Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio 🇨🇷

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica is home to Manuel Antonio National Park. It's a popular destination located just south of the town of Quepos.

What did we do?

We walked down to Playitas Beach.

Down we go 

Still going down

The water was the perfect
temperature 🌡 

Love ❤️ my doors but
where do these lead

There are cliffside villas
on the other side 

What goes down must
come back up - my 
favorite part 

We booked a guided tour of Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. The park was established in 1972 and it is the smallest national park in the country.

The water is milky due to the calcium
minerals

They call this a 'Jesus  Christ
Lizard' because they can walk
on water

Crabs - aren't they colorful?

Spider

Bats

More Bats

My Artistic Picture 

We saw several sloths, so exciting!

Coati

Playing shy

Here look at me

Icky spiders 🕷 

This tree sheds it bark to 
stay healthy and prevent
moss from growing on it.

Our guide told us to do the Punta Catedral Trail backwards, so we did. Of course we were the only ones going in the opposite direction. He said it would be easier as the other way is more uphill all at once. The trail 👣 circled a big colossal rock that used to be an island.  

Up we go

Isle Verde

Up we go

Isla Torro Amarillo 

Between September - November
You may be able to see humpback 
whales 🐋 

I wanted the waves to 
crash through the hole

Isla Olocuita

It's name, according to the residents, is related to the strong smell of bird

excrement, perceived by fishermen when passing near the island.

He has to stop and wait
for me.

There were several people just stopped on the trail 👣, it was a monkey 🐒 sighting.

This monkey was sliding
down the railing

Down we go, yay!

We made it down just in 
time to have a coati pass 
us by

Too Close for my comfort

To the beach we go

Water was perfect but the
sand was really hot 🔥 

We really enjoyed the park, it was so clean. You are not allowed to bring any food or drinks into the park except for a refillable water bottle. As a result, no one can feed the animals and there is zero trash. Highly recommend!

Restaurants / Bars

Poolside

The Sloth Restaurant located on the hotel property. Our breakfast was included in our stay. Each morning we received coffee, juice and fruit and an ordered entree.

Costa Rican
rice & beans, eggs, tortilla,
plaintains, & sour cream

Ham & Cheese Omelette 

We had an early morning tour so we were given a boxed breakfast.

The ham & egg burrito was actully
pretty good

Americano Breakfast with
scrambled eggs

Americano Breakfast with
eggs over easy

Rob made reservations at Le Papillon Restaurante. When making reservations, he chose the VIP area. The VIP section was a full open view terrace or the corner sunset & pool view. 

Our Reserved Table with
pre-ordered bottle of wine

Such a romantic setting! 😍 

Well that didn't last long. There was a class reunion behind us and they were all greeting each other directly behind us and then someone spotted a bird in a tree and the whole group of twenty was right behind us. Many stayed and had nice loud conversations right behind us.

At least we got to see a Macaw. Back to enjoying our romantic evening and the sunset.

Gin Tanner

Aperol Spritz

Tuna Tower

Fettuccine Lobster 🦞 

Skirt Steak

And then the rain started and they quickly moved everyone under cover. Now we were sitting within two feet of the reunion group.

Even with the reunion group and the rain, we had a lovely evening and laughed it off. The food and the service was excellente. Highly recommend.

Where did we stay?

The Jungle Vista Boutique Hotel we enjoyed our stay here.

Our Balcony

Our View

Two pools - I had to check the
 temperature 🌡 a tad chilly

How did we get there?

We were driving and were not going far. It was only a little over an hour from Uvita. We stopped and checked out Dominicalito Beach and the town. A cute little beach town that we would stay for a few days. Hona Beach Hotel looked like a great place to stay.

When did we visit? February 24 - 27, 2025

"Pura Vida - Pure Life"