Puntarenas, Cost Rica

April 13^th, 2024

I was most upset that for our recent visit to Puntarenas on the Sapphire Princess, our ship’s tour to the Arenal Volcano and hot springs had been canceled. It actually turned out to be a good thing as we would probably never have made it to the hot springs anyway. Traffic was horrendous that day, and most tours had to be abandoned as they never actually reached their destinations.

Well, I was in luck. Here we are again in Puntarenas. And of course I had booked the same tour, with fingers crossed that this one would actually happen.

Last night I got out our tickets and checked on the meeting time and place. 10:00 in the Michelangelo dining room. Great, no need for an early morning.

Then suddenly I woke up from a deep sleep at 6:00. 10:00 seemed a bit late for an all day tour. I had better check the tickets. I took the tickets out of the envelope, and horrors – the tickets I had looked at were for our Cartagena tour, not for Puntarenas. Worse, they were the only tickets in the envelope. We had never received the Puntarenas tickets.

Panic set in. Luckily I still had a copy of the tour program, and it listed our tour as leaving at 7:30. They usually have us meet half an hour before the tour, so we were in good shape for that. But we still needed tickets.

I went down to the Michelangelo dining room, fought my way through the hordes lining up for their early morning cup of coffee at the International Café, to find the dining room deserted. Maybe they weren’t going to meet there this time.

I ran to the tour desk in the hope that someone may be there. No one was there, but then I caught sight of one of the tour staff outside the Wheelhouse bar. I explained our situation, and very calmly she went into the office and emerged with our tickets. No explanation as to why we hadn’t received them previously, I mean they were just sitting there with a pile of other tickets.

Clutching the tickets I returned to our cabin. Brian and I packed our beach bag for our outing to the volcano and hot springs, and even had time for breakfast before we had to meet at 7:15. Panic over, but this was a close one.

Remember how they always tell you to check your tour tickets when you first get to your cabin? Well, lesson learned. I will be checking the tickets from now on.

Jonathan, our guide let us know that it would be a 2 and ¾ hour drive to our destination, and so I settled in to have a nap and catch up with lost sleep in the over airconditioned bus, cursing that I had forgotten to bring a cardigan with me, as I wrapped myself in a swimming towel.

It actually wasn’t that easy to take a nap. Jonathan talked incessantly about all things Costa Rican, but he was actually very interesting and I learned a lot. Who would have thought that the main industry in Cota Rica is the medical supply business? I pondered this as we passed through the very lush agricultural countryside. Costa Rica is certainly a very beautiful country with its’ green cloud covered mountains and verdant valleys.

Finally we were approaching our destination. Jonathan pointed out the cloud covered Arenal volcano on the left side of the bus (we were of course sitting on the right), and then announced that we were nearly at the hot spring where we would get to soak in the water and then have lunch.

There was no plan to actually visit the volcano unfortunately despite the fact that the tour was described as a tour of the volcano and hot springs. All we got to see of it was as we sped past it in the bus.

Well, there was nothing to be done about it and I was excited that we had now arrived at the hot springs. It was starting to rain as we got out of the bus, and by the time we had changed into our swim suits it was pouring, as only tropical rain can.

We took shelter for a while, but then thought that we would get wet anyway in the pools, we might as well just soak in the rain.

Now I am a huge hot springs fan, and have enjoyed soaking in the US, Canada, Iceland, and Japan, but I have to say, this was the most beautiful place we have been.

We started off in one of the lower pools, but although it was great, we decided we wanted something hotter, so we moved to the hottest pool, which was the perfect temperature. Not too hot, not too cool, just right. And the waterfall added to the enjoyment of soaking there in the rain.

After our time there we sampled the other pools, declaring that this was definitely the best hot spring we had ever been to.

We had an hour and a half in the pools, and then it was time to get dressed and walk down the path to go for lunch.

Now I am always a bit suspicious of buffet lunches when you are on organized tours, but this one was amazing. The setting was beautiful, and the food was delicious. I could have spent the whole day there, but all too soon we had to return to the cold bus for our long drive back to the ship.

We did get a glimpse of the volcano again as we headed back to the port. I now realize that there simply isn’t time to experience the hot springs and the mountain, and the hot springs are enough to make it a fabulous tour, I just wish they wouldn’t include the mountain in the title and description of the tour.

I mean when I read that I will be visiting somewhere I do expect more than a quick glimpse of it as the bus hurtles down the road.

The ride back to the port took ever 3 hours, but we did have a stop for shopping and a bathroom break on the way. The shopping was actually quite good, and our fellow travelers emerged laden with coffee and chocolate. The shop did well from our visit.

All aboard time was 6:30, and we got back to the dock at 6:15. I am really not a great fan of ship’s tours, but it really was much less anxiety provoking driving back to the ship because even if we were a bit late, the ship would wait for us.

The description of the tour had us back at 4:45 – there is no way that would have worked out.

We had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants, Steamers. The food was good, but we have been spoiled by the seafood at the French bistro close to where we live. It wasn’t up to their standards, but it still made for a nice change.

We haven’t been that impressed by the comedians so far on this trip, but we thought we would see what the one performing tonight was like.

Troy Thirdgill  was excellent, and we really enjoyed his performance. The vast majority of passengers on this cruise are English speakers so I do think that makes it easier for the entertainers when you are doing something like comedy. His routine was refreshingly new, and he had the ability to be very funny without making inappropriate fun of people.

We were glad we went to hear him.

We missed star gazing because we went to the show. Rumor has it that the southern cross has appeared on the horizon once more. Hopefully we will see it tomorrow night. Fingers crossed.