Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica

The beat and the feel are inescapable. We rode our bikes into Cahuita a scorching sun drenched afternoon and were met by strains of Bob Marley through the palms. After a quick swim while the sun set, we found a place to stay and then had an incredible fish dinner under the stars. For breakfast we stopped at the little bread stand for banana bread, Jamaican spice cake, and papaya juice; there was no doubt we had reached the Caribbean coast.

The Caribbean coast was settled Africans brought in by way of Jamaica in the late 1800's to build the coffee railroad from San José, or to work the banana plantations. The Caribbean has an unmatched rhythm and Cahuita National Park is as much about culture as wildlife and botany.

When the area was first protected as a Marine National monument in 1970 there were many disgruntled farmers and inhabitants, and several hundred people gathered at a community meeting to speak against the park. According to D. R. Wallace's Story of Costa Rica's National Parks, Alvaro Ugalde, was the last speaker, and the only one who was for the park. But, he turned the sentiments of the community by pointing out that the likely alternative to a National Park would be a "mass of hotels, marinas and golf courses which nobody wanted except foreign companies waiting on the sidelines." This independent spirit has persisted, and the development of the area has been by small local owner operators and Alvaro Ugalde is today recognized as one of the fathers of Costa Rica's National Parks system.

Attractions
Cahuita National Park is best know for the coral reefs close to shore. In the dry season, there is good snorkeling from the beach, and you are likely to see light yellow brain, elkhorn, and blue staghorn corals, sea fans, and gorgonians as a back drop to the more than 500 species of fish endemic to the reefs.

If the corals, fish, lobsters and clams don't hold your attention, there are also two sunken ships to explore. They are well known and in shallow water so the likelyhood of treasure is low, but the exposed cannons insinuate they are protecting something secret.

The hiking trail from the Kelly Creek station at Cahuita village, around the point to the Puerto Vargas is an excellent route to spot green ibis, yellow-crowned night herons, Northern boat-billed herons, Swainson toucans, keel-billed toucans, rufous kingfishers, and the Central American curassow. These feathered friends will most likely appear while you are in the middle of wading the tannin stained waters of the Perozoso (Sloth) River, and trying to extract your camera from your fanny pack to capture a photo of the tamandua, paca, coati, raccoon, or agouti that you've spotted at the edge of the trees.

The villages of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo are not in the National Park, but their Caribbean attitude mixed with the multicultural community of locals and expatriates from North America and Europe are definitely a local attraction. Excellent French and Italian Cusine compliment the local spicy seafood fare and the music plays long into the night.

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. In contrast to the murky and sometimes rough waters of the Pacific Ocean, Costa Rica's east coast has Caribbean blue water.
(© B. Schmierer)

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca just south of Cahuita is the gateway to Playas Pirikikí, Cocles, Chiquita, and Uva and Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge.

When to visit:
Because of increased visibility, the best time for snorkeling the reefs is during the drier season from mid-February through April.
Macaws may be spotted December through February.

Quetzal and the Macaw: The Story of Costa Rica's National Parks
by David Rains Wallace (Author)Publisher: Random House, Inc., (May 1992), ISBN: 0871565854

Delivers exactly what the subtitle promises. It's the story of the politics and personal efforts that brought one of the greatest systems of National Parks in the world into being. Not nearly as dry as it sounds.

Out of print but available used from Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica
by Carrol L. Henderson (Author), Steve Adams (Illustrator), Paperback, 559 pages, Publisher: Univ. of Texas Press; 1st edition, (2002), ISBN: 029273459X

Color photos, species accounts, and distribution maps, for almost three hundred species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths, and other invertebrates are complimented by general introductions to each group, the ecology of Costa Rica, and how to travel to see wildlife.

$US 27.97 from Amazon -or-
Barnes&Noble member price $US 30.36

National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World
by Pieter Folkens (Illustrator), Randall R. Reeves (Contributor), Brent S. Stewart (Contributor), Paperback: 528 pages, Publisher: Knopf, (April 2002), ISBN: 0375411410

As usual the National Audubon Society has published a target for everyone else to reach for.

$US 18.87 from Amazon -or-
Barnes&Noble member price $US 20.48

Great general resource for information on coral reefs from the University of Queensland, Australia.