Cindy Southgate's Travels

February 22

This morning we headed out for another hike down along the beach. The plan was to do a similar distance to the day before, and then return to the hotel for lunch and relaxation.

We headed out the front door of the hotel and headed down the gravel road that would take us to the main highway. From there it was a short walk to the beach access road.

We crossed a small river and headed north along the shore. The sand was a bit muddy in places but the tide was going out, so it was a bit drier for our return trip.

It was interesting to see all the ripples in the sand caused by the waves. We had to pick our way past some of the muddier sections and climb over and under some fallen trees.

Once we rounded the corner, the enormous beach opened up in front of us. It was absolutely beautiful and I think I took about 100 pictures, which made it incredibly difficult to choose only a few to show in my blog. There were no other people in sight.

We had walked about 3 km down the beach when we noticed some dark areas on the very large rock outcropping further down the beach. We wondered if they were caves so of course we had to keep going to find out.

After another kilometre of walking, our question was answered. First we explored the dry caves that were closer to the high tide line.

We were surprised by the size of one of the caves. I could walk in without crouching down but then it just ended.

The next cave was a bit smaller and the third one smaller still. The rock wall that extended into the water had a tunnel going all the way through it as well as a window. It was really fun walking around in the small waves. If we had waited another hour for the tide to go completely out, we may have been able to walk right through. While we were there it was too risky though, because a big wave could knock us off our feet into the rock wall.

We spent quite a bit of time here exploring and puttering around in the shallow water. After some thought I realized that Ventanas Beach was on the other side of the tunnel. We had kayaked through a cave there back in 2020.

There were many shells and other things attached to the side of the giant rocks and part way into the cave tunnel.

We started our walk back towards our resort. I was feeling very relaxed and loved how quiet and peaceful it was.

We saw a few people on the way back. There was a couple with a dog playing in the waves and a couple of men fishing.

After some final exploring of the pools of water and little rivers running into the ocean, we headed back up the hill for some lunch. We covered 8 kilometres today.

In this picture, the tide was coming in. We were walking where you can see the four rocks peeking out from the water. My GPS showed us walking in the ocean.

We sat at our favourite table and shared some yummy nachos. Now it was time for us to relax and do some more reading.

Just like the day before, we started off under the awning and then moved over under the umbrellas. In the distance in the picture below, you can see the mountains of the Osa Peninsula where we did our hike in Corovado National Park.

During one of our dips in the pool we watched these Vultures flying overhead. They came very close several times, but they moved too quickly for me to get a close up picture.

This was our last night at El Castillo. https://www.elcastillocr.com/

We had a very enjoyable dinner at the hotel while watching the sunset. I really enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere here and would love to come back for another visit one day.