Bahia Huevos & Playas del coco

Playas del Coco is one of the oldest beach communities in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, as well as one of the fastest growing areas of tourism. It has long been a popular destination with both national tourists as well as international visitors during the traditional holiday seasons. In the last few decades the Playas del Coco region has exploded as a tourist destination and now, the once tranquil fishing village is a hub of tourism for the surrounding beaches and resorts.

All you need to do is walk up the five blocks from the beach to the bus stop, to see that tourism is this town’s whole existence. Rachel and I have a love hate relationship with towns like this. We left the States to experience new cultures and learn about their lifestyles and traditions, but as tourism grows in a place that culture often gives way to accommodate the desires of tourists.

Agape anchored in Bahia Huevos a few miles from Playas del Coco.

But we often find ourselves longing for these same niceties; fast internet, good coffee, and food that we miss from home. We want to see and experience different cultures, but at the same time it is so nice to be able to take a break from cruising for an afternoon and feel like we are back in California.

Take away the street vendors selling hammocks and blankets in every shape, size, color, and texture and walk into one of the dozens of bars, breweries, coffee shops or restaurants in Playas del Coco and you are almost instantly transported to a trendy California joint. The only difference is that you are sweating through your shirt, everyone is a little tanner and you hear a bit more Spanish.

We arrived in Playas del Coco five days before Rhianna had to fly home to make sure that we would have time to explore all the little coves that make up this area. Right away we fell in love with one of the most popular coves, Bahia Huevos, or Egg Bay. This beautiful little bay is protected on three sides by cliffs and a large rocky point, there are also reefs that extend underwater on both sides of the inlet making the anchorage in here very calm even when the 30mph Papagyo winds are howling.

In the mornings we’d wake up to the sounds of howler monkeys and try and spot them in the trees as we has coffee in the cockpit, slowly getting ready to make our move to shore. The beach here in Bahia Huevos has great snorkeling on both of the points and even has a small cave system on the ocean side.

Even though this was a popular day trip for tourist boats out of near by Playas del Coco, it wasn't too bad. The large catamarans would bring people to the beach at around eleven o'clock every day but they were very respectful and would anchor some distance from us, filling up the other side of the small bay. By 1pm the bay would have a number of boats and usually about 15-30 people on the beach. We weren’t bothered by the crowds as we usually escaped back to the boat around noon for lunch and to wait out the heat of the day. Around 3 or 3:30pm, as the tour boats were loading back up we would ready ourselves to head back to the beach and hammock, swim, and play until sunset.

Although Cocos is not really our style and a little too touristy, it’s a good spot to provision and do a little computer work. We didn't stay too long off of town, only staying to check into the country, get some fresh groceries and drop Rhianna off at the airport. Instead we spent our time just outside the main town at Bahia Huevos, Playa Hermosa, and Marina Papagayo just to the north.

It’s aways great having people come down to stay with us on Agape, and it’s even better when it is family! Even though it’s not usually what people expect, I think that everyone has a good time and learns a little something about themselves, as well as the culture we are surrounded by. We were so stoked that Rhianna made this trip down with us and we can’t wait to have her back this next year!