Manuel Antonio Beach a Paradise for Travelers

When Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon cruised the Pacific coast of Central America, he was looking for the Indian gold that gave this region the name of Costa Rica (Rich Coast).

Instead, he found a coastline of unsurpassed splendor, with hidden bays, islets and rugged promontories, gleaming beaches, clear lagoons and a towering rain forest.

The conquistadores took this natural treasure house for granted, but modern travelers will find that after four centuries of exploitation, a few true gems remain. Such a gem is Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio National Park, where unblemished white-sand beaches and lush primary rain forest are preserved less than half an hour’s flight from the capital city of San Jose.

Old-Timer’s Description

We found Manuel Antonio when we were looking for an easy and inexpensive beach vacation for our college student daughter, who was spending her Christmas holidays with us. As newcomers to Costa Rica, we looked for guidance to San Jose’s English-language newspaper, the Tico Times, and read old-timer Don Melton’s description:

“My wife Anita and I have sipped coffee at Nepenthe overlooking Big Sur, snorkeled the crystalline waters of Xel Ha, studied marine biology off Marin, and as students of coastal archeology we have seen many wondrous places,” he wrote. “But no coastal setting has struck us as being more spectacular or more magnificent than Manuel Antonio National Park and its surroundings.” (Tico Times, Nov. 1, 1985.)

We made some inquiries and discovered that we could fly from San Jose to Manuel Antonio for only 515 colones (about $8.85) each way on SANSA, the Costa Rican domestic airline, and that rooms were available for as little as 200 colones per person. Good enough.

We packed up our daughter and one of her friends and took off on a holiday that completely altered our ideas of what a weekend on the beach should be. Now, after a full year of living in Costa Rica, we have yet to find a beach that equals Manuel Antonio in beauty, variety and ease of access.

Linked by Beaches

Manuel Antonio is the smallest of Costa Rica’s national parks. Its 1,704 acres embrace three promontories linked by beaches and covered with humid tropical forest. The park’s principal attraction is the clear blue water and white sand of the two beaches, Manuel Antonio and Espadilla Sur, one on each side of a slender isthmus.

Yet it is also a mecca for nature lovers of all kinds, who come here to enjoy an encounter with capuchin monkeys or three-toed sloths, turtles, rare aquatic and plant life, plus 184 known species of birds inhabiting the park.

Except for two well-maintained campgrounds, there are no overnight facilities in the park. Yet just outside its boundaries a wide range of accommodations covers every taste and pocketbook. We found that our $3.50-a-night pension-style accommodations at the Costa Linda (clean and friendly, but no private bath) represents the lower end of the scale.

Not far away the luxurious hilltop Hotel Mariposa offers double rooms, with two meals included, for $125 a night (perfect for honeymooners, with fantastic ocean views and no children allowed). And along the road to the park several motel-style establishments provide comfortable beachfront rooms with bath for up to four persons for $16 to $25 a room.

Fans and Screens

Bordering the park, Hotel Manuel Antonio has double rooms for $17, plus tax. With windows open to the ocean breeze, hotels never include air conditioning, but most tourist accommodations have fans and screens, important when the mosquitoes begin their nightly feast.

Food we found to be an even greater bargain. At Costa Linda the friendly English-speaking proprietors attracted supper guests from up and down the beach with delicious home-cooked dinners for less than $3. Hotel Manuel Antonio offered heavier and somewhat more expensive fare, and lobster dinners were advertised at bars along the strip for a fraction of the San Jose price.

No wonder that Costa Ricans flock to Manuel Antonio every weekend during the peak season that lasts roughly from Christmas through Easter. Tourists are advised to book accommodations well in advance. Even so, the park may be nearly deserted in midweek.

From the tiny airstrip surrounded by jungle and oil palm plantations, a Jeep taxi took us to the sleepy banana port of Quepos, then over green hills and past magnificent seascapes to the resort beach outside the park. We checked into our rooms and went down the road for a leisurely lunch on the veranda at Hotel Manuel Antonio.

Exploring on Foot

Gazing out over sand and sea and watching the pelicans dive into the breakers, my husband and I thought we had found everything we came for. Fortunately, our daughter and her friend were more energetic and persuaded us to press on and explore the park.

Walking beyond the road to the end of the beach, we entered the park on foot, as all visitors must, by fording a small estuary. On the far side we stopped to put on tennis shoes to scramble up a steep trail that led, seemingly, into the depths of the jungle.

The “jungle” at that point was quite narrow. After leaving the estuary, where a small mangrove swamp provides a haven for aquatic birds and animals, we followed an isthmus or tombolo of sand thrown up by the sea between a rocky island and the mainland. Before long the bushes thinned and we saw that on our right we were skirting the long and lovely beach called Espadilla Sur, while farther down on our left we soon caught a glimpse of the beach called Playa Manuel Antonio.

One beach of this quality would be enough to attract tourists. Two seemed a prodigality of nature. But we found that many park visitors move from one beach to the other--Manuel Antonio for tranquil swimming at low tide, Espadilla Sur for fun in the surf; Manuel Antonio for afternoon shade, Espadilla Sur for watching the sunset.

Caution in Paradise

Swimming at all Pacific beaches must be with caution because of the prevalence of riptides, but the shelter of an offshore reef at Manuel Antonio provides a relatively safe haven for swimmers close to shore, and groves of almendro and manzanilla trees that fringe the beach offer protection from the sun.

Our daughter and her friend were in beach bum’s paradise. They spent their days lazing on white sand or swimming in blue water.

My husband and I found enticement in a dramatic formation of cliffs covered with tropical forest that loomed just south of us. This rocky mass, known as Punta Catedral, formed an offshore islet until sand carried by the conflicting currents built up the beaches that link it to the mainland. The majestic point preserves one of the few areas of unaltered primary forest in the region.

Other strands of virgin forest are on Isla Mogote and Puerto Escondido, also in the park, but Punta Catedral is the most accessible, requiring only sturdy shoes and the stamina to climb the steep and frequently muddy trail to the top of its 200-foot cliffs.

In Another World

In making the climb we entered a primeval world. Great trees, some reaching to 100 feet, spread their upper branches above the trail, creating a twilight coolness even at midday.

The silence was nearly complete with the surf so far below and the birds so far above. By walking quietly we could hear the rustling of wildlife and perhaps see a fox scurrying up the hillside or the large rodents known as agouti foraging in the forest aisles.

Once I came upon a migration of land crabs on the trail, their vermilion legs as bright as poppies, their bodies deep purple and their lavender claws waving like exotic blooms. The trees were adorned with the exuberant life of the rain forest--vines, orchids and bromeliads draped at all levels.

I had believed that the name Punta Catedral referred to the shape of the promontory as seen from the ocean. But once I walked down that dusky nave beneath vaulting arches formed by the giant trees, I knew how perfectly fitting was its name “Cathedral Point.”

Camping Facilities

Both beaches at Manuel Antonio are developed for camping, with tables, latrines and piped water available for a fee of about 70 cents (U.S.) per person. My husband and I returned to Manuel Antonio to camp, our opportunity to explore the park at leisure, discovering its amazing array of curiosities of both human and natural history. A natural history exhibit near park service headquarters at Manuel Antonio Beach provides information.

We learned, for instance, that Playa Manuel Antonio was popular with the Quepos Indians who inhabited the area before the arrival of European settlers. Near the southern end of the beach a craggy ridge thrusts into the lagoon, marking off a small cove where the rocks have a siphon effect on the waves. There the Indians modified the natural basins formed by boulders to build turtle traps, for sea creatures including turtles could easily swim over the tops of the rocks at high tide, only to be trapped as the tide receded.

Modern campers on these beaches attract a variety of animal scavengers. Each morning as we cleared away breakfast a two-foot lizard watched us from a tree trunk, then darted in to look for crumbs around the camp table. One afternoon we set off for a nature hike, hoping to see the white-faced capuchin monkeys that we know were present in the park.

The Last-Banana Raid

When we returned an hour or two later we found the camp in an uproar. A band of capuchins was swinging away through the trees, one of them grasping our last banana, which I had set aside as an after-hike snack.

Monkeys were not the only thieves. The next evening we returned from a trek to replenish our fruit supply from vendors who set up stands outside the park, and arrived just in time to see a pair of large gray raccoons making off with the muffins we were saving for breakfast.

In spite of these predations, we never suffered from lack of food during our four days camped on the beach. A friendly Costa Rican family at the neighboring campsite sent over gifts of food. When they saw that we were making American-style instant coffee, they insisted that we share their rich, fragrant brew, made the proper Tico way by allowing boiling water to drip through a cloth bag.

We chatted in a mixture of Spanish and English, traded fishing tips, and when time came to pack and leave, we exchanged addresses and promises to visit, confirming our belief that the best part of a vacation can be the people you meet.

Trek to Secret Beach

From one end of Manuel Antonio Beach a trail leads north and east across a promontory to a bay called Puerto Escondido, hidden from the sea by rugged cliffs. Wise visitors will respect the sign that declares the trail closed because this is a potentially hazardous area. High tide covers sections of trail and nearly drowns the beach, so that unwary sunbathers may be driven up into dense brush until the tide goes out again.

Yet this secret pirate’s cove is a fascinating place, laced with sea caves, and those who wish to explore it can usually find a ranger leading a hike into Puerto Escondido during low tide.

The diversity of Manuel Antonio is worth an extended stay. Yet even the most hurried travelers passing through Costa Rica will be well rewarded if they take only 24 hours from an itinerary for the short flight to Quepos, an idyllic day combing the beaches and forests, and an evening watching the brilliance of the Pacific sunset.

Returning to San Jose on the early-morning flight, visitors will know how well the early Spaniards chose when they gave this country its name of Rich Coast.

For further information contact Costa Rica Tourist Board, 3540 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 404, Los Angeles 90010; phone (213) 382-8080. Or write to Halintours, Apdo. 29, 1011 Y Griega, San Jose, Costa Rica.