Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [256]
There’s a small soda next to the ferry port, as well as a few vendors selling shaved ice and other goodies.
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Getting There & Away
All transportation is geared to the arrival and departure of the Puntarenas ferry, so don’t worry – if either is running late, the other will wait.
BOAT
The Coonatramar ferry (2661-1069; www.coonatramar.com; adult/child/car ₡860/515/1850) to Puntarenas departs daily at 8am, 12:30pm, 5:30pm and 9pm, and can accommodate both cars and passengers. The trip takes 1½ hours. If traveling by car, get out and buy a ticket at the window, get back in your car and then drive on to the ferry. You cannot buy a ticket on board. Show up at least an hour early on holidays and busy weekends, as you’ll be competing with a whole lot of other drivers to make it on.
BUS
Buses meet the ferry and take passengers on to Nicoya (₡1000, three hours). Departure times are (approximately) 7am, 10:50pm, 2:50pm and 7pm.
Regular buses journey from Paquera to Montezuma, though there are none that go southeast from here.
CAR & TAXI
It’s possible to get to Paquera via a scenic, bumpy and steep dirt road with some great vistas of Bahía Gigante. For this, a 4WD is recommended, especially in the rainy season when there are rivers to cross. The only public transportation is 4WD taxi, which costs about ₡15,000, depending on the number of passengers and road conditions.
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ISLANDS NEAR BAHÍA GIGANTE
The waters in and around the isolated Bahía Gigante, 9km southeast of Playa Naranjo, are studded with rocky islets and deserted islands, 10 large enough to be mapped on a 1:200,000 map. Since there is no public transportation here, and a 4WD is a necessity almost year-round, the area feels very quiet and unhurried (read: completely abandoned).
However, travelers are drawn to this off-the-beaten-path destination for its range of activities, namely sportfishing, snorkeling, diving and kayaking, which can all be arranged through hotels and travel agencies in the area. There are also plenty of opportunities for some serious adventure here: kayak between the islands, camp on a deserted island or explore the crumbling ruins of an island prison – the choice is yours.
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Isla San Lucas
The largest island in Bahía Gigante (just more than 600 hectares) is about 5km off the coast from Playa Naranjo, and from a distance seems like a beautiful desert island. However, the ‘Island of Unspeakable Horrors’ has a 400-year history as one of the most notorious jails in Latin America. The island was first used by Spanish conquistadors as a detention center for local tribes in the 16th century. In 1862 the job of warden was inherited by the Costa Rican government, which used the island to detain political prisoners up until 1992. The prison was also the inspiration for Costa Rica’s most internationally famous memoir: La isla de los hombres solos (available in English as God Was Looking the Other Way) by José León Sánchez, who was imprisoned on the island for stealing La Negrita from the cathedral in Cartago.
Visitors to the island can expect to see the 100-year-old overgrown remains of the prison. Although there are still guards living on the island, their primary purpose is to discourage poachers, which means that travelers are usually permitted to wander freely through the prison grounds and even camp on the island.
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Isla Gigante
In the middle of Bahía Gigante is the 10-hectare Isla Gigante, which is shown on most maps as Isla Muertos (Island of the Dead) because it is home to a number of Chara burial sites (and believed by locals to be haunted).
The island once served as a rustic resort for yachters, but is now completely abandoned and covered with cacti. Isla Gigante is an interesting place