It is easy to forget, living in a beach town, that the water in front of you is the Pacific and that very large things move through it. Then a whale breaches off the headland and the whole beach goes quiet.
Where you’ll see it
Offshore along the whole coast, with the Gulf of Papagayo a reliable stretch. Boat trips run from Coco and the marinas in season. From land, the headlands at Ocotal and Hermosa give the best odds, and sport fishing boats see them constantly.
What to know
Costa Rica sits where the migration routes of two humpback populations overlap. Whales from the southern hemisphere come north to breed and calve in the warm water here from roughly August to October. Whales from the northern hemisphere come south for the same reason from roughly December to March. Mothers with calves keep to the quieter bays.
A good operator keeps the legal distance, cuts the engine when whales are close, and does not chase. Choose one that does, and you will see the whales behave like whales rather than like animals being followed.
