The Beach, Playa Esterillos

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First trip to the beach -Playa Esterillos

Geography and getting there: (Bill’s portion of the blog) On our trip to the beach at Esterillos we proceeded down highway 1 or the autopista toward Puntarenas. WE cut off the autopista a town named Esparza and headed toward the coast to the port of Caldera. This port has taken the place of Puntarenas where most of the big cruise ships come into the country and much of the exports are shipped out of the country via the Pacific coast. Not much more to this port than it’s a deep seaport for receiving the large ships. From Caldera we caught highway 34 about 15km down the road. Highway 34 is the main road down the Pacific coast. First stop on this highway was the Tarcoles bridge which was about 20 km down the highway. This is where the crocodiles hung out. From Tarcoles it was about 60km down to Esterillos Beach passing playas Jaco and Herradura on the way.

On the way back we stopped in at Jaco beach which did not appeal to us. The town is definitely a tourist trap. It has a main road through it that is potholed every 50 feet and people in and out of bars and shops lined on both sides of the street. Herradura was a nicer beach just a few kilometers up the road from Jaco. It had more of a taste of ports in the United States. By that I mean it had permanent docks out in the water where at least 200 boats, manly private were moored. More resorts here than at Jaco beach. Road into and out of beach was much better than roads into and out of Jaco. From here we proceeded home the same way we had come. Traffic on the autopista on Sunday evening is bumper to bumper all the way up to San Ramon as thousands of people return to San Jose for work on Monday morning after a day or weekend at the beach.

What a treat to finally make it to the beach. The long awaited trip was well worth the wait. We read our guide books and set our sites on Playa Esterillos. From what we read it was a desolate beach with few tourists, perfect for us with our dog. The beach was exactly what we wanted for the day.

Beautiful wide sand beaches, waves five to six feet, no rip currents. PERFECT! We found lots of different types of shells and even live sand dollars that tickled our hands. The five or six hours we spent at the beach were not enough. We’ll be headed back soon with boogie boards!

On the way home we decided to check out the famous Jaco beach. What a waste of time. You can see the difference in the pictures. Jaco is not for us. Perhaps the younger, Twenty-something’s who like to hang out and the bars are better suited for Jaco. Us, we’ll take the secluded, deserted beach anytime to the crowds and traffic.

On the road we saw crocodiles in the Tarcoles River. That was really neat. Driving we saw several large iguana crossing the road.

Callista’s take on the trip: AWESOME! COOL! Can’t wait to go back!

Pura Vida,
Jennifer, Bill & Callista

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Comments

[Char Theilman]

Good for you!
Greetings from So. California.... My husband and I took our three boys to Costa Rica a year ago in September, and we can't wait to go back. What a trip that was for all of us! Some of the places you have mentioned were places we had gone. The Crocodiles, Playa Herradura, Los suenos and we stayed two nights at the Martino hotel in Alejuela and many more. All we talk about now is how and when we will move to Costa Rica. I can only hope that we can make it a reality! Best of luck to you... Bob and Char Theilman

[Just Jen]

We're coming your way next summer
Hi Char, Thanks for writing! If you really want to end up here start thinking about it as a reality, visualize it. Hey, it worked for us! We're headed to San Diego in July. If we've got to come back to the states what better place than SD in the summer. If you don't mind sharing, what was your favorite place in CR?

[Paige Hailey]

Strong Rip Current
Hi, I just wanted to mention that parts of Playa Esterillos do have a very, very strong rip current, especially when the tide is going low. My parents live on Playa Esterillos and we have seen many accounts of people getting sucked out and in very dangerous situations. Even when the surf is only five to six feet, the rips can cause a lot of problems. In the last two years, there have been five or six drownings in the area and more than 20 rescues by local surfers and even a fishing boat. Please be careful and always go in with fins or a boogie board, especially in Esterillos Este and Central.