we are heading to Miguel Antonio the first of July, for a week or so. Pretty sure our trip is going to include a day fishing for sails and dorado (or whatever), and I'd like to do a half day rooster fishing.
It'll be me, my wife, and 8 year old son who is gung ho to catch something bigger than a redfish.
What charters are good, comfortable, and reliable in the area.
Anythign to specifially make sure we do, see, eat, take in? I'm not sure where we are staying....I have no say or controls...
You'll really like it out here, I came out 11 years back and never went home! Other than the fishing, I think the most popular thing to see here would be the Manuel Antonio national park. It's closed on Monday, so make sure you use that as a fishing day. There are a bunch of hiking trails in the park, and there are a few beaches and a ton of animals like monkeys, bird and sloths. Pretty much all the animals you'll want to see in Costa Rica are in the park. There is a great guide in the area I use alot named Freddy and his email address is
freddytours@gmail.com
On the places the eat, the marina has some good restaurants, there is a casual place on the second floor called RunAway grill that I eat at alot, and then on the third floor there is a semi fancy but no dress code place called Gabriellas that has some of the best food. You really want to go to El Avion as well, it's an airplane from the contra wars with Nicaragua that a guy named Ron bought, and he stuffed it up on the side of a cliff and made a restaurant out of it. One of the coolest views in the world I think, I go up there and find myself staring at the near shore islands and the ocean for hours. Really pretty up there. And then there are a few places around there, like agua azul and Emilio's Cafe, that are kind of the local hang outs.
I know you have no say over where to stay, but one thing to stay away from right now are rental houses that are not actually in Manuel Antonio. There are a ton of really really nice houses up in the woods around here, and especially in Dominical where local kids are watching tourists. And when you guys leave to go eat, or fish or whatever, they are coming in the windows and taking everything. It's happened to three of my customers in the last two months. The kids got caught once, and nobody was over 13 years old, but they were taking passports, suitcases, and even opening the safes. If you stay at a hotel, or condo (the Shana Condos are really nice) or a house in a gated community (like Tulemar) there is 0 issue. And there has been no assaults, just kids coming in through the windows and stealing luggage and passports.
Love to help with anything at all, let me know I can do anything for you! Here are some pictures to get you hyped up about your trip!
Here's right outside the marina we leave out of and the mountains in the background:
Here's the beach that is 8 minutes from the dock:
View from the Hotel Mariposa:
Here's some fish pictures: