Im flying in this friday and heading straight for Puerto Viejo for 6 nights. Im concerned about the weather and the tropical storm that is near by. How is the ocean with the storm brewing off shore...is snorkeling still a possibility, and will there be any sunshine?!

We spent some time there in January a couple of years ago when it was very stormy for 3 nights. In fact, we had trouble finding out hotel in Cahuita because the electricity was out when we arrived and it was after dark! The waters were rough. We met someone who was doing some surfing and didn't seem to be bothered by it. We were very careful in the water and didn't venture out too far--currents. We were lucky in the daytime with only very light rain or sprinkles--didn't keep us from exploring the area.

You might be able to get some snorkeling in near the reef--not sure. It won't be Caribbean quality snorkeling at any rate. Good luck! Have a great time--this part of the country is very different culturally, but as beautiful as the rest!

As for sunshine, my guess it that it will be overcast most of the time and in the mid 80's--seems to be more or less the norm for this area. It seldom reaches into the 90's, probably due to the usual overcast skies. Have you looked at a 10 day? Even when rain is indicated, that generally means afternoon showers; I do realize, however, that this area has experienced some heavy rains in the past few days.

I've never understood why, but it always seems to happen that when there's a hurricane in Caribbean, the Pacific coast of Costa Rica bears the brunt of the rain. Tropical storm Adrian is supposed to upgraded to hurricane status today, and the forecast here for Friday the next few days is for rain all over the country, but for huge amounts of rain on the Pacific coast. But Honduras and El Salvador are supposed to get hit worse than Costa Rica in all this.

There's always the possibility that the weather could affect your flight here on Friday. Do check with your airline to make sure. And once you're here, check how the roads are before you start out for the Caribbean. During heavy rains, the highway through Braulio Carrillo National Park north of San Jose can become blocked by landslides. All that means is you need to take an alternate route via Turrialba. That can add a couple extra hours onto the trip and is quite tiring, but you can get there.

Ugh. I hope there ends up being less rain! I'm leaving tomorrow.

Is there a good place to find weather info (other than the standard US websites like weather.com)?

Fortunately, reports so far are that the hurricane damage in El Salvador hasn't been as bad as everyone feared. It's raining a lot this afternoon in San Jose, but also not as bad as everyone expected, so I assume VeterinaryDiver is on his/her way, and that Allison04 will get here too.