marina pez vela Archives - Costa Rica Expat Tours

I remember my first experience of Manuel Antonio back in 2001. I was working on a business deal in San Jose and I had some time over the weekend for a quick adventure. So, I asked my Nicaraguan buddy, Yuri, about Manuel Antonio. He told me he could take me there and that I definitely should see it.

So, off we went…

Back then getting to Manuel Antonio was quite a different experience than it is today. There were two one-lane and very rickety bridges you had to cross. The traffic crossing those bridges would back up forever. From time to time, during the rainy season, the bridges would be completely inundated and impassable. Nowadays, there are new two-lane bridges that make the trip much easier and a lot less stressful.

I remember that Quepos, the little fishing village one has to pass through before arriving at Manuel Antonio, gave me the impression of being just that, a dirty little fishing village. It remained that way for years. These days, however, with the ongoing development of Marina Pez Vela making an impact, Quepos has become an attraction in itself. Quepos now offers many accommodation options that are quite nice and more economical that what you will find just on the other side, in Manuel Antonio.

As soon as you get though the busy streets of Quepos and start heading up the hill and then down to the beach, what strikes you is the jungle. Up until that point, I’d seen a lot of green in Costa Rica, but nothing like this. The jungle overwhelms you. It brings you to the full realization that you’re definitely not in Kansas (or, for me, South Carolina) anymore.

Back then Manuel Antonio had already arrived on the scene as one of Costa Rica’s main tourist attractions. However, the development was far less dense than it is today. Nevertheless, there were numerous places to stay. Yuri and I had taken off on an impulse, without booking anything in advance, thinking we’d just wing it once there. It was the weekend and the high tourist season, so place after place was booked solid. We finally arrived at this one small hotel overlooking the ocean. I believe it was called La Roca. It’s still there. The guy at the reception told us they did have one room available, but with only one king-sized bed. Yuri and I had no intention of sleeping together and asked if there was any possibility of adding another bed. The guy looked at us oddly, as if wondering what the hell for? Little did we know that at that time La Roca was a hotel that catered mainly to homosexuals. In fact, Manuel Antonio made a name for itself initially as a get-away for gay people.

These days it’s much more than that, as high rollers, families, romantic couples, young backpackers, and everything in between, make Manuel Antonio a must-see Costa Rica destination. Since that first visit I founded and still operate a vacation package business and perhaps some 80% of our tours included Manuel Antonio as a destination.

Of course, the main attraction is the national park and I will never forget my first experience of it. Since then, I’ve had many others, but that first one was really special. We hired a guide to walk through with us and one of our first nature encounters was a large boa who was in the process of swallowing an almost equally large iguana. That shouldn’t have been surprising as there were iguanas literally everywhere. And the monkeys, my god, the monkey’s. Yuri had told me a little about the park, but nothing prepares you for the intensity of the biodiversity you come face to face with in that place. There’s no wonder that it’s one of Costa Rica natural wonders and its most popular national park. That’s saying a lot when 25% of the entire land area of the country is basically some form of national park.

Since my first experience of Manuel Antonio I’ve had the good fortune of visiting Manuel Antonio countless times. In fact, I live only about an hour away from it in Perez Zeledon. It seems that every time you go there now there’s something new, either a new hotel, restaurant, bar, or club. And then there’s the incredible development of the Marina Pez Vela, which is now one of the most upscale resort locations in the country and it continues to expand.

And yet, even with all that development, Manuel Antonio still manages to make you feel like you’re really in the deep and dark jungle of Costa Rica. That’s because when you’re there, you really are.

Let’s hope things stay that way!

Here’s a photo gallery of one of my early visits…circa 2003, I believe (hotel pictured is La Mansion Inn, one of my favorites)…

Quepos has been a “sleepy” little pueblo for as long as I can remember, but lately it’s waking up! The evolution of Quepos, from sleepy little fishing village to prime tourist destination, can be summed up in a name…

the Marina Pez Vela.

For many years Costa Rica had only one true world-class marina, the Los Sueños marina in Playa Herradura. For years there was talk of one taking shape in Playa Flamingo in the Guanacaste region. But that talk never seemed to evolve into anything concrete. Then all of a sudden the secret was out that a new marina was to be built in Quepos.

Marinas are difficult things to develop in Costa Rica. The government, as well as the local population, tend to view them suspiciously. There is always the concern about the potential for negative environmental impact that marina development poses. The locals also view marinas as a sure way to change the entire complexity of their communities, from those dominated by locals, to those taken over by gringos with the big bucks. And when that happens, the price of life tends to rise for everyone.

Nevertheless, it was inevitable for a world-wide tourist phenomenon like Costa Rica, whose very name means “rich coast”, to attract marina development. If you own a luxury yacht, why wouldn’t you want to sail it into port in Costa Rica?

Unlike the situation in Flamingo, the Marina Pez Vela did actually take shape, albeit slowly. These days, however, the pace of its growth has definitely ratcheted up a notch or two.

My first visit to the marina several years ago didn’t impress me that much. However, a more recent visit certainly did.

The marina is now home to a wide variety of shops, restaurants and tourist venues. They’ve built a new large parking deck. There seems to be a whole lot more luxury yachts in port than I remember from before. The whole place has become alive with excitement and activity. And that has the entire community of Quepos buzzing as well.

I talked about it all with my old friend Cornelius Mesen, the marketing manager of Hotel Kamuk, the largest and one of the oldest hotels in downtown Quepos. I asked him if he’d seen much of a tourist effect from the marina. Cornelius told me that had not happened as of yet, but he envisions that great and positive change is on the not so distant horizon.

Most tourists bypass Quepos and make a b-line to Manuel Antonio, with its gorgeous white sand beaches, plethora of ritzy boutique hotels, and super cool restaurants, bars and shops. These days, however, Quepos is offering more and better accommodations than in years past. Hotel and Casino Kamuk is definitely an example.

The Marina Pez Vela will surely put Quepos on the tourist map. It has long been that bustling and dirty little fishing village one had to endure before arriving to the main destination of Manuel Antonio.

However, in the future, the evolution of Quepos is surely for this place to become a noteworthy tourist destination of its own right.

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My First Experience of Manuel Antonio

The Evolution of Quepos

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