The road to Tamarindo
From Monteverde we headed towards the beach and left the mountains and that dodgy road behind. The track was much easier in daylight and without mud but we still had a few moments getting down the mountain. We headed for Playa Hermosa, a so called diving town near to the Bat islands where Jorje wanted to dive. Turns out Playa Hermosa is a little beach with a few 'resort' type places full of american tourists, the cheapest place we found wanted $90 US per night. Finally someone directed us down the road a bit to coco beach, a much more happening town with much more reasonable prices. We thought.
We found a dive shop and got some info, they directed us to a hotel and suggested I could dive Bat island tomorrow with them, the dive seemed expensive at $105 US, the cheap hotel was $50 per night, no pool, no parking, no ac, no wifi. Hmmm, spoke with another dive shop, found another hotel with all of the above for $45. The diving cheaper as well but no bat island. Turned out none of the dive shops were going to Bat island unless they had a big group, and the Bat island dive was $250US a day. There goes that idea. The next Bat island dive was a week away so we decided to spend the night, do a local dive in the morning then move down the coast. The hotel turned out to be a bit shit, the ac and fan didnt work but the room did come with complimentary mozzies and spiders, not a lot of sleep was got but Juanita did make the most of the pool the next day while Jorje was diving.
Diving was good, not great viz but warm water and got to play with a school of white tip sharks, check out a wreck with plenty of life and see the volcanic sea bed, a good but expensive trip. We bundled into the car and picked a point on the map, a surfer town called Tamarindo, famous for its surf, sun and being in Endless Summer 2, the surf flick. Not much else was mentioned but we though 1 night can't hurt and its closer to our next major stop Montezuma, so off we went !
