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Ocean & Rainforest Adventures

Aug 21 – Aug 24, 2025

US$950 pp. dbl occ.

Ocean & Rainforest Adventures

Costa Rica Oceans and Rainforest Adventure: Caño Island diving plus Piedras Blancas and Osa Peninsula National Parks. This serves as the ideal pre or post-Cocos extension, seamlessly blending diving with several days of rainforest exploration led by your onboard naturalist. Following beach landings from our inflatables, we’ll be on the lookout for four different species of monkeys, flocks of scarlet macaws, sloths, toucans, frogs, snakes, and so much more.

Expeditions from 2024 and on departs from Golfito in the heart of the tropical rainforest, surrounded by numerous excellent hotels and resorts. We recommend either a quick 45-minute connecting flight from SJO with Sansa Airlines or a very interesting 6-hour drive from either San Jose or Panama City, Panama.

Amazing. Beautiful. Fantastic. It’s an experience everyone should have. We hope that you will join us…

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Typical Itinerary

Bienvenidos a Costa Rica!!
Costa Rica is an amazing and beautiful place. We heartily recommend flying in early to better experience this wonderful country. SJO (San Jose International) is our recommended gateway airport. If you prefer to stay over in San Jose, our concierges can assist with a very good deal at the Marriott Hotel Hacienda Belen, and we will provide a complimentary afternoon shuttle van to Golfito on boarding day. However! We recommend heading immediately south towards Golfito upon arrival in SJC. Sensa airlines has multiple connecting flights daily, and once you are in Golfito, the hotels are terrific and there are loads of really interesting day trips.

Alternatively, we can assist with arranging a 3, 4, 5-day, or longer guided driving adventure through the national parks, ending up in Golfito. You could also rent a car and go off on your own adventure. Or, we can help with a private car transfer from SJO to Golfito, typically costing around $400 USD for a car and driver, including interesting stops along the way. Driving time from San Jose to Golfito is usually around 5 hours. Please note that there are luggage restrictions on Sansa Airlines’ Cessna Caravan aircraft if you choose to fly south with them.

Day 1: The Nautilus Explorer will be berthed in Marina Bahia Golfito. It’s beautiful. We imagine you will be excited to board, but please give our hardworking crew time to get the ship turned around, cleaned, fuelled, provisioned, and ready for you. We ask that you take advantage of the local facilities and not drop by the boat until 6:30 pm. We don’t mean to be rude, but it would be much appreciated if you could avoid coming by early to say “hi.” Boarding will begin after 6:30 pm, and we will sail by 8 pm to Corcovado National Park.

Day 2: Caño Island is an excellent visit and your trip starts out with a heavy day of diving or snorkelling, and kayaking. The island is a protected national park and it’s beautiful. In 2023 we had great luck with humpback whale encounters and we saw hammerhead, white and black-tip reef sharks, mobula and cow nose rays, southern stingrays, moray eels, schooling barracuda, sea turtles, and loads and loads of fish along with coral reefs and a mix of pinnacles, walls, and drop-offs.

Day 3-5: For the next 3 days, we will be based out of Drake Bay and the Osa Peninsula, mixing it up with a combination of cool shore expeditions plus more diving, snorkelling, and kayaking. Nearby Corcovado National Park is one of the most pristine parks in Costa Rica, including beautiful deserted white sand beaches, old-growth forests, and the chance for rarely seen animals. It’s wet, rugged and remote.

It’s the only place in Costa Rica where you can see 4 different species of monkeys, including the highly endangered red-backed squirrel monkey. Your naturalist is amazing at spotting nearby critters, which might include wild pigs, tapirs, flocks of Scarlett macaw parrots, sloths, and crocodiles in the largest mangroves in Central America. While we won’t see them all, the park is home to 40 species of frogs, more than 100 species of butterflies, and over 375 species of birds, including 16 species of hummingbirds.

Going ashore is like being in a fantasy where you land on the beach by inflatable boat for a hike in the rainforest and waterfalls to emerge onto another beautiful sand beach with your crew waiting with drinks and snacks at the ready.

Day 6: Arrival back at the Golfito marina by 5 am for those catching the early morning Sansa flight. Early breakfast and 7 am departure for guests heading back to San Jose in our courtesy shuttle (to arrive SJO by 1 pm latest). Or a more leisurely 8:30 am disembarkation for those who are staying on in Golfito or heading off for another adventure in one of the nearby national parks.

Ocean & Rainforest – FAQs

Diving

What dive experience is needed?
We cater to divers of all experience levels, self reliance and physical fitness. Most diving is with our dive guides in which case you need to have the solid skills of an open water certified diver including good buoyancy controls. Experienced and self reliant divers are welcome to “do their own thing”. Private or group dive mastering is available by prior request for those who are less comfortable with their open water skills. Please note: that unless a divemaster has been prearranged for, we only provide dive guiding with solid and informative briefings, in-water critter pointing and assistance with navigation. While our dive guides are all certified and experienced instructors, they are not providing “dive mastering”.

Do I need to dive with a dive guide?
Depends entirely on your experience, self reliance and physical fitness.

What are your safety protocols?
Safety, excellence in guest experience and happy staff and crew are the cornerstones of our business. Nothing is more important than your safety. At Nautilus, we are proud to be the only dive operation in the world with ISM certification and external annual audit of an SMS (Safety Management System). This is the same certification as the largest cruise ships on the oceans. We operate within written processes, procedures and checklists that our captains and crew are trained into both initially and annually. Every dive starts with a briefing on a white board. We require that all divers carry LifeLines marine rescue GPS, SMBs and dive alerts. We will loan you one of ours if you are missing any of this safety equipment. We carry AEDs and extensive medical kits with a contract medical officer available shoreside via our sophisticated satellite communication system.

Is there nitrox onboard?
Yes, and it’s highly recommended for all divers. The cost is US$ 120 per trip.

Water temperature?
78- 82 °F (27 – 28 °C).

Are the boats camera friendly?
YES, VERY! Ask about rental cameras and photo pro services.

Travel

What airport do I fly into?
You have several options, including Liberia and Panama City. We recommend flying into San Jose (SJO) as it is the closest and most convenient. Please don’t make the mistake of flying into San Jose, California which is SJC. SJO, not SJC! (Yes, someone has made this mistake previously.)

How do I get from SJO to Golfito?
Choose between connecting flights with Sansa Airlines (with some luggage restrictions), a private car with a driver, a multi-day tour of Costa Rica, or our courtesy shuttle on the afternoon of boarding (meeting at the Marriott Hotel Hacienda Belen) directly to Golfito. Our concierges are on standby to assist with your arrangements

What time can I board the ship?
After 6:30 pm on departure day. We are excited to see you and imagine you will be excited to say hello and get your luggage onboard. However, please allow our super hardworking crew time and space to prepare the ship and resist the temptation to come by before 6:30 pm. The ship sails at 8 pm.

What time do we disembark?
Arrival back at the Golfito marina by 5 am for those catching the early morning Sansa flight. Early breakfast and 7 am departure for guests heading back to San Jose in our courtesy shuttle (to arrive SJO by 1 pm latest). Or a more leisurely 8:30 am disembarkation for this who are staying on in Golfito or heading off for another adventure in one of the nearby national parks.

What dive gear do I need to bring?
We provide aluminum 80 cu. ft tanks and weightbelts. Larger steel rental cylinders are available. 5 mm wetsuit recommended to avoid losing body core temp during multiple days of repetitive diving. It’s always better to layer down rather than be cold with no options. We have rentals onboard by prior arrangement for almost anything you need. Please make any rental requests as early as possible.

What to Expect

What’s the weather like and what clothes should I bring?
Well, it’s the rainy season in the tropics!! We recommend casual and cool attire onboard (t-shirt and shorts). It can be drizzly in the afternoons and we recommend bringing a windbreaker and a fleece vest or sweater just in case. Make sure you bring good shoes if you are interested in going ashore for a hike. It’s spectacular onshore. Just wait until you see the waterfalls!

Is there internet and WhatsApp onboard?
Yes. Internet and WhatsApp connection are available for $120 per trip. Please keep in mind that a satellite tracking system at sea only gives limited speed internet access. You won’t be able to stream Netflix!!

What are the sea conditions like? Will it be rough?
There is one night with a short ocean crossing on these trips. That’s it and it will be an adventure. It might be smooth and calm. Or sometimes not in which case the captain will adjust the itinerary to give you the smoothest ride possible. The rest of the trip should be in quite calm sheltered waters. The Explorer is our flagship that has sailed through everything, from the current swept chilly waters of Alaska to adventuring down to Clipperton Atoll, just north of the equator. We always recommend the scopolamine “patch” and a cocktail to help relax onboard.

Is there a fuel surcharge?
Of course not! We figure that dive boat companies that with fuel, surcharges year-in, year-out are just taking an extra fee onto the trip.

What is NOT included in the trip price?
Our ambition is to keep your trip price as low as possible with a la carte options to cater to everyone’s personal choices. Crew gratuities are not included. Neither are rentals, nitrox, internet connection, bar charges, and gift shop purchases.

What fees do I have to pay?
We keep any extra fees to the bare minimum. 5% tax on your trip fee. That’s it!

What’s an appropriate crew tip?
US$ 250 – $350.