Costa Rica one of the Top favorite spots for Humpback Whales

When you come to Costa Rica, I recommend you visit the Marino Ballena National Park.

http://www.bahiaaventuras.com/national-parks/marino-ballena/

You will find this National Park only a few miles north from the village of Ojochal.
There you can enjoy a whale watch adventure.
It is something worth to try.

The coastal waters of Costa Rica host as many as 25 different species of whales and dolphins, including the majestic humpback.

Very few things are as magical as seeing a magnificent humpback whale arching through the Open Ocean and Costa Rica is one of only two places in the world where whales from both the northern and southern hemispheres meet.

The Northern Humpback Whales migrate from Alaska and Western Canada; they arrive in late October and leave at the end of April.

The Southern Humpback Whales come from as far as the Antarctica; they arrive in late July and leave early November.

That means you can see whales all year round, and they are awesome.

Humpbacks migrate up to 8700 km (5,400 miles) one-way between coldwater summer feeding areas and the warmer winter breeding grounds. On the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, they congregate and breed in the area around Marino Ballena National Park, Caño Island, Drake Bay, and Corcovado National Park.

While in cold waters humpbacks feast on krill and smaller fishes, eating as much as one ton of food each day and storing it as blubber for the long journey ahead. They can dive to a depth of over 200 meters (700 ft) and stay under water for almost an hour.


The females are a little larger than the males at about 15 to 17 meters long; average life expectancy is 45 to 50 years.

Humpbacks will often work as a team, encircling schools of fish with walls of bubbles and then swimming through the middle of the area where the fish have been herded.
During the winter, humpback whales assemble in subtropical or tropical waters to mate and to calve.

Researchers still do not understand all the reasons why whales migrate such long distances, but it could be because most breeding grounds are warmer, shallower, and may offer increased protection for mothers and their newborn calves.

Their courtship can appear very passionate, aggressive, with lively rituals of high-speed chasing, pectoral, and tail slapping, head lunges and jumping full body out of the water.

In addition, of course, the males sing their haunting love songs.

Humpbacks are the only whales that sing and communicate with long complex songs. The whales from each hemisphere have their own personal songs of love.

Humpback males produce the longest and most varied songs in the animal world that include recognizable sequences of squeaks, grunts and other achingly beautiful sounds. They stop singing when they leave the breeding grounds, but continue their evolving tune when they return, picking up the song at the same point where they left off. They produce a new song each year containing parts from the previous year; over time, the original song is completely changed and becomes a new song.

The mother whales give birth in surprisingly shallow waters near the Coast of Caño Island. The whale calves are about 4 meters (13 ft) long and weigh about 1,800 kg (4,000 pounds) at birth. The babies only drink mother's milk while in Costa Rican waters and drink more milk in one day than a human baby does in one year, gaining up to 90 kg (200 lbs) each day! Food sources are poor here so the adults rarely feed. Instead, they subsist on their own blubber during the mating and breeding season and often leave emaciated, with bones visible beneath their skin.

The mother/calf pair spends the next 4 months here, sometimes traveling with a male escort that may or may not be the father. During their stay in Costa Rica, the mothers teach their new babies to breach (jumping full body out of the water) and to swim in all kinds of weather. The mom and baby stay together for about a year, finally separating in the cold feeding waters when the baby is about 8 to 10 meters (26-32 ft) in length.

Researchers estimate that there are only 10,000 to 15,000 humpback whales on the entire planet, making them an endangered species. In contrast, dolphins are quite abundant in this area: Vida Marina Foundation researchers have seen eight kinds in Corcovado/Caño area with the bottlenose dolphin, spotted dolphin and long-nosed spinners being most common.

Any whale-watching trip is likely to be enhanced by the presence of happy playful dolphins cavorting in the waves alongside the boat.

Come to Costa Rica and enjoy this amazing gift from Mother Nature.

Best Time to Visit Costa Rica

Every time I think about going on vacation to a different country my inter-child seems to believe that the universe will create the perfect weather conditions for me to enjoy the vacation I am planning as if it was out of a post card; have you ever experience a little bit of that feeling?
Well, I think it is normal because the mind sees a picture and tends to use it as a background for the rest of the related thoughts.
What I want to do this time in this blog is give you some pictures of the different months of the year in the southern pacific coast of Costa Rica, that way you can decide when is the best time for you to visit this beautiful part of the Country.

Let's start by saying that Costa Rica unlike many other countries in the world only has two seasons:
Summer/ Verano/ Dry Season. - It runs from December 15 to May 15
The summer is considered as the High Season; therefore, the airfares tend to be a little higher.

Winter/Invierno/Rainy Season. - It runs from May 15 to December 15
The winter is considered as the Low Season, therefore, airfares tend to be cheaper, and you will be able to find very nice packages.

It is somewhat funny to hear the Ticos taking about the winter while standing in front of a fan and wearing shorts and flip-flops.

So, when you hear about the winter in Costa Rica don’t let your mind go to the ski slope, (I still do that after 6 years of living here), think instead that is more like a beautiful spring time with some showers.

These showers seem to be under schedule as well as progressive length. In the beginning of the season (mid May) the showers start at night for few hours and start moving counter clock wise as the season moves, keeping the same schedule for periods of weeks.
In this sense, mother nature seems to be sympathetic and cooperative with the outdoor lovers, that way we can organize our daily activities

During the months of May, Jun and July it rains from 3 to 5 days a week usually for a couple of hours of evening rain. That leaves the whole morning to do all the outdoor activities, then enjoy a nice time at home having some cocktails by the pool.

Surfing is definitely one of the activities that you can practice all year round. With or without rain you can enjoy it all you need is a surfboard and a tide table.  If you are a consummate surfer and have your own board, well, you might like to travel with it, if you prefer to rent it locally, places like the Flutterby House in Uvita offers board rental and lessons. They also rent boogie boards.

http://www.flutterbyhouse.com/activities.html

If you like fishing, due to the deep waters and the migration patterns of the pelagic fish, in Costa Rica we are very fortunate to be able to catch All Year Round species like Sailfish, Marlin, Roosterfish, Dorado, Yellowfin Tuna.

Of Course, there are months when some of the species are in bigger numbers and bigger sizes.

For example, from May to November Yellowfin Tuna, and Snapper are everywhere and they are good eating.
http://www.costaricafishingreport.com/drake.shtml
Also during the same period from May to November, the catch and release of Blue Marlin and Sailfish may not be the best but it can be Very Good.
http://www.anywherecostarica.com/destinations/uvita-costa-rica/tours/sport-fishing-trip

August and September are month with a little heavier rain, sometimes is normal to wake up with the peculiar sound of the rain drops, these kind of days are lovely because the early morning brings some clean and fresh air. Usually the morning rain stops by mid morning and still gives the opportunity of going out for a nice lunch outdoors or some shopping.

During these months when the rain falls during the morning hours, the chances of having a beautiful sunset are good, and an activity that can be enjoyable and memorable is horseback riding.
Imagine riding a horse on the sandy beach of Uvita, around eight miles north of Ojochal.
Rancho La Merced offers beautiful sunset tours; they will make sure you have the time of your life.
http://www.rancholamerced.com/#!__english

October and November are the rainiest months of the year and the last of the Winter Season, even though the winter usually ends by December 15, those 2 weeks on December you can notice the volume of rain starts diminishing and finally stops, almost like if somebody had turn the faucet off.

During the months of December, January, February, March, April, May we start to dry out from the rainy months, the humidity drops and the sun shines from sunrise to sunset. It is gorgeous, the rain from the summer has help the forest to grow greener bigger and stronger, the creatures in the wild start having babies, they are everywhere, you can hear a great variety of birds singing songs you have never heard before, some of them are lovely, some of them have a piercing quality.

It is a great time to go for a Canopy Tour at Hacienda Barú  http://www.haciendabaru.com/

I like it because it is a great and exciting way to see the flora and fauna. There are many places offering canopy tours, and Even though the summer time is the best time for this kind of tour, rainy months from June to September are perfectly suitable for it, if it is not raining hard.


Personally, I think is more enjoyable if the day is partially cloudy, but, once again, it is a matter of preference.


El Congo Tour (506) 8881-9348 and 2743-8951 offers mountain tours in one of the primary forest in the Osa Peninsula, only a few miles from Ojochal where you will be able to see the great variety of birds, monkeys, iguanas, trees, flowers, plants and many other four legged friends living in the jungle as well as a variety of migratory species.

I cannot tell you when the best time for you to visit Costa Rica is.  If it is true that each person has his or her own specific needs and preferences; then it is also true that this country offers a wide range of weather for almost anybody who wants to avoid the cold and freezing weather of other parts of the world.

Visit Costa Rica Any Time of the Year.