The Best Cruise Tours to See Wildlife in Costa Rica

Arachnophobes Beware! 

There are a few facts you should know about Costa Rica before you decide whether you should disembark or stay on the ship for better odds at winning trivia (they will help you either way). As far as trivia goes though, there are no guarantees – one time I was the only one there and I still didn’t win! “What’s the capital of Washington State?” “Um, Tacoma?” “But Prof. Cruise, you live in Washington State!” “You should tell me then so I know where to send my letter of complaint about this stupid game!”

First, there are more than 300,000 known species of insects that make their home in Costa Rica, 20,000 of which are spiders (although spiders are technically not insects, but arachnids). 

You should also know that Costa Ricans enjoy a very high life expectancy, one of the highest in the world, and that Costa Rica is home to a rare “blue zone,” the remote Nicoya Peninsula, where people regularly live into their 90’s and 100’s. 

It stands to reason, then, that there isn’t an epidemic of death inducing giant spider attacks.

So definitely get off the boat.  I mean, you wouldn’t want your fear of spiders to keep you from a wildlife encounter with one of these little tropical cuties:

There are around 130 species of snakes in Costa Rica, but not to worry, only 22 of them are venomous.

Okay, okay.  If you promise not to send me your therapy bill, I’ll lay off the spiders and snakes and get serious.

The Serious Side of Costa Rica

There are two cruise ports in Costa Rica, Puerto Limón along the Caribbean coast and Puerto Caldera along the Pacific coast.  We’ve been to both – Puerto Limón on an 11-day Panama Canal partial transit, round trip from Miami aboard the Norwegian Jewel and Puerto Caldera on a 21-day Panama Canal full transit aboard the Norwegian Pearl from New Orleans to Seattle.

So which is the serious side? 

Neither!  We found both sides friendly, laid back, lush, and beautiful.  But you will see some serious wildlife on either.  Costa Rica ties with Alaska in terms of the place where we’ve seen the most. Check out what we did on the Caribbean side and the Pacific side…

Caribbean Train, Boat and Bus Adventure in Puerto Limón

When selecting an excursion for a 4 year-old little boy, or grown man for that matter, it’s wise to consider the strong positive correlation between the number of different modes of transportation involved and their attention span.  So when I saw this ship excursion involved a bus, train, and boat all in the span of just 4 ½ hours, I knew we had a winner.  Plus there was a complimentary snack.  Because there is also a strong positive correlation between food and Prof. Cruise’s attention span.  So I headed to the excursions desk and booked it for our party of four: Prof. Cruise, “H” aka Prof. Cruise’s T.A., Eric aka Prof. Cruise’s equally bad half, and Prof. Cruise’s saintly mom.

After a bus ride with commentary about the local area, we boarded a historic train once used to transport goods to and from the port and the city.  Our train ride took us along the highway for a time and then into the forest where we began to appreciate the vast diversity of plant species Costa Rica has to recommend it. 

We even saw some banana trees growing right next to the tracks, which makes sense considering the history of bananas in the country.  In the 1870’s an American entrepreneur named Keith Minor began planting bananas along a transnational railroad he’d been commissioned to build by the Costa Rican government. He’s credited with starting the first commercial banana plantation in the country and Costa Rica stands today as the third largest exporter of bananas in the world.

After our train ride, we re-boarded the bus and headed for the boat dock where we started our adventure down the Tortuguero Canals. 

While it turns out we didn’t travel very far, we didn’t notice as we were stopping frequently to view the prolific wildlife found in the water and on the banks.  We saw iguanas, sloths, howler monkeys, alligators, and birds.  Even though we’d just spent eight days on a boat only to get off and board another one, when someone shouted, “I see such and such animal,” we could actually see it instead of looking around for 10 minutes only to hone in on a mountain goat disguised by distance as a white speck of dust (but getting super excited nonetheless: “I see it! I see it!”).

After returning to shore, we were treated to a snack of tropical fruits and local coffee and to music from a calypso band. 

Then we re-boarded the bus and made our way through a banana plantation where we learned about banana production before getting dropped off back at our ship.

This was an enjoyable half-day excursion.

Cost: $99 adults

           $64 children

Time: 4 ½ hours

Difficulty Level: Easy (if you can navigate a few steps and feel comfortable boarding a fairly stable boat).  Neither my 4 year-old nor my mother in her late 60’s had any trouble. 

Puntarenas Highlights 10 in 1 Mega Tour

For our second trip to Costa Rica, this time taking us to the Pacific side with Eric’s parents instead of Prof. Cruise’s mom, we booked a non-ship excursion with Thumbs Up Tours.  The tour was called Puntarenas Highlights 10 in 1 mega combo tour, and although I couldn’t really figure out how they calculated the 10 (“wait, was this supposed to be #4 because I’ve already counted 32”), we saw a great deal and found it a good value for an all-day excursion.  You can find out more information or book a similar tour here.

We boarded a large air-conditioned van at the port with one other family and our American ex-pat guide who was now living with her Costa Rican husband in the area.  She was friendly and knowledgeable and made sure to customize the tour some depending on how long we wanted to spend at a particular spot.  Highlights included the Tiko Surf and Turf Rainforest and Ocean View Restaurant with incredible forest vistas to spot birds and other wildlife, a stop along the side of the road to see capuchin monkeys up close, a visit to a fruit stand to sample a kabob of tropical fruits and see how sugarcane is processed into juice, a safari boat tour along the Tarcoles river with a naturalist, and a traditional Costa Rican lunch.   

Tiko Surf and Turf Rainforest and Ocean View Restaurant

The restaurant wasn’t open yet when we stopped, but my understanding is that, depending on timing, sometimes this is the lunch spot used for the tour. If this is the case for you or if you just want to check it out on your own, you can find out more information here. It was a magnificent view and we saw that long tailed thing hanging from a tree right in front of us (extra credit for anyone who knows what it is – mommy brain strikes again!).

You Smell Like a Monkey…

Now when someone tells me I smell like a monkey, I’ll know what they mean. Because on this roadside stop, we got close enough to smell capuchin monkeys. A cab driver who pulled over with his group to join us, got the monkey to climb on a gentleman in exchange for a cookie (which our tour guide pointed out is a “no, no” and something she would never do – I was pleased that Thumbs Up Tours is concerned with keeping the animals and environment safe and healthy).

Tropical Fruit Not in a Can

Typically the only tropical fruit I eat comes in a can bathed in sugary syrup. But the fruit at this roadside stand was so fresh and ripe it was sweet enough for Prof. Cruise in its natural state. One free kabob was included as part of the tour and smoothies could be purchased. We also watched a sugarcane juicing demonstration using a machine that looked like a torture device and came in handy when I needed to threaten my kid to be quiet in the van.

Safari Boat Tour Along the Tarcoles River

The star of the 75 minute safari boat tour was not Prof. Cruise, looking like an emaciated polar bear in her thick layer of zinc oxide sunscreen, but rather this behemoth American Crocodile.

We also saw numerous birds and enjoyed the commentary and beautiful scenery.

Moving on to the most important part of our day…

Lunch

We stopped at a restaurant for a traditional Costa Rican lunch. It was delicious, although Prof. Cruise is accustomed to traditional American potion sizes. More, por favor!

Bonus

The only way Prof. Cruise can avoid earning all 0’s on a scale of 1-10 on her course evaluations is to bribe students with bonus points equivalent to the sum of each scored criteria. So everyone in her class ends up with an A and she lives to travel another day and lecture to a new class of pupils thinking to themselves, “I thought she’d be much better based on her prior course evaluations – I’d rather be bitten by a giant Costa Rican spider than listen to her drone on for another second!”

So Prof. Cruise was happy with a bonus stop. Our driver spotted this in a tree and we pulled over to get a closer look.

So whether your quest for a wildlife adventure finds you on the Caribbean side or the Pacific side, Prof. Cruise wishes you “pura vida.”

Please rate this lecture on a scale of 1-10 in the comments, keeping in mind that Prof. Cruise will buy you a drink should we ever find ourselves on the same ship if you rate it a 10.

Class dismissed.

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