Back from Bosque del Cabo
Aug 28th, 2008 | 10:15 AM
#1
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Joined: Mar 2004
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Back from Bosque del Cabo
We are back from our 3rd visit to Bosque del Cabo. Our family of 3 and our son's family of 4 stayed together in Casa Blanca.
The house was as wonderful as ever if not better. New furniture in living room (which noone ever used), new 6 burner range and new vent hood (which noone ever used), new hammocks on back deck (never left empty), and more wildlife than we have ever seen, and we have seen alot each of our other visits. The staff said it was because the fruit trees (mango, berries, etc.) were so loaded with fruit this year.
We saw whales and dolphins from the back deck, watched a three-toed sloth off our back deck MOVE AROUND for over an hour (staight out of National Geographic!) and all 4 kinds of monkeys off our deck and walking up to the restaurant, and on the beach. It was amazing!
We love Casa Blanca as did our friends. It worked out fine for seven of us. No problems at all. They brought a single bed into the king-sized bed bedroom for our son and our friends used the bedroom with the two queen beds.
Temperature was so much cooler this visit. I never ever got the slightest bit warm at night - sometimes used the sheet and the cover. It was very pleasant. Rained only while we ate lunch somedays (light rain) and then after we had gone back to the house after dinner. Perfect timing for not affecting any activities.
As usual, the staff is awesome. We got to see Phil, Kim, and baby Ben as well as see Kevin and Phil again. Eileen, our waitress 2 years ago, was still there and is expecting a child this fall.
Food was outstanding again. Lunch is still my favorite. Got to meet Maureen, the chef, as she had been out surfing and shared a ride back with us from the beach. From New York City to Osa - what a change for her! We enjoyed the new bar extension as that had been added since we were there last. Great for visiting and playing games.
On the last evening, Roy Toft did a presentation up in the library area about his wildlife book on the Osa that he has been working on for 18 years. It should be out as a "coffee table" book sometime in 2009. You will see alot of his pictures on Bosque's website as well as in their brochure. Was a wonderful way to wrap up our visit, and I can't wait to buy his book for our coffee table.
We did surfing (3 kids), waterfall repelling (2 people), horseback riding (friends did this and loved it with Miguel), and our friends did the primary forest tour with Phillip since it was their first visit. We also did the early morning bird walk with Carlos.
Did lots of hiking - hiked to the beach, hiked the Titi trail, hiked the Pacific Trail and on to the waterfall, hiked down the Creek to the start of the King Louie waterfall, as well as hiking numerous times to the garden area and on the road.
If anyone has any questions I can help with let me know. It is the most awesome vacation ever - even the 4th time to the Osa! Phil and Kim continue to amaze us at what a wonderful paradise retreat they have created and continue to maintain and improve it!
The house was as wonderful as ever if not better. New furniture in living room (which noone ever used), new 6 burner range and new vent hood (which noone ever used), new hammocks on back deck (never left empty), and more wildlife than we have ever seen, and we have seen alot each of our other visits. The staff said it was because the fruit trees (mango, berries, etc.) were so loaded with fruit this year.
We saw whales and dolphins from the back deck, watched a three-toed sloth off our back deck MOVE AROUND for over an hour (staight out of National Geographic!) and all 4 kinds of monkeys off our deck and walking up to the restaurant, and on the beach. It was amazing!
We love Casa Blanca as did our friends. It worked out fine for seven of us. No problems at all. They brought a single bed into the king-sized bed bedroom for our son and our friends used the bedroom with the two queen beds.
Temperature was so much cooler this visit. I never ever got the slightest bit warm at night - sometimes used the sheet and the cover. It was very pleasant. Rained only while we ate lunch somedays (light rain) and then after we had gone back to the house after dinner. Perfect timing for not affecting any activities.
As usual, the staff is awesome. We got to see Phil, Kim, and baby Ben as well as see Kevin and Phil again. Eileen, our waitress 2 years ago, was still there and is expecting a child this fall.
Food was outstanding again. Lunch is still my favorite. Got to meet Maureen, the chef, as she had been out surfing and shared a ride back with us from the beach. From New York City to Osa - what a change for her! We enjoyed the new bar extension as that had been added since we were there last. Great for visiting and playing games.
On the last evening, Roy Toft did a presentation up in the library area about his wildlife book on the Osa that he has been working on for 18 years. It should be out as a "coffee table" book sometime in 2009. You will see alot of his pictures on Bosque's website as well as in their brochure. Was a wonderful way to wrap up our visit, and I can't wait to buy his book for our coffee table.
We did surfing (3 kids), waterfall repelling (2 people), horseback riding (friends did this and loved it with Miguel), and our friends did the primary forest tour with Phillip since it was their first visit. We also did the early morning bird walk with Carlos.
Did lots of hiking - hiked to the beach, hiked the Titi trail, hiked the Pacific Trail and on to the waterfall, hiked down the Creek to the start of the King Louie waterfall, as well as hiking numerous times to the garden area and on the road.
If anyone has any questions I can help with let me know. It is the most awesome vacation ever - even the 4th time to the Osa! Phil and Kim continue to amaze us at what a wonderful paradise retreat they have created and continue to maintain and improve it!
Aug 28th, 2008 | 03:12 PM
#2
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 5,541
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fae so glad to hear you had a great time (again!) at Bosque with your family, I knew you were fretting so good to hear you were pleased.
So lucky on the whales & dolphins! I guess I go the wrong season for those. And cool you were there when Roy was, very interesting guy and hey, his pics are pretty okay
Have any pics yourself?
So lucky on the whales & dolphins! I guess I go the wrong season for those. And cool you were there when Roy was, very interesting guy and hey, his pics are pretty okay
Have any pics yourself?
Aug 28th, 2008 | 05:27 PM
#4
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 10,212
Likes: 0
That book will be fantastic! Hey fae, how'd you like the new toilet seat? LOL!
Amazing wildlife you saw. . .it was a little quieter for us than usual 3rd week of July, but it is pretty neat how much more comfortable the Osa is in the green season, isn't it? Very hot in March, for sure.
Why don't you make your 4th visit next June 25 for the Grand GTG!?
We've never hiked very far on the Creek Trail. . .we'll have to try that next time! Haven't seen the KL waterfall. have you Tully?
Heilyn is a sweetheart and I hope there is a way she can be there after the baby is born. I will miss her if not.
Thanks for a great report! Makes me miss BdC! What a deal so little rain. . I would have been afraid of August!
Amazing wildlife you saw. . .it was a little quieter for us than usual 3rd week of July, but it is pretty neat how much more comfortable the Osa is in the green season, isn't it? Very hot in March, for sure.
Why don't you make your 4th visit next June 25 for the Grand GTG!?
We've never hiked very far on the Creek Trail. . .we'll have to try that next time! Haven't seen the KL waterfall. have you Tully?
Heilyn is a sweetheart and I hope there is a way she can be there after the baby is born. I will miss her if not.
Thanks for a great report! Makes me miss BdC! What a deal so little rain. . I would have been afraid of August!
Aug 29th, 2008 | 04:45 AM
#6
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 309
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Fae, I new you would be perfectly happy in C Blanca. It is a great spot and boy do you see wildlife!
Are you posting pics ? And you saw Roy also! Now that would be a real bonus.
We did not see whales or a sloth off the deck, but we had even better sightings of critters than we had before.
We too have not made the KL waterfall. What does it look like? hard trek? Thanks
Are you posting pics ? And you saw Roy also! Now that would be a real bonus.
We did not see whales or a sloth off the deck, but we had even better sightings of critters than we had before.
We too have not made the KL waterfall. What does it look like? hard trek? Thanks
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Aug 29th, 2008 | 05:57 AM
#8
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Joined: Mar 2004
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We actually hiked about an hour down the creek to the head of the King Louie waterfall. To see the waterfall from the bottom you have to hike up the creek from near the beach access road. We ran out of time to do that. I about chickened out hiking in that creek walk at the beginning as parts looked pretty "snakey" to me. But glad I went on as it was a pretty hike.
About the rain - we have always gone the end of July to the first part of August - all four times and never have had rain be an issue. This is from the Lapa Rios website:
"The 15th of July is the middle of a usually occurring 6 week mini-dry season. It's called canicula in Spanish and though it is not guaranteed to be rain free the possibility of rain during this time is much less than the rest of the green season. Half of June and half of August are usually included in this period."
The above has always held true for us. I would not want to be there in Sept. when they have the rains supposedly so hard you can't see in front of you.
I will work on posting some pictures. The ones of the sloth are awesome.
I forgot to post about the toucans -they were everywhere. They loved the berries outside the deck of Casa Blanca. They were so brave - they would literally get just a few feet from us to get those berries. You certainly did not need a zoom camera. One morning I am laying in bed and I see one perfectly from my pillow!
The first morning I had warned our friends about the toucans in the morning in the tree on their side of the house. Well - forget the toucans - the first morning was like Alfred Hitchcook's The Bees movie except for parrots! Hundreds of parrots converged on the back tree and in the front yard of Casa Blanca and the tin roof in Casa Blanca sounded like a zillion automatic machine guns going off for like forever! This was hundreds of times louder than what I thought I was preparing our friends for! Thank goodness they only did that the first morning. The other mornings it was just a toucans and scarlet macaws.
We also saw a tropical bird eating snake (big) in the middle of the road on our way back from surfing. They said sometimes they have to remove them from the rafters of the restaurant - yikes!
The waterfall off the Pacific Beach is always gorgeous (in fact that is one of the waterfalls the waterfall repelling repels on).
No critters what so ever in Casa Blanca - no geckos, no scorpions, no bugs of any sort, not anything. A cute gecko on the outside deck eve but that was it. And we checked every night after dinner.
Our friends daughter trains killer whales at Sea World in San Antonio so she especially loved the whale and dolphin sightings off the back deck. The dolphins we saw that day were a huge pod and were surfacing.
The day we saw the sloth we had all been out hiking in the morning, had lunch, and were all napping on the back deck. My husband just happened to wake up and look in front of him and said, "There is a sloth." We had only seen ones up high hugging a tree before. This one was hanging, decided to go to the end of the branch and back, and then switch trees before moving out of sight. Watching it move was like putting your VCR in the SLOWEST speed you have. It was incredible and we all laughed so much. We never thought to go get anyone else to be able to see it, and then Roy Toft accused us of having a private sloth party at Casa Blanca! I wished I had thought to find him as it would have been awesome shooting for him.
The trees around Casa Blanca have grown up a good bit. When I said we saw monkeys, I should have said we saw the monkey cirus. They would cross between some trees in the back of Casa Blanca that requiring jumping acrobatics between the spaced out trees. A whole troop of them would come through and go flying through the air - one after another. I know I am probably not describing it adequately, but we had never seen anything like it. Needless to say, our first-time visitors were speechless!
Flights on Sansa were fine. About 45 minutes late leaving SJ and then about 1 hour late leaving Golfito. Boat ride across the bay was no big deal - just time to do it each way. Nice, noneventful flights each way. Boy - after reading that one post - makes you thankful for getting your bag and making it on the same day.
When we got back to Hotel Villa Bonita for the last night, who would we see but the big family (8 of them) that had been staying in Casa Miramar when we were at Bosque. They had a previous trip horror story about not being able to get out the last flight from PJ. They had to stay the night in Drake's Bay. They never book the last flight out any more.
If you go to trip advisor, you will see an excellent review from a couple in Atlanta that was there when we were there. Good to see them post such a wonderful review.
About the rain - we have always gone the end of July to the first part of August - all four times and never have had rain be an issue. This is from the Lapa Rios website:
"The 15th of July is the middle of a usually occurring 6 week mini-dry season. It's called canicula in Spanish and though it is not guaranteed to be rain free the possibility of rain during this time is much less than the rest of the green season. Half of June and half of August are usually included in this period."
The above has always held true for us. I would not want to be there in Sept. when they have the rains supposedly so hard you can't see in front of you.
I will work on posting some pictures. The ones of the sloth are awesome.
I forgot to post about the toucans -they were everywhere. They loved the berries outside the deck of Casa Blanca. They were so brave - they would literally get just a few feet from us to get those berries. You certainly did not need a zoom camera. One morning I am laying in bed and I see one perfectly from my pillow!
The first morning I had warned our friends about the toucans in the morning in the tree on their side of the house. Well - forget the toucans - the first morning was like Alfred Hitchcook's The Bees movie except for parrots! Hundreds of parrots converged on the back tree and in the front yard of Casa Blanca and the tin roof in Casa Blanca sounded like a zillion automatic machine guns going off for like forever! This was hundreds of times louder than what I thought I was preparing our friends for! Thank goodness they only did that the first morning. The other mornings it was just a toucans and scarlet macaws.
We also saw a tropical bird eating snake (big) in the middle of the road on our way back from surfing. They said sometimes they have to remove them from the rafters of the restaurant - yikes!
The waterfall off the Pacific Beach is always gorgeous (in fact that is one of the waterfalls the waterfall repelling repels on).
No critters what so ever in Casa Blanca - no geckos, no scorpions, no bugs of any sort, not anything. A cute gecko on the outside deck eve but that was it. And we checked every night after dinner.
Our friends daughter trains killer whales at Sea World in San Antonio so she especially loved the whale and dolphin sightings off the back deck. The dolphins we saw that day were a huge pod and were surfacing.
The day we saw the sloth we had all been out hiking in the morning, had lunch, and were all napping on the back deck. My husband just happened to wake up and look in front of him and said, "There is a sloth." We had only seen ones up high hugging a tree before. This one was hanging, decided to go to the end of the branch and back, and then switch trees before moving out of sight. Watching it move was like putting your VCR in the SLOWEST speed you have. It was incredible and we all laughed so much. We never thought to go get anyone else to be able to see it, and then Roy Toft accused us of having a private sloth party at Casa Blanca! I wished I had thought to find him as it would have been awesome shooting for him.
The trees around Casa Blanca have grown up a good bit. When I said we saw monkeys, I should have said we saw the monkey cirus. They would cross between some trees in the back of Casa Blanca that requiring jumping acrobatics between the spaced out trees. A whole troop of them would come through and go flying through the air - one after another. I know I am probably not describing it adequately, but we had never seen anything like it. Needless to say, our first-time visitors were speechless!
Flights on Sansa were fine. About 45 minutes late leaving SJ and then about 1 hour late leaving Golfito. Boat ride across the bay was no big deal - just time to do it each way. Nice, noneventful flights each way. Boy - after reading that one post - makes you thankful for getting your bag and making it on the same day.
When we got back to Hotel Villa Bonita for the last night, who would we see but the big family (8 of them) that had been staying in Casa Miramar when we were at Bosque. They had a previous trip horror story about not being able to get out the last flight from PJ. They had to stay the night in Drake's Bay. They never book the last flight out any more.
If you go to trip advisor, you will see an excellent review from a couple in Atlanta that was there when we were there. Good to see them post such a wonderful review.
Aug 29th, 2008 | 09:33 AM
#9
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 10,212
Likes: 0
Glad to hear you are Hotel Villa Bonita fans. . .we are as well. Humberto and Carmen are staying quite busy these days! And they are getting ready to build near Turrialba, I believe. I think HVB will one day soon be "up for grabs" (as far as management goes) unless Humberto decides to try to run both. . .
Aug 29th, 2008 | 11:28 AM
#10
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 309
Likes: 0
fae, what a great report. I love "seeing" (hearing!) about the critter sightings that BdC guests post. You are right, the Toucans were so tame at C Blanca. They just posed real pretty for us!! Thanks so much and looking forward to pics.
Aug 29th, 2008 | 11:33 AM
#11
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,750
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fae - What a great trip! It's always great when the trips get better each time. 
Love to hear about all the great wildlife sightings as well, especially all the Toucans, that's very cool! After our last trips in Mar/Apr and May/Jun I'll be testing out that "mini-dry season" next year travelling end of Jun/Jul. Hope it works out as well as yours did! Glad to hear Casa Blanca exceeded your expectations as well. And whales and dolphins from the deck...how cool is that?!?!?!
Love to hear about all the great wildlife sightings as well, especially all the Toucans, that's very cool! After our last trips in Mar/Apr and May/Jun I'll be testing out that "mini-dry season" next year travelling end of Jun/Jul. Hope it works out as well as yours did! Glad to hear Casa Blanca exceeded your expectations as well. And whales and dolphins from the deck...how cool is that?!?!?!
Aug 30th, 2008 | 03:42 AM
#13
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 5,541
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Haven't seen KL yet either shillmac, most times in May that little creek (right before you get to the beach access trail) is barely a trickle, maybe in late June we'll have better luck! Haven't taken it to the top either, I've always made it on the CReek trail to where it ends at the creek but have yet to cross it and continue, sounds like we'll have to add that to the list for the trip!
fae - after crossing the creek how far would you say it is to the the top of KL? I've always turned back for the same reason you mentioned, looked kinda snakey to me too!
fae - after crossing the creek how far would you say it is to the the top of KL? I've always turned back for the same reason you mentioned, looked kinda snakey to me too!
Sep 7th, 2008 | 06:15 PM
#16
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 279
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It is so great to hear about Casa Blanca. We are going with our fodorite friends in March, 2009 and I am very happy to hear the house has been given a little face lift. We always loved it when we stayed and it makes me so excited thinking about the trip. Glad you saw so many animals and birds it sounds like an incredible trip. We just return from Borneo and also saw such amazing wildlife. I thought I saw all the monkeys I ever could see in the Osa but Borneo had so many monkeys I think even my monkey addiction was satisfied.
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