patams

You can tell I am getting near the departure date as I am desperately looking and looking. I see there are many tours to this park but tell me. Can you drive to this park and venture into it on your own like in MA? $60 is a lot to pay to go if you have your own transportation. The road South of Dominical sounds like a great drive.

tully

I would think you can easily arrange yourself if you have a car. Since the majority of the park is actually water, I doubt that it's crazy busy like MA park can get. I would ask around or at your hotel to see when the tides are so you can time it to go out on the tombolo.

patams

tully............thank you so much for the information. If you have any suggestions about the area, please let me know. Hacienda Baru sounds like a good day trip and also Diamante Verde and Rafiki. Dominical is completely a new place for us.

Thanks.

glover

You'll enjoy the Dominical area, we did. We stayed at the rustic but beautiful Pacific Edge - on a ridge overlooking (360 degrees) the sea.

Had a great day at Hacienda Baru with a guide - included lunch. Saw lots of wildlife. ..

Also visited another reserve in the area that I always forget the name of . . .

We liked La Paracel restaurant - open air, water views, good food.
It's fun just to drive the nice wide road that goes south from Dominical. Not much traffic, lots to see!

We enjoyed Dominical so much we never bothered to go to MA.

sfuller82

Follow this link for Pacific Coast tides in December (you should be able to navigate to the month of your visit):

http://costa-rica-guide.com/travel/i...amp;Itemid=703

patams

glover..........I'm really happy after reading your post about Dominical; especially after reading about the road "giving way" on the PanAmerican highway. I was already shaky about traveling that road and we are booked at Trogon Lodge the 28th and 29th. Thanks also for the thumbs up for a place to eat and see wildlife. Can't wait!

sfuller82....thanks for the site.

glover

Patams, my experience was from a couple years ago. I'd check with your intended lodging locally about the current conditions of roads you'll be on - given that they;ve had plenty of rain.

The nice wide road that goes south from Dominical towards Uvita etc does have several bridges. Some of those got damaged while we were there a couple years ago at the beginning of rainy season in May. Many regularly fall down and are built back up again.

Also, I believe I read something on the fodors Thorn Tree bulletin board that mentioned that the Pan American was ok, but there might be still some problems with the road from San Isidro to Dominical (ie. you'd be on some of that from Trogon Lodge to Dominical). May all be fine by now, but checking locally would be best. ....

glover

Patams, just checked the lonely plant Thorn Tree board and found this recent posting re roads:

"The mud slides were all cleared by last Saturday. I drove SJO- SI - Dominical on Saturday (Nov 10) to the Pacific and saw a few traces of mud on the road, back on Tuesday (Nov 13) - the road was all fine. Not much rain during that period, so you should be fine. No closures at that time. The road via Quepos was open as well, I heard "

patams

glover..........You have made my day! Thank you for letting me know and finding the information. What would we do without Fodors! I will sleep tonight.