Day 10. Drake Bay, San Josecito trail

Submitted by maria on Mon, 19/09/2022 - 14:01

A spectacular day is dawning. The idea for today is to hike the Drake Trail, one of the few free things you can do in Costa Rica.

Drake

This coastal trail starts from Colorada beach in Drake to San Josecito beach.

We have breakfast at the Inn, buy something to eat at the supermarket and start the trek.

Fishing bird

It is a very simple route of almost 18 km (round trip) with hardly any gradient and as it is linear you can turn around whenever you want. Another option is to hire a boat and do only one part of the trip on foot. Once at Colorada beach we see a lot of scarlet macaws or as they are called here "lapas". Cute.

Lapas

Colorada beach

The trail crosses several very nice lodges. You have to cross a suspension bridge before reaching the first beach, Cocalito, where you will meet the Navarrese couple again. Danta, Vitalito or Las Caletas are some of the other beaches you will find before reaching Rio Claro. To get to San Josecito you have to cross it and you should only do it at low tide, because when the tide rises there are strong currents and it can be dangerous. When we got there the water was already up to our chests, so we decided to turn back. We were told that sometimes there is a boatman to help you cross but there didn't seem to be any.

Drake

In Claro river we met Jose and Rosa, two travellers, mountaineers and nature lovers from Madrid, with whom we got on very well. Thanks to them we were able to see several toucans and enjoyed a wonderful time having a beer, telling anecdotes and talking about cameras.

Toucan, gracias a Rosa y Jose

Beaches

Halfway to Claro river there is a village with a soda and one of the resorts has a restaurant.

Bridge

Beaches

Beach

We return to Drake, have a little pool time and rest at the hotel. Our new door neighbours are another couple from Madrid whom we invite to come for dinner with Carlos and Sara. They have just arrived at Drake by car and the trip has been intense, one of the bridges they built in the last year has already fallen down. They have cancelled the night trip because it has literally started to pour.