Things To Do in The Marino Ballena National Park

Our community of Bahia here in Costa Ballena is home to the pristine Marino Ballena National Park. 

This national park draws many people to our area, along with the cleanliness, safety, and overall charm of this special community.

The Marino Ballena National Park holds a special place in our hearts. Not only is it where we conduct our surf lessons, but it’s where we spend the majority of our time. It’s our home.

There are an abundance of activities and ways to enjoy this beautiful protected area of ocean and land. We know this national park just as well as anyone—we’ve been enjoying and protecting it for 14 years now.

So rest assured that your amigos here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga are more than capable of empowering you to have an enjoyable, safe, educational, and responsible visit to our Marino Ballena National Park.

Welcome to the Marino Ballena National Park

For our readers looking to brush up on their español in preparation of your visit here, any idea what the national park’s name means?

Marino Ballena means “Marine Whale” in Spanish. Many people think the national park gets this name from the famous Whale’s Tail sandbar formation here (we’ll get to this in a bit).

But it actually gets its name from the humpback whales that migrate here to raise their calves twice a year (mid-July-October and December-March). This makes the Marino Ballena National Park an excellent launchpad for whale-watching tours during these whale seasons.

This national park comprises 171 land hectares and 5,375 sea hectares, with a coastline of 9.3 miles (15km).

The Marino Ballena National Park pertains to the Osa Conservation Area, whose richly biodiverse land and sea area cover the Osa Peninsula.

Important Information and Safety

Before we get into the Marino Ballena National Park’s interesting history and our favorite activities to do there, it’s important that you understand the following information prior to your visit:

• Hours of operation: Monday – Sunday, 7am – 6pm
• Entry cost: $6.78, free for those under the age of 12 years
• Method of payment: Credit/debit card only
• Entrances: There are four entrances: Uvita, Colonia, Ballena, Piñuelas

In terms of safety, the Marino Ballena National Park is recognized as a safe destination to visit for solo travelers, families, and all other travelers.

Here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga, we always encourage our guests to take appropriate safety measures that they’d take anywhere else in the world—and we empower them to do so.

Just because a destination is known to be “safe” doesn’t mean that you can completely let your guard down! We always explain to our guests that no matter how safe the community (anywhere in the world), there are, unfortunately, always “a few bad apples.”

We encourage our guests and all visitors to our area not to take valuables with them to the national park. 

This is fine if you’ll be holding on to your things the entire time you’re there, but we highly encourage you not to leave anything valuable unattended on the beach while you’re enjoying a dip in the warm water.

In our 14 years of operations, we’ve never had anything taken during any of our surf lessons at the Marino Ballena National Park – but we’re not about to let you be the first!

Significance of the Marino Ballena National Park for Community and Nature

Speaking of whale watching tours going from our marine national park, it’s important to note that this is now the main livelihood for many families and community members here.

In other terms, whale-watching tours bring in the bread for many of us here in our community!

There are about four established tour companies here in our small community that offer whale-watching tours out of the Marino Ballena National Park. If that’s not an indicator of how important these tours are for our community members, nothing is!

The Marino Ballena National Park, being a protected marine area, of course, has a hugely beneficial impact on the nature and environment that surrounds us.

The national park protects the rich ecosystems and wildlife encompassed within its boundaries.

Many forms of wildlife that benefit from living within the national park’s protected ecosystems, including:

• Approximately 70 species of fish
• Humpback whales and orcas
• Spotted dolphins
• Starfish
• Sea turtles
• Land animals, including sloths and monkeys

The (Interesting) History of the Marino Ballena National Park

We know that, unless you’re a history buff, the history of a destination might not appeal to or interest everyone – but our national park really does have a special story.

The Marino Ballena National Park was declared a national park in 1989. It was not only the first marine national park here in Costa Rica, but the first in all of Central America.

This is huge! This means that our very own national park, right on our doorstep, was the first protected area in this part of the world exclusively for its marine resources.

It was these marine resources that put our special community on the map for the first time many years back.

By visiting us here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga, one of your first scheduled activities will be the Costa Rica Culture Tours Community Tour. Along with seeing many animals and plants, on this tour you’ll learn about our community and the national park’s history.

Before paved roads and tourism reached our community, fishing was the main industry here—that’s how locals made their living.

One day, a visitor to the community (Lord knows how they got here!) overhead a couple of fishermen complaining that the migrating whales were breaking their fishing nets. 

The visitor approached them and asked if they could take them out on their fishing boats to view the whales from up close and pay them to do it.

And thus, whale-watching tours in our community were born! And over the years, thanks to the national park protecting these marine resources, our community has established itself as a recognized whale-watching destination.

The Best Times of Year to Visit the Marino Ballena National Park

If you’ve done much research into Costa Rica, you’re probably aware that we have two seasons here: the dry and rainy “green” seasons.

To give you a quick summary of our weather here in our area of Costa Rica:

• It’s hot year-round
• The “green season” is NOT winter
• It still rains occasionally in the dry season
• It doesn’t rain all day every day in the “green season”
• The dry season is typically from December – May
• The “green season” is typically from June – November

You might think to yourself that the dry season is the best and only time to visit a coastal location. We completely disagree!

We’re not saying that the dry season is a bad time to visit the beach, but don’t think that just because the “green season” is known to be more tropical that it’s not a great time of year to do so.

Visiting the beach during the dry season is great for sunbathing, crystal clear skies, (mostly) clean surfing conditions, and some pretty serious heat. If that’s what you’re after, then the dry season is a great time to come and visit the Marino Ballena National Park.

But coming during the more tropical “green season” should not be overlooked. Like we said, just because it’s a more tropical time of year absolutely does not mean that it rains all day everyday.

This time of year is still hot, but the heat is much less intense than during the dry season – which makes being at the beach much more bearable. We often have guests who come during the dry season plan their next visit during the “green season”.

Check out our blog on the tropical “green season” in Costa Rica to learn more about why we love this time of year. Also, look out on our YouTube channel for our video about why we love this time of year so much!

Top Things to do at the Marino Ballena National Park

Now for the reason you’re probably reading this blog – our favorite ways to responsibly enjoy the Marino Ballena National Park.

Having been here in this community for 14 years now, we’ve welcomed many of you here (some more than once!) to this magical national park. 

We think it’s safe to say that these aren’t just our favorite things to do here, but that many of you who’ve already visited us here would agree that these are the top activities to do in the Marino Ballena National Park.

Catch Some Waves

Any surprises that this made number one on the list?

But seriously, the Marino Ballena National Park genuinely is the best place in the world to learn how to surf – at least in our eyes.

The entrance that we surf at is a beach break, which means it has a soft and sandy bottom which is ideal for beginners learning to surf and staying safe. 

The beach being long and wide also means our students have plenty of room to learn and make mistakes. There’s nothing worse than a crowded beach or lineup, right?

By the way, when we say “catch some waves,” we don’t just mean with a surfboard. Our waves are also great for boogie-boarding and bodysurfing.

Coral Reef Restoration Lab

One of our absolute favorite things to do at the Marino Ballena National Park is to head to Costa Rica’s ONLY coral reef restoration lab.

Every week, we coordinate with the lab for our guests to head down there to learn about the incredible and important work that they’re doing in restoring our coral reefs.

The work that they’re doing isn’t just important for our coral reefs here in Costa Rica, but they’re making an impact on a global scale.

By going and checking out the lab and paying their requested USD $20 donation, you’re having a direct positive impact on helping them with their mission. They use these donations to keep the tanks running and to buy salt for them to keep the corals healthy

Snorkeling

The Marino Ballena National Park is a launching pad to the Isla de Caño (Caño Island).

There are a number of local tour operators in our community that conduct snorkeling tours (more info here) to Caño Island to admire the incredibly biodiverse marine life that calls this area home.

Caño Island itself is not within the Marino Ballena National Park’s protected area, but the tours head off by boat from the beach within the park.

These tours are usually full-day tours, as the boat ride to the island itself can be between one-and-a-half to two hours in length. The tours arrive at the island where guests get off the boat and snorkel, before having lunch on the pristine island.

Our go-to company for these snorkeling tours is Bahia Aventuras. When our guests do this tour, they usually come back thrilled having seen reef sharks, turtles, dolphins, and many colorful fish species.

Whale Watching

Other recommended boat tours that leave from the Marino Ballena National Park are the dolphin and whale watching tours.

These tours last about three hours and are actually hosted within the national park’s protected waters.

Spotting humpback whales (what the national park is named after, remember?) out in the wild is one of the most magical sights – their sheer size and beauty are absolutely incredible.

And if you’re lucky – you might get treated with a breach (prepare to get splashed!)

For this tour, we also recommend using Bahia Aventuras. But again, there are a number of other local tour operations that run these dolphin and whale-watching tours. The majority of them also allow about 15 minutes for snorkeling during the tour.

Whale’s Tail Walk

There’s just no way you can visit the Marino Ballena National Park without walking the famous Whale’s Tail.

When doing a Google search of the park, one of the first images that pop up will undoubtedly be of this impressive sandbar formation.

The “Whale’s Tail” is a naturally formed sandbar that extends about a kilometer out to sea. It’s crucial to note that you can only walk the Whale’s Tail at low tide. At high tide, this sandbar formation is completely underwater.

We recommend that our guests take lots of water and sunscreen with them when doing this walk, as once you leave the line of trees along the beach to walk up the Whale’s Tail, there are no trees and, therefore, no shade.

It really is a spectacular walk. From the edge of the Whale’s Tail, you can look back at the national park and up to the mountains where the greenery meets the clouds.

Walking Trails

There are walking trails that connect different entrances of the national park, great for escaping the sand and sun of the beach.

The shaded trails lead to different parts of the beaches and connect the different entrances of the national park.

One of the best things to do while walking the trails is to keep your eyes peeled for wildlife. We often have monkeys napping and swinging from the branches in the trees above. Every now and again, there’s even a sloth that comes and hangs out in the canopy!

One of our favorite things to find along these trails is the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees. They’re some of the tallest trees in the national park, and their trunks are literally rainbow-colored.

Yoga, Fútbol, Coconuts

You can practice yoga and play fútbol (soccer) pretty much anywhere in the world – but there are few places more magnificent to do them than at the Marino Ballena National Park.

We recommend that you grab a yoga mat and head to the beach at the national park for a 7am yoga session – this way you beat the heat, and the park looks absolutely stunning.

And for the footballers out there, we know there’s nothing better than a beach game, don’t we? There’s always a few small games going on amongst friends on the sand, and locals are always happy to have you join in!

After stretching it all out in yoga and dropping a Ballon d’Or-worthy football performance, there’s only one thing that can follow. You must grab a pipa fría (cold coconut) from one of the local vendors at the park’s entrance—it’s the most refreshing beverage out there.

Photography

The Marino Ballena National Park is one of the most picturesque locations in the area.

Some of the photos you’ll be able to shoot just with your phone camera will be frame-worthy! You don’t have to have photography skills or a high-quality camera—the beauty of the national park outweighs all of that.

You can also support a number of local professional photographers by hiring them for photo shoots at the national park. 

Many of our guests hire in-water photographers to take photos of them surfing, or other photographers to take on-beach photos of them.

Ready for Your Visit to the Marino Ballena National Park?

We trust that this blog has not only convinced you, but empowered you to have a responsible visit to the Marino Ballena National Park.

This pristine natural area is just one of the many gems that our town has to offer. Check out our blog on our favorite things to do here in our community.

We’d be stoked to have you down here to discover the magic that our community of Bahia Ballena has to offer.

If this sounds like a little bit of you, check out our availability here.