CR trip report
 

Just returned a few days ago from a two week trip in the Osa. We flew LAX to San Jose via American Airlines with out any problems. Stayed at the Gran Hotel in San Jose and flew out the next day via Aerobel Charter to Puerto Jiminez. We used Costa Rica Expiditions for our booking of Corcovado Tent Camp and the SJ to PJ flight. Origionaly they had us flying on Nature Air but Changed to a charter becouse Nature Air had two plane accidents in the3 last 30 days. CR Expiditions handles the change in reservations and paid the difference. What a great company. All dealing with them were easy and timely. I would definatly reccomend them. Corcovado Tent Camp was great. The best food I have ever had was served family style at all 3 meals. We stayed 4 nights and found plenty to do with hikes in the morning and swimming right our front in the afternoons.
Next we made our way back to Puerto Jimines for a couple of days. We stayed at Cabinez Jiminez which is a nice place owned my a nice couple from the US. Found plenty of things to keep us busy for our time in town. The highlight was visiting an animal rescue located across the bay and having monkeys jumping all over us.
We went to Drake Bay via taxi and stayed 5 nights at Las Caletas Lodge. Nice rustic jungle lodge with a few cabanas. Once again, good food and really nice people. Plenty of places to day hike or boat ride to. We did a guided boat trip and hike to Serena and to Cano Island. Serena is the most intense natural place I have ever seen with tons of wildlife. Aligators, monkeys, birds. and tons of insects. Drake in general had alot of wildlife. Scarlet Makaws everywhere. Monkeys outside the window etc.
I hope this reports helps those that are headed to the Osa. If anyone needs specifics I will be glad to respond.

Hi slofan, I am headed to the Drake Bay area in April (staying a La Paloma). Did you snorkel in connection with your trip to Cano island? If so, how was it? Also, weather-wise how were the temperatures and humidity? Any problem with mosquitos?

In general is there anything you wish you knew before you went that would help someone who has never been to Osa?

Travel,
We did snorkel on our Cano island trip. I believe the guides like to split it in half with the guided jungle hike to see the speres and the other half. After hiking at Serena and around Drake Bay I felt I should have skipped the hike at Serena. There is not much wildlife on the island and the speres were about the size of beach balls. Not very impressive at all. Time would have been better spent snorkling off the beach. The boat will take you a bit further off shore to a better spot to see the sea life. It's a worthwhile trip as I saw 3 sharks , needle fish and schools of other colorful fish.
The heat was not all that bad. I tended to cool off later at night but the humidity was terrible. I wore only light weight fast drying man made clothing. Tank top, t-shirts and shorts and a wide brimmed hat. My shoes were light weight hiking sneakers and a teva like sandal. You will not use a jacket at any time on the Osa. Bugs were bad a times and at times very few. I generally bug doped up twice a day still got a few mosquito bites. The no see ums or sand flies can be bad near the beach in the morning or late in the afternoon as the shadows are cast on the sand. You are in for a great trip. You will see lots of wildlife. It may help to take down a few desicant bags to store your camara in at night. The humidity can be hard on some camaras. The typ that you get in a new bottle of pills work fine.

Have fun

Great info! I really appreciate it.

What do you know about the Nature Air accidents? This is the first I have heard of either Nature Air or Sansa. We have used Nature Air twice and will use Sansa this summer.

There were two accidents. One was at Peurto Jiminez where a tire blew out during take off. The plane skidded off the runway and sheared off a wing on a tree. I can't recall the other location but I believe neither had fatalities. I did end up using Nature Air to fly from Drake Bay to SJ and had a smooth uneventful flight.
Hope this helps.