Beach Day in Costa Rica

The Pacific Ocean temperature was 84 degrees Fahrenheit at Manuel Antonio Beach.

That matched the air temperature.

As you can guess, it was quite pleasant to do a little body surfing or just stand in the warm water.

For those concerned about manmade global warming, I will point out that Costa Rica is 8 degrees from the Equator, so this water temperature is normal.

I will also point out that despite the ocean being warm along both its Caribbean and Pacific shores, Costa Ricans harvest lots of fresh fish, a delicious part of their Pura Vida lifestyle and dining.

Could penguins looking for a beach vacation thrive there?

No, but it is not the end of life as we know it for humans.

In fact, it was ideal for this beach beside a tropical rainforest.

You may be surprised to learn that whales, which migrate to Alaska during our summer, were breaching alongside the catamaran that our fellow Gate 1 Tourists took on their optional excursion that day.

The catamaran riders all raved about their wonderful experience that day.

Julie and I had instead opted to hike downhill a mile or so from our hotel to the free public beach.

The uneven path to the beach was along a busy road with cars speeding by us.

White-faced monkeys found a safer stroll atop the nearby power lines.

The walk gave us a chance to survey some of the restaurants with panoramic ocean views and other recreation venues that we passed along the way.

About halfway down, the road became a ditch.  I began to wonder if we had made a mistake not taking the bus or a taxi.

With all the cars racing downhill, I also wondered if our guide Leo was right about the public beach in Manuel Antonio being packed with families playing loud music on boom boxes.

This was, after all, a Saturday during the "summer vacation" for school kids.  Those quotation marks are because Costa Rica sits in the Northern Hemisphere, making this technically winter.  However, January falls in the dry season, which historically is a time when harvests can use extra hands on family farms.

Farming is no longer the primary industry of Costa Rica in terms of contributions to gross domestic product (4%).  It does employ 13% of the work force.  Tourism, on the other hand, employs just slightly fewer people but yields three times the GDP.  

Surprisingly, 70% of Costa Ricans now work in the tech sector, with large employers like Intel, HP and medical device manufacturers, making that by far the most important sector of the economy.

In any case, this is not an economics lecture. It's about a beautiful day at the beach.

When we got close to the beach, we took what we thought might be a shortcut down stairs from a parking lot.  We figured that detour would at least get us off the busy street.

Success.

We arrived at the beach where we found a nice guy renting umbrellas and lounge chairs.

Sold.

We settled in a great spot.  Our umbrella guy told us that if someone encroached on our space, he would move us.  Over the course of the day, several others moved their camps in our sightline, and our guy came through as promised.

He also sold cold drinks, which we ordered later.

My cerveza order was not a problem, but he only had regular Coca Cola.  He said he would be happy to get Julie a Diet Coke, returning shortly with her drink.

Had we stayed on the busy road all the way to the beach, we would have arrived at a more crowded spot and might not have wandered down to this more remote area, especially if we had rented an umbrella there.  Instead, we found ourselves in the perfect spot for a relaxed day in the sun.

Julie and I took turns going out in the small waves.  Without a boogie board to ride the waves, body surfing wasn't sufficient for any "Big Kahuna" moments.  Still, I had fun taking the best waves, about once every ten minutes.

Over the course of the day, the water felt so comfortable that I didn't want to get out, only doing so to give Julie her turns.

Sometimes, we toted our backpack of valuables into waist-deep water and stood together.

Most of my time in the water, however, I was watching the horizon for rideable waves, which were few and far between.  I gradually got more and more sunburned.

After several hours in the sun and surf, we walked to the little town abutting the busier part of the beach to find a bus stop.

By the way, Leo had been way off on his dire predictions about the beach being overcrowded.  I think he had good intentions, to persuade us to join the catamaran trip.  The excursion turned out to have terrific dolphin-spotting as well as the breaching whales, plus snorkeling from the boat on this ideal tropical day.

Before boarding a bus, we chose to break for coffee.  At three in the afternoon, a lot of the sidewalk cafes and bars had friendly ropers in front touting two-for-one happy hours and late lunch specials.  A pretty young woman said her cafe, Casa Alta Mar, had iced coffee in their second-floor, open-fronted perch, so we headed up the stairs.

The bartender was happy to have a chance to use his leftover coffee from lunch service and made a great iced beverage for us, with chocolate syrup coating the inside of frosted glasses.  We enjoyed the sea breeze in the shade while savoring our drinks for a half hour.

The bus stop wasn't far from our cafe.  We told the driver where we were going.  After exiting through the back door at an official stop that we recognized as being about right, we saw the bus pull over directly in front of our hotel, a nice courtesy for a public bus.

I took a dip in the pool right outside our room, cooling off before changing for happy hour and dinner.

As we had discovered shortly upon arriving at our hotel the prior afternoon, a little bar stand next to the pool was supposed to open for happy hour at 5:00 PM.

A chalk sign offered two Coronas for $5, and a more permanent sign touted two cocktails for $10.

We had purchased a bottle of wine in Jaco, but that seemed silly in retrospect given the inexpensive hotel drinks.  

The bartender seemed to still be gathering his wares when 5 O'Clock arrived that first afternoon, so Julie and I walked over to the restaurant to check out their menu.

After reading that Filet Mignon with all of the best side dishes would be $21, we checked out the adjacent little bar.

It had the look of that perfect little bar we hoped for in a tropical resort, with a tree growing inside.

We had the lounge seating all to ourselves.

We asked if we could get Cuba Libres made with Diet Coke under the happy hour price we saw outside, and the bartender replied with a smile.  "Of course."

Many from our group were having happy hour by the pool, around which our rooms were clustered.

Barry and Harriet had just left there when they wandered in on their way to dinner.  The lounge was small, but certainly large enough for two couples.  They tried to recruit us to join them walking across the street for a nice meal, but we weren't that hungry.

They told us that eight Floridians traveling together had ordered delivery pizzas out by the pool from a restaurant that Leo recommended during the usual introductory drive through town upon initial arrival to Manuel Antonio.

After Barry and Harriet left, Julie and I decided to order Hawaiian pizza made with that sweet Costa Rican pineapple.

The delivery man arrived on a motor scooter.  We met him by the lobby, though he would have delivered to our room had we ordered it that way.

It was delicious.

To be clear, that pizza meal was on the day we arrived, not the beach day.

Our happy hour locale had been perfect, so we returned after our beach day, this time intending to take advantage of that Filet Mignon offer.

Famished from a full day in the sand, surf and sun, Julie and I enjoyed a wonderful romantic dinner at the hotel's restaurant.

Julie's Filet Mignon and my fresh seafood catch of the day meals were both fantastic, although our photos look somewhat odd because of the green lighting prevalent in the garden grounds outside that shined through the windows.

Each morning during our stay, we enjoyed the terrific hot buffet breakfast in that same dining room.

Looking out the windows in the morning, we watched white-faced monkeys scamper along utility wires in the direction of the beach.

Leo had said to beware of the monkeys, because they were known to grab loose items or even open backpacks to steal food and other items that catch their interest.

We would witness that thievery the next day during our tour of Manuel Antonio National Park.