Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas — Attraction in Provincia Guanacaste

Summary: Go see the estuary with Jonathan from Los Tortugas hotel. He’s no frills and not fancy but he’s authentic and a great guide. You will see lots of wildlife. For the estuary tour wear strap on sandals that can get muddy and waterproof gear or clothes and things that can get wet if it rains. Wear bug spray. The beaches are also very beautiful and still somewhat untouched. It's a great spot to watch the surfers and sunsets in the evenings.

Details: The park is a beautiful place but you can tell that there is a battle between those wanting to preserve the beauty and those wanting to develop. There are rules about building too close to the beach and protecting the beach from light (to encourage turtle nesting) but it seems to not be enough. Our guide mentioned that fewer and fewer turtles are coming to Playa Grande and it sounds like it may not be long before no turtles come to Playa Grande to nest.

We found our guide Jonathan through the reviews here. We stayed at Rip Jack and he stays and works out of Los Tortugas next door.

Jonathan has been doing this for 20+ years in the Playa Grande area. He knows it well. He’s not the type of guide that is going to hold your hand and give you a detailed prep list but I will do some of that here. He is the type that says “meet me at Los Tortugas at 5:45” and that’s the extent of your prep. But if you want to see nature and experience the estuary, I can’t imagine there is anyone better suited.

We enjoyed his morning hike and canoe tour of the estuary so much that we booked a turtle trip with him for the very same night. Note that we did not witness turtles nesting here as they have apparently quit coming or at least are much rarer to see at Playa Grande. So here’s a little bit about both of our trips with Jonathan.

The estuary tour can start at 6am or 9am. It’s a little harder to get up and moving at 6am but I highly recommend it if you want to increase your chances of seeing more wildlife. Both are $40/person which is well worth what you get.

We started the estuary tour with a short hike where we saw lots of birds, crocodiles(!), bats, crabs, plants, and an amazing/shocking amount of termites/termite nests.

After the hike we moved further down the road where got in canoes and toured the estuary. Jonathan and his assistant did all of the paddling which was nice. In the estuary we saw more birds, bats, howler monkeys, and got up very close (really close) to a crocodile.

Things I wish I had known before the estuary tour: The trails are quite muddy and uneven. Occasionally you will need to go under a low tree branch. You should avoid this trip if you need assistance walking. I'm not advocating for paved walkways here. I very much appreciate that it is untouched. This is more of a warning for those that need a more developed area for mobility. The areas where we got into and out of the canoes are muddy and slippery. I recommend water shoes or sandals with a heel strap and not flip flops or tennis shoes. You will want to avoid this trip if you do not have good balance or need assistance walking although Jonathan will do his best to accommodate you. Bug spray is highly recommended. I’ve been to places where the bugs were worse but it certainly would have been more comfortable/enjoyable to have had some protection against the mosquitos and gnats. There is really no cover to speak of other than the trees. Your personal items should be either waterproof or placed in a waterproof bag in case that it rains. Consider the same comment with regard to your attire.

I highly recommend Jonathan's estuary tour. Jonathan is polite, passionate, and genuinely cares about the park. Go and see this area. You will...

A conservation disaster - Looking for sun and snorkeling oppertunities we came to visit the area of Las Baulas National Marine Park for 5 days. First of all, this is one of the few national parks that charges no entree fee. The park consists mainly of beach, some forest land, mangroveforest habitat and marine habitat. Drive all the way to Playa La Grande and park your car wherever, as soon as you hit the beach you're in the park. The beaches are pristine, largely undeveloped and virtually empty of people. Walking towards the north end, follow a small trail that leads into the woods. Furtherdown you'll find Playa Carbon. A small beach with the best snorkeling oppertunities! Forget about doing an expensive boattour: we spotted sharks, rays, octopuss and countless species of fish around the rocks. When tide is low; walk a long the tidepools and cliffs to discover more wildelife such as vultures, hawks, large iguanas, huge crabs and fishspecies that hide in the tidepools. As the turtle nestingseason was at it's end, we decided not to take a nighttour. Apperently the nighttours have a bad reputation. For the mangroveforest part we did a canoetour. We would recommend this tour for sure as you not only get to see more wildlife, but also hike around with the guide inside the forests. We spotted the Howler monkey and crocodillians. Driving around by car and hiking here and there, something disturbing was catching our eye. The Costa Rican goverments is nowedays known for it's strict natureprotection efforts. But this seems all lost for this park. Almost half of the park's land is for sale or rent!!! Mostly North American real estate agencies are buying up the land. Then they clearcut the parts and burn the remains to make it look 'tamed'. It was very sad to see so much of this area beeing destroyed for commercial purposes. So much lost allready! We think a few years from now the park will not be what it used to be. Time for the people...

We booked a canoe tour of the estuary in this park. Jonathan was a great guide. We started at Hotel las Tortugas. Jonathan showed an older couple and my wife and I where to enter the estuary.

Then Jonathan guided us around the estuary for two and a half hours on two canoes. We saw amazing trees, a crocodile, crazy birds, howler monkeys, colorful crabs. Jonathan was skilled at pointing all these out.

The only thing I felt a bit confused about is why there are so many lots of land "for sale" inside of the Baulas "National Park" at the start and end of the tour. Square lots of land have been cleared of trees, which used to be monkey habitat. I wish the government did more to protect the wildlife.

Also I heard that there used to be hundreds of turtles every night, but when we went with the wonderful guide Thomas a couple nights ago, we only saw one, because there's more real estate at the beach causing serious damage with light pollution.

(I do recommend the turtle tour with Thomas for $30/person. You'll find him selling coconut water around noon in the parking lot of Hotel las Tortugas.)

I'm glad we got a canoe tour instead of a motor boat tour. There is such amazing nature there and the few times a motorboat came by, we were so glad we chose canoe. The motorboat is just loud and smelly and should be banned. There's no reason to take a motor boat. Even elder folks can canoe, since Jonathan did the paddling for the older couple. Motor boats probably really disturb the nature too.

Highly recommend coming to see all the wildlife! We booked it for $60 with a debit card at Hotel...