam's new favorite spot in the world - Playa Hermosa. He, Kyle, and Steve loved body surfing the waves as they rolled into the beach; Nancy even joined in, too.

3 - The big adventure on the next day was a 4-hour boat trip. After an interesting search trying to find the location, we set off on a whale and dolphin watching excursion - we had the boat to ourselves, plus the captain. After an hour of fruitless searching (though the view of the coastline was spectacular), we managed to see a big tortoise swimming in the water. And then.... jackpot. We came across two separate schools (pods?) of dolphins - one bottle-nosed and one pan-tropical spotted. They swam right up next to the boat and seemed to enjoy the bow wake. One even jumped high into the air about 50 meters from the boat. After that we took close-up looks at rock islands filled with birds and other cool shoreline features. The ride concluded with about 30 minutes of snorkeling at Punta Uvita. It was a fantastic trip.

We returned to the beach a few times and Sam & Steve visited a reptile zoo. The other big excitement were the constant ping pong battles. Unfortunately, the big doubles showdown of Steve's parents vs. Steve & Kyle resulted in the only injury of the trip - Steve dislocated (and likely broke) the pinky toe on his right foot when he collided with a chair while trying (in vain) to return one of his mother's smashing returns. Fortunately, Dr. Nancy was there to re-set it and with the help of an ace bandage and lots of Advil, Steve was able to drive everyone back to Ciudad Colon safely the following morning.

Dominical is an amazing place - with miles of beaches, amazing wildlife, and beautiful scenery. Development is definitely changing things, but it is still a place where you can experience the natural wonders of Costa Rica and find a quiet spot to take it all in.

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