Dominical and Manuel Antonio – Stunning sunsets, cool wildlife, white-water rafting and beach volleyball

As you could read in my last post, I really needed a place to relax and switch off after a few stressful last days at the work-away. I also had no interest in travelling too far. The less thinking the better. So I decided to book a Hostel in Dominical, which is the closest beach to Tinamastes. I had already visited the town, so I knew how to get there and it was only a 30min bus ride away. But first I had to drag myself up the huge steep hill in Tinamastes. I won’t lie it wasn’t much fun walking up this hill with my bag, but somehow I made it. 😉 Never mind that I was trenched in sweat by the time I reached the top.

I was so happy when I arrived in my new hostel. It was called Good Vibes and that’s how it felt. It was a very relaxed place 2 minutes from the beach. Dominical is a tiny town mostly known for its large, year-round waves and is therefore quite popular among surfers. The beach stretches for kilometers, the water feels like bath tub water and the sunsets are the best I have seen in Costa Rica. So for the next 3 days all I did was go for long beach walks each morning, admire the amazing sunsets every night and in between I spent time in the hostel or coffee shop relaxing. It was exactly what the doctor ordered and I quickly felt refreshed and ready to start exploring again.

Check out the photos and videos below. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge images.

Next up I had a little help from the universe again. Initially I was thinking to stay in Uvita which is another beautiful beach a bit further south. I had no idea what time the bus would go, so I posted in a Facebook group asking for the schedule. A guy named Bill saw my post. For some reason he felt drawn to checking out my profile. He discovered that I was a beach volleyballer. He was thinking of organising some volleyball camps, so he decided to message me to see if I live around the area and could be of help. I love how life works sometimes. Obviously I wasn’t able to help him with his camps, however he ended up putting me in touch with some great people in Manuel Antonio that play there on a regular basis. I was dying to get a game. It had been way too long since I had last played. So I packed my bags again and made my way to Manuel Antonio/Quepos.

Manuel Antonio is known for its nice beaches but more so for its National Park. It is one of the smallest parks in Costa Rica but it is the most visited due to its varied fauna with 109 species of mammals and 184 of birds. I didn’t get disappointed. I saw a huge variety of animals in the park including my first sightings of sloths. I even came across a little baby sloth that was climbing up a branch veeeerryyy sloooowly. I love sloths. They have the cutest face that looks like they are always smiling. The way they move so slowly is so cool to watch. In some way they remind me a little of koala bears because of the similar grey colour and the fact that they spend a lot of time sitting in the trees eating leaves. Those leaves get both the koala and the sloth high.

Someone actually told me a fun fact about sloths. Apparently sometimes the little babies fall out of the trees. You would think that the mum would hurry down to rescue the little baby. However, it can take mum up to 4hours to climb down the tree. That’s how slow they move. Incredible really. This actually has become a problem, because people pick up the babies and take them away to rescue centers. The rangers at the centers then need to try to reunite mum and bub, which they do by recording the crying of the baby and playing the recording in the jungle. This attracts the mum and gives the rangers the chance to reunite the little family. This story makes me smile every time I think about it.

Apart from the sloths I saw lots of different monkeys. The howler monkeys are always so impressive because of the loud sounds they make. They are actually surprisingly small given their loud howling. I also so a snake, a Tucan, deers (I thought that was a little random), crabs, all kind of birds and lots of Basilisks which are these cool little lizards. Their nickname is Jesus Christ lizard because they have the ability to walk on water and I think they look pretty prehistoric.

Check out the photos and videos below. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge images.

The person Bill put me in touch with was Damian. He is not only a beach volleyballer and great guy but also a tour guide. When he offered to go rafting with him, I jumped at the opportunity. I had never been and to be honest it was never high on my to do list. It was always something that looked a little scary. But I said yes without thinking too much about it and soon enough I found myself on a small raft going down rapids. It was a lot of fun and only a little scary at times. I made sure I kept smiling for the pictures though. 😉 Even when I managed to hit myself in the face with my paddle, because we went head first into a big rock, I kept a smile on my face. It could have been because I knew someone was still taking pictures or from relieve that I didn’t get hurt more. Maybe it was a bit of both. It was an awesome experience and jumping of a rock in the water and floating along the river at the quieter sections topped of this great adventure.

Check out the photos and videos below. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge images.

Soon enough Damien messaged me again and invited me out to visit a waterfall. How lucky did I feel to have met him and get to experience these cool things. He had some clients going to the waterfall, so I came along for the ride. It was a beautiful spot with no other people there. We went and swam under the waterfall and also jumped from the rocks. Jumping of things has become a bit of a metaphor for me. Since leaving Australia I have jumped of rocks or platforms where ever I can. It is always scary especially since I’m a little afraid of heights. But how I see it, it represents life. So many things in life are scary especially when you do them for the first time and sometimes I don’t do them because I’m too afraid or it feels too uncomfortable. When I stand at the edge of a rock or platform and I look in the water, the thought of jumping is never a nice one. But then I jump and yes it is still scary while you fall towards the water, but you get there and all is well and nothing bad happens. I climb back up again and do it all over again. Every time I go back up, it becomes less scary and that’s how it is also with scary situation in life. This is a big take-away for me already from these travels.

I ended up staying in Manuel Antonio for a whole week. In this time I ended up moving to Quepos which is a town not far from Manuel Antonio. It was just more convenient because it was bigger and more affordable. I found a great Airbnb which made it easy to feel at home there. I played volleyball most days which was so much fun. Eventually I decided though it was time to move on. I felt like I needed to see some more of Costa Rica. Come back soon to read about where I went next. Thanks for stopping by, Sabine xxx

Check out the photos and videos below. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge images.