Sunset Cruise

Nothing like a sunset cruise in the Gulfo de Nicoya.....

Unless it's a 2 dollar ferry ride in a boat with a bar and disco!

Adam and I had been told that the ferry to Naranjo (one of the other major beaches in the region) was a good day trip from Puntarenas and kind of had it in our mind as an activity. The weather was beautiful, everyone loves a nice boat ride and tickets cost 890 colones. The boat to Guanacaste wasn't running, so we took another one, figuring it would go somewhere cool as well.

My cooperating teacher / director of English, Paul Gray, had suggested that we bring a cooler with snacks and beer because the beer at the bar (!?) was expensive (like 2 dollars US). Although the idea was intriguing, having a picnic on any ferry I've been on, let alone drinking on the deck, was just too strange of an image to consider.

The boat took about an hour to load and there were everything from cars, motorcycles and 4 wheelers to oil trucks and stock trailers on the deck. There was about a 10 inch gab between the dock and the boat. They put some wooden beams in it, but it was still scary to watch the vehicles to drive across.

Once the boat got underway, the music started pumping and people on the top deck (there were two levels above the parking area and two below - the very lowest being the "disco") started congregating around the bar. We figured "when in Rome..." and bought a few Imperials. The ride took a little over an hour and was very scenic because the shoreline of the gulf is very mountainous and full of cliffs and islands. Sitting on the open air part was really nice, but I had to retreat to the shade before to long (the sun is INTENSE at the beach).

When we got to the other side, we walked away from the ferry for about 10 minutes before realizing that the nearest town or beach was like 70km away. We didn't want to be stranded anywhere after dark and headed back to the dock to catch the ferry before it returned. The whole situation was a little ridiculous, but we enjoyed it overall and made the most of it before returning to Puntarenas for a seafood dinner.