We flew Newark (hour and a half from Philly, we left at 4am) to San Jose and then had a couple hour layover in the airport before catching our first local flight to Puerto Jimenez. The last Drake Bay flight left before we got through customs, so our plan was to fly to Puerto Jimenez, take an hour and a half car ride, a small boat ride, and then we’d be at our first stop.
The gentlemen who picked us up also brought his 9 year old son who was quite well behaved. Our two hour drive was about as bumpy as they come – instilling the concept of the ‘Costa Rican massage’ roads.
Our Spanish was not great but we managed to chat briefly with our chauffeur.
We arrived to the local town just after dark. We were escorted down to the beach in the dark where we removed our shoes, trekked through a couple inches of water and hopped on the back of a small boat. Our bags were loaded and we were on our way. About 5 minutes later we were docked at the base of La Paloma Lodge where we would stay for the 6 nights. Despite traveling all day – our schedule was fairly busy for the upcoming days!
That night we were shown to our room – a very cute bungalow-esque room with a very pretty balcony.
We showered, and went to go have dinner in the main area. The food was simple, but delightful as we’d come to realize in all the meals we’d eat at La Paloma in the coming days. That night we would be busy as our bug tour would happen right after dinner, and we had to get up for diving the next morning at 6am!
