Kayak Costa Rica 2016
We spent 2 weeks in sunny Costa Rica in mid December with an amazing group of friends; 8 days under the excellent care of Costa Rica Rios and another 4 days hanging at the beach enjoying the sand and surf in Dominical. This post covers the first 8 days with a second post covering beach life!
Getting anywhere warm from the Yukon is an adventure in itself… and usually takes over 24 hours of travelling. This trip was 30 hours from airport to airport, including 4 airplanes & 5 different airports, 1 lost luggage adventure mid trip, 1 case of cancelled tickets mid trip, and another 6 hours driving in Costa Rica to get to Turrialba thanks to traffic issues. We spent from 1:00 am to 4:00 am attempting to get some sleep in the underground of the Houston Airport in between flights – Hunter’s first exposure to life as a dirt bag kayaker…
Our winter paddling adventures are about more than just finding warm water, they are a great opportunity to experience new cultures, see new animals and amazing scenery, try out new foods and to continue to practice our spanish.
Our main base camp while kayaking was Villa Florencia just outside of Turrialba, which is located in the Central Valley mid way between San Jose and the Caribbean Sea. The hotel was beautiful with lush grounds to walk around, a swimming pool and hot tub and large spacious rooms. The highlight of the amenities was the Foosball table, where even the chef showed up to take on the strongest one of our group. The biggest challenge was trying to dry 3 people’s wet gear in a humid climate in our room.
Our first day of paddling was on the Pejibaye River, a tributary of the Reventazon River in the Turrialba Valley. The morning session was class II and our “check out” paddle where the guides get to determine skills/abilities etc. It also allowed us to get used to the rental boats that we were using. After lunch at an old school house on a dirt road a group of us put in on the upper class III section and others did the lower section again. The upper section was fun with a good assortment of boulders and felt like a nice creek run in the middle of the jungle.
Days two and three were spent on the Sarapiqui River, which was 3 hours NE near Puerto Villejo. It runs from the Central Mountain Range just north of San Jose to the San Marcos River which runs along the shared border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It was further into the rain forest and we definitely found the rain that goes with the forest! Our first run down was on the lower section of the river (class II/III) and it ended in pouring rain, with everyone standing delicately in the bus to get to the hotel to avoid getting the bus soggy for our long ride home. Our second day was on the La Virgen upper section (class III+) and came with a fabulous surf wave and some fun revolving whirl pools. Hunter also shifted into an RPM as he had watched our lead guide Arnaldo having so much fun stern squirting with it on the first day.
Days four, five and six were spent on various sections of the Pacuare River, which is one of Costa Rica’s classic rivers running 108 km from the highlands to the Caribbean Sea through primary rain forest and lowland tropical forests. It is a mix of class III, IV and V depending on the section you run. On day four we ran the Upper Upper section (class II/III) and a smaller group of us ran the 5 class IV rapids before you get into the class V Upper section.
Day five and six were an overnight trip on the Lower section, with a stay at the beautiful Pacuare Outdoor Centre in the middle of the jungle. Lunch break on day five was at a fun tributary that turned out to have a small cave hiding behind the rocks, which Hunter loved. If you look hard you can see his face and hands sticking out of the wall of water. Riverside lunches were always yummy, plentiful and held in creative places!
It was quite the hike up and down from the river side to the POC lodge but so worth it for both the view and the amazing amenities. The wide open kitchen/living room common space was so clean and inviting that Hunter ended up sleeping in one of the hammocks overnight while Tim and I enjoyed our small cabin with nothing but screen between the room and the jungle – lots of noises and with a full moon out it never really got dark.
Our last day of paddling was a mix of III+ and IV and so a smaller group paddled and the others had a great day in the raft. Hunter chose to paddle and styled the class IV rapids thanks to some great guiding by Arnaldo Perez, Costa Rica’s top slalom racer.
Overall we were really impressed with the staff at Costa Rica Rios and would definitely recommend them for anyone looking for a kayaking or warm weather winter adventure trip. They are very family friendly and also open to customizing adventures just for you.
More photos can be found on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ChasingthesunYT.