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Cahuita National Park – Costa Rica

By: Author Hannah

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Cahuita National Park – Costa Rica

Located just outside of Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, Cahuita is the National park which is only a 30- minute drive.

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Snorkeling

cahuita national park - Costa Rica

The day starts with a quick swim in the calm waters off of the park. The bright blue water is broken up by the dark patches, underwater the dark spots are the reason for being in this spot, coral reef. Off the point of Cahuita lies a large coral drop off, with patches of coral and lots of colorful fish. Other critters we saw under the surface were a starfish, jellyfish, and relative to the shrimp.

Related Article: 10 Waterfalls In Costa Rica Worth Chasing

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Hiking

After a quick snack break, we take to the trails of the park. Monkeys, snakes, and birds… oh my! As we wound through the trails we encountered a bunch of exotic specimens. Two flavors of monkeys came down from the trees to greet us, however, they were more than disappointed to find we had no food for them and got a bit angry. Howler monkeys stayed further away and just barked at us as we passed.

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The only animal that we saw that was of any real danger was the bright yellow eyelash viper. Anything with this coloring, nature is trying to tell you to stay away. The other tip-off is the triangular shaped head, commonly found on venomous snakes. What makes this guy different are the bumps on his head just above the eyes, hence the name, eyelash viper. Snakes are something you wouldn’t want to run into if you were on your honeymoon in Costa Rica.

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It’s amazing the density of wildlife you can see in such a short distance here in Costa Rica. We had a great time exploring this and other great outdoor activities with Adventure life. They were able to set a custom tour to fit everything we wanted to see in our two weeks in Costa Rica.