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Costa Rica on the Come
by Capt. Pat Rains
Costa Rica`s marina boom more than doubles slips and services
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Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is legendary for its tropical cruising, prolific sportfishing, dazzling snorkeling and scuba diving, nature parks and adventurous eco-boating. This nation occupies only 0.01 percent of the planet’s landmass, but it is home to 5 percent of its wildlife. And because Costa Rica lies safely below the Pacific hurricane belt, it’s an increasingly popular place for boaters to summer over, which explains Costa Rica’s present marina boom.
Costa Rica’s Pacific coastline meanders 335 miles southeast in a series of huge bays and sheltering peninsulas. From Bahia Papagayo near its northern border with Nicaragua, the coastline meanders down to the Golfo Dulce near its southern border with Panama. Unlike Costa Rica’s shallow and marshy Caribbean coast, the mountainous Pacific side is sprouting marinas faster than ferns in the rain forest.
Not counting all the little cantinas and dinghy docks that call themselves a “marina” or “yacht club,” I count four existing marinas and four more under way. And because the new marinas are larger than the existing ones, more than twice the present number of slips will soon be available for visiting boaters. Don’t expect much of a drop in prices, however, because all the new marinas are fancier than their predecessors.
Here’s a look at Costa Rica’s marinas from northwest to southeast.
PAPAGAYO
The well-known Four Seasons Resort is building the 350-slip Marina Papagayo in Bahia Culebra, part of its 2,300-acre Papagayo Peninsula development that includes several hotels. The marina is scheduled to open in 2009 with slips for sportfishing boats and mega-yachts. Behind the marina basin is the Four Seasons Hotel, several restaurants and shops.
Marina Papagayo will occupy Playa Manzanillo, one of the region’s black-sand beach coves, located in the sheltered northeast corner of Bahia Culebra. The Papagayo (Parrot) Peninsula stretches across the bay’s north side. In 1995, a previous Marina Papagallo development financed by a Mexican group was shut down in its early stages by the federal government, citing lack of environmental permits.
Bahia Culebra has long been a popular cruising ground of 20 pristine and mostly uninhabited anchorages, tiny beach cantinas and howler monkeys singing in the jungle canopy. The bay spreads north from the quaint village of Playa del Coco where the region’s only Port Captain’s office is located.
FLAMINGO
Sportfishing has been this region’s primary draw, focused around the fuel dock and floating slips of Marina Flamingo in Potrero Bay just south of Culebra. Sheltered inside a huge breakwater, Marina Flamingo’s two-basin yacht harbor, chandlery and haulout yard were developed for a decade by expatriate American Jim McKee and his wife, and business was booming. But in 2002 the local government suddenly shut it down, citing the lack of a building permit.
While Potrero’s officials spent four years considering bids from new investors to take over Marina Flamingo, all the boats were booted out, the docks sank, the basins silted in and nearby hotels folded. At the region’s remaining fishing resorts, such as Ocotal, guests must wade out to small boats anchored in unprotected coves. So, a new marina is sorely needed in this northern section of Costa Rica.
What happened to all the larger sportfishing boats from Marina Flamingo? They moved down the coast to Los Sueños, a larger marina that opened in 2003.
LOS SUEÑOS
Los Sueños (Dreams) Marina was the dream of American expatriate William Royster, who for years had loved to fish marlin — he sails right outside Herradura (Horseshoe) Bay, an almost uninhabited cove on the east side of the Gulf of Nicoya. But the nearest docks were at Puntarenas, a 20-mile boat ride northwest of Herradura, and even there Royster could seldom find good accommodations for himself, his fishing buddies or their families.
In the late 1990s, Royster bought a 1,000-acre farm at the head of Bahia Herradura, but instead of crops he installed riprap breakwaters and a marina (250 full-service slips to 200 feet LOA) with a fuel dock — he even brought in the Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort. Royster left 650 acres undeveloped as a nature preserve. Today, Los Sueños Marina is almost full with sportfishing boats year-round, and anchored boats use the dock and shore amenities.
For coastal cruising itineraries, a stop at Los Sueños for fuel and supplies eliminates the need to visit the declining commercial port of Puntarenas — and it’s closer to bluewater fishing.
COSTA RICA YACHT CLUB
In the sheltered back lagoon of Puntarenas, many long-term cruising boats enjoy a less expensive alternative — the venerable Costa Rica Yacht Club. Located 3.4 miles along a 6-foot-deep channel, Costa Rica Yacht Club has 40 moorings served by a launch, a fuel dock, a repair yard and a nice clubhouse and shore amenities.
About 33 miles down the coast from Los Sueños, the tiny fishing port of Quepos lies next to Manuel Antonio, one of Costa Rica’s most popular national parks. For decades, a huge fleet of tiny sailfishing boats has unloaded at Quepos Pier, then moored in an estuary nearby.
MARINA PEZ VELA
Adjacent to the sheltered north side of Quepos Pier, Marina Pez Vela (Sailfish) is now under construction inside a new breakwater-enclosed harbor. (Don’t mistake this marina under construction for a recently opened Marina Pez Vela in Guatemala’s Puerto Quetzal, 520 miles northwest of Quepos.)
Scheduled to open in the fall, Costa Rica’s Marina Pez Vela plans 250 full-service slips to 200 feet LOA, a fuel dock and dry storage for boats to 35 feet LOA. The office is on the main street of Quepos next to the Gran Escape restaurant. A new international airport being built at Quepos has long been anticipated.
Also planned at Marina Pez Vela in Quepos is a 150-ton Travelift and a big-boat repair yard, which should be a real boon to yachting in Costa Rica. When completed, it will be the first major haulout yard for yachts between Barillas Marina in El Salvador (350 miles up the coast) and Marina Fort Amador in Balboa, Panama (400 miles farther down).
Quepos is located closer to the hottest sail and marlin action than any other marina in Costa Rica. It’s also more exposed to southerly swell, so the protection gained from the Quepos Pier quay and its own massive breakwater is important. I’ve heard rumors of developers seeking permits in the Quepos area for a second marina, but nothing solid yet.
About 45 and 50 miles southeast respectively are Isla del Cano (Diving) and Drake’s Bay Sportfishing Lodge, both popular destinations in Costa Rica’s middle section.
GOLFITO MARINAS
About 100 miles down the coast from Quepos, the small and well-sheltered bay of Golfito (Little Gulf) lies inside a larger bay called Golfo Dulce, meaning sweet water — rainwater, in fact. The region between Quepos and Golfito is distinguished for having the most recorded lightning strikes in the world, and it is also one of the rainiest spots in Central America.
Golfito was a United Fruit banana-shipping port until the early 1980s. It now contains two popular marinas, both located halfway down the bay from the entrance channel and the old United Fruit pier.
Banana Bay Marina (30 full-service slips to 120 feet LOA) is owned and operated by Bruce Blevins and his family. With its buildings painted bright yellow, Banana Bay Marina has a few moorings, a restaurant, a chandlery, a new pool, bungalows and a handy fuel dock — and it hosts many billfishing tournaments year-round.
Next door, the newer King & Bartlett Marina is smaller (20 slips at docks to 42 feet) but has a fuel pier and covered docks to shed rain and sun. K & B Marina, as it’s also known, features a lodge for fly-in charter guests. Lots of cruising boats anchor off both marinas and use their dinghy docks and shore amenities.
Bahia Escondida (Hidden Bay) Resort and Marina is the newest boating facility to begin construction in Golfito. Its marina basin is located just north of the old United Fruit pier, which is a good landmark immediately to port after you clear the entrance channel.
Bahia Escondida’s first set of 86 slips (to 80 feet LOA), covered docks and a high-speed fuel pier are under construction, scheduled to open in early 2008. Eventually this marina plans to have 217 slips for yachts to 220 feet LOA, flanked by a new village of townhomes, hotels and shops. It will be the first major marina on this side of the Panama Canal — by a few hundred yards.
Golfito Harbor recently emerged from backwater anonymity into international renown — at least within the boating world — because last year Dockwise Yacht Transport began offering Golfito as a new drop-off and pickup destination between Miami and Ensenada.
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This article first appeared in the September 1, 2007 issue of Sea Magazine. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
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