Puntarenas is the cruise ship port for tourists wanting to go to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. San Jose is a 1 1/2 hour drive from the port inland. I used to flight into San Jose from Miami when I was a check pilot on the Boeing 727 in 80's and 90's. It is just another big city so I have no desire to do that excursion. I also canceled my 8 1/2 hour tour to the Poas volcano and the town of Sarchi. It was 2 1/2 hour drive each way plus hour for lunch so not much time to see stuff. Long bus rides is not my cup of tea!
Puntarenas means "sand point" in Spanish. It lies on the west coast of Costa Rica in a bay like inlet. It was discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1519 but not developed until 1840 when coffee production in the inland highlands reached exportable volumes. Initially the coffee was brought from the highlands to the port in oxcarts but later a railroad was built from here to San Jose. The port at Puntarenas deteriorated over time and there was a need for much larger ships so a new port was built at Caldera (pictured on map above).
600 of the nearly 700 passengers left the ship on excursions between 6:30 and 8:00 this morning. Love it when we basically have the ship to ourselves. I worked out between 7 and 8:00 am today then had breakfast after showering. I headed off the ship at 9:00 to go walk around the town. It was already pretty warm outside under a bright sun. As you see in the photos below the sand here is a chocolate color and basically volcanic. The beaches are littered with washed up logs from the strong surf and high tides. Locals were busy sitting up little souvenir stands for us cruise people. Think they will be disappointed as the ship will sail at 4:00 pm right after the buses return from the all day tours. I have also noted after cruising on Regent for the past 4 years that Regent passengers don't buy cheap souvenirs. I walked around the town for an hour and felt safe on the many side streets. The town was very run down and not very clean. Really not much sightseeing to be had so back on the ship I went. I sat out on our balcony and worked a cross word puzzle until 11:30 when the stewardesses came to clean our room. We headed up to the pool deck to get out of their way and wait for the La Veranda buffet to open at noon. The Hotel Director, Massimo, came over and told us that our friend, Goran, had come aboard earlier in the morning.
We are spending the afternoon in our suite just relaxing. The sun is now shining on our balcony and it is way too hot to sit out in sun (85 degrees and humid outside). Tonight we will be dining with Goran. I have ordered veal parmesan for the three of us. Tomorrow we will be docking in Corinto, Nicaragua at 10:00 am.
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