Getting To Tortuguero
The journey up the canals from Limon to Tortuguero is at least half the experience. Expect a three- or four-hour trip (sometimes longer) by lancha, depending upon where you embark - if on a package tour, it will probably be Hamburgo de Siquerres on the Rio Reventazon; if travelling independently, you'll find it easier to leave from Moin , near Puerto Limon. Either way you'll pass palm and deciduous trees, mirror-calm waters, and small stilt-legged wooden houses, brightly painted and poised on the water's edge - along, of course, with acres and acres of cleared land. Quite apart from the wildlife, the canal is a hive of human activity, with lanchas, botes (large canoes) and pangas (flat-bottomed boats with outboard-motors) plying the glassy waters. Package tourists are disgorged at whichever of the lodges they are booked into. If you're travelling independently , you ought to be able to find a boat at Moin willing to take you up the canal anytime from 6am until as late as 2pm. You can arrange with your boatman when you would like to be picked up to return (it's really not worth going for the day - if you do you'll have to make the return trip not later than 1.30pm to avoid getting stuck in the dark). Get a phone number from your boatman if possible, so you can call from Tortuguero village if you change plans. The lanchas drop you at Tortuguero dock, from where you can walk to the village accommodation or take another lancha across the canal to the more expensive tourist lodges. If you haven't booked a hotel, be aware that accommodation in the village can fill up quickly during the turtle-nesting seasons (March-May & July-Oct). Alternatively, you can do what the locals do and take the 9am bus from San Jose to Cariari , then switch to a bus for the Geest banana plantation , from where a boat goes to Tortuguero, arriving in the village at 3.30pm. It's a long journey, but the boat ride costs only US$10 each way, and if you're travelling alone it makes sense. The return boat to San Jose leaves daily at 7am. If you come by air on Sansa's daily flight (tel 221-9414, fax 225-2176), which leaves San Jose at 6am and takes approximately 35 minutes, you'll arrive at the airstrip some 4km north of the village. There are no taxis from here to the village, though the more upmarket lodges will come and pick you up; otherwise, you'll have to walk.
Your Tip for Parque Nacional Tortuguero
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Parque Nacional Tortuguero - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Parque Nacional Tortuguero - visit the main Parque Nacional Tortuguero forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Parque Nacional Tortuguero webguide section below! Thanks.
|
