The journey:
We knew getting to Drake’s Bay was going to be a bit more of an interesting journey: there is information on the internet but the specifics of where you catch the actual bus out of Uvita were somewhat sketchy. Our glamping host told us to be at the ‘Flutterby’ bus stop in the village at 8am, which was different to everything we’d read. We decided to trust him as the other stop we’d read about in the town, and scoped out, was a long walk away with backpacks! Despite the bus not being due until 8.30am, we were there at 8am sharp as he said it is always better to be early in Costa Rica as buses will leave before time if they want.
At the bus stop we spoke to a French guy who was taking the same journey as us. The bit that was going to be ‘touch and go’ was the next stop: Palma Norte. Here you can catch a local bus to Sierpe but you’re reliant on hitting it at the right time to make your boat connection or you can get a taxi with a risk of being ripped off. Meeting him was great though as when the bus arrived in Palma Norte – he knew it was the stop for a start (it was prior to any bus station but the bus driver would have said if we’d asked him to, in hindsight) , and another guy stepped off too, making us a 4 that could bargain down the price of a taxi. I think we still paid a 1000 Colones too much (4000) as I heard on our return, a boatman say it was 3000 back but sometimes they have two prices depending on how easily they will pick up a new ride on that leg. We did see a bus station to the left as we drove a bit further down the road and we did see the looping bus on our travels so we could have waited but we may have missed our connecting boat at 11.30am and had to wait until 2.30pm for the next one. There are only 2 boats to Drake’s Bay a day and it is quite difficult to get there by road.
When we got out the taxi at Sierpe, we were met with a bunch of guys shouting stuff at us which was really disconcerting. They kept saying ‘hotel, hotel’. It sounded like they were trying to sell us something other than the boat we wanted. When I tuned in and answered with ‘Happy Feet’, the name of our BnB, just to get them to stop, one of the guys produced a text message with ‘Happy Feet’, ‘Emma’ and ‘2 eligio’ written on it. It turns out the hotels and various accommodations book you a slot across to the Bay so that you are dropped off at the closest point to your stay, including a taxi to take you up the hill once you’re there! Perfect!
We sat in the restaurant, chatted to French guy and waited for the guy in the pink shirt – the bossman – to tell us to get on our boat – a 25 seater ‘fast launch’. It seems this is the postal service too!
The trip is a really fun way to get to your new stop on the coast. You travel down rivers and through mangroves for about 30 minutes, finally emerging out into the sea about 10 minutes before Drake’s Bay. It is a wet landing – so no shoes, which is awkward with your stuff but the guys on the boat carry your bigger bags on and off as it is stowed away in the front hold.
Our taxi driver, Caren, met us and dropped us off at ‘Casita Happy Feet’, giving us a wry guide of Drake’s Bay on the way – on a dirt road with one shop “… and this is the town centre.”
The Experience:
At first we were a bit unsettled as Mr Learoyd’s logistical brain was doing the usual routine – you can’t settle down and enjoy somewhere until you know how you’re leaving it. Our next stop was Los Dos Brazos, in Corcovoda, and was only reached by a 4.30am bus to some place that wasn’t visible on the map and then another bus to Puerta Jiminez and then another bus to the accommodation. The details were very scrappy. I had done the booking and read a few things you could do – this bus, a boat, or a trip to the Corcovado Park and then go onwards with a group returning from PJ … and I thought in my laid-back style that when you get to a place the people there can usually fill in the gaps that the internet can’t, like our host in Uvita. But our host couldn’t help us which was a bad sign and even intimated that the bus may or may not turn up. Not fun. As it turned out we liked the BnB, we liked the breakfast and the area, so we decided after a couple of days of testing it out to extend our stay there a bit. You have to book ahead for Corcovado Park and it was high season but we managed to secure a slot from this Bay, rather than our next stay.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The highlight of Drake’s Bay was a 6 hour trail that runs along the coast to the first station for Corcovado Park: San Pedrillo. The trail runs off the main Drake’s Bay beach, through jungle, up and down hills, along the beach and over a river. So much to enjoy. We saw colourful birds, monkeys, lizards and scores of butterflies. One of the days we took our snorkels and saw a few fish and a transparent eel, maybe snake-thing.
Another gem was a little restaurant called Claudio’s Grill, that we treated ourselves to on the last night. The food was tasty and we even got a complimentary starter – carrot soup or salad. Both were delicious. It sits on the side of the hill, overlooking the bay and the staff are super friendly. The bill was $40 which is still a little on the steep side but it was worth it to have fresh food (See below)
Unfortunately, our trip to Corcovado Park was disappointing. The animals didn’t disappoint obviously, but the mood was weird; I missed the enthusiasm of our guide in Monteverde. Whether we’d hyped it up too much, thinking we’d glimpse something like an ocelot or a puma , when it was unlikely in the night, never mind in the day, or because it seemed like it was given a higher status than other parks on the internet because you are not allowed in without a guide, for your safety, I don’t know. But it felt like we were being herded around to meet time deadlines and tick off enough creatures for them to say ‘you’ve had a good day.’ Unlike the other tours we were given a lunch period with a canteen dinner which was nice but after this it felt like our guide was time-filling until the boat arrived. I don’t know if this was just our guide – he had 30 years under his belt as a guide in this park and I think instead of getting his rich experience, we got his jaded need for it to be home time! The tour price is a standard $110 everywhere, for a guide, transport (boat) and lunch. A French family staying in our BnB who did the Corcovado Tour with us, and seemed just as disenchanted, praised the Cano Island tour highly (snorkelling), so maybe this would be a better alternative. (Not much point for us as we’re going to the Galapagos)
Something we weren’t prepared for in a beautiful raw natural area, was the lack of fresh food. Our BnB had a great kitchen and communal area to spend time cooking and relaxing in, but in the supermarkets the shelves were bare. Umpteen tins and packets of processed food, but the fruit and veg was old and scraggy. There were no markets and no-one seemed to be growing anything either. We bought some potatoes, a few tomatoes and an avocado and it was extortionate. We have since found out that potato and tomato harvests have had problems in Costa Rica due to a hurricane, hence the ridiculous prices, but it was difficult to make anything interesting. Even if we had been buying meat it would have been the same. Eggs became our staple food for days!
If it hadn’t have been for this, I think staying a longer time in Drake’s Bay would be a lovely way to ‘travel slowly’ because the trail offers so many coves and beaches, beautiful sunsets and lovely creatures you could create different experiences over time.