Final Days of the Costa Rica Adventure vacation: zipping to the coast for some surfing and kayaking

After taking the horses part of the way we jumped into a van and headed to the cloudforest mountain town of Monteverde. We would spend an evening here and then take some time to zip through and above the clouds of the cloud forest before making our way to the sunny Pacific Coast beach town of Samara. The ziplines were incredibly impressive with about 10 different zips ranging in distance between 100m to well over 400m. The height of some of the ziplines over the cloud forest provided a perspective of the forest that was truly unique. After completeing our adventurous tour of the cloudforest canopy. We jumped in a van and made our way to Samara, a quaint beach town which is more popular to Costa Rican citizens on vacation, than it is to international tourists.

During day one in Samara we spent a half day paddling to an island bout 1-1.5 miles from the mainland beach. Although quite small the island was infested with hermit crabs, which covered portions of the island and scurried back and forth along the beach. Just off the island's beach there was great snorkeling opportunity various fish including the puffer fish could be seen along and within the reef that surrounded the island.
The sandstone rock formation included great opportunities for bouldering, as well as exploration and relaxing. The kayaking trip was intriguing not only from the interesting natural beauty seen on the water but also the geological formations that could be found on and created this small island.

After spending day one in Samara kayaking we were ready to try a new sport. Jessie's Surf School in Samara was the place to go. They offered us quality instruction and then let us practice surfing the Pacific's waves. Myself and Julia both had very little surf experience but were impressed with the quality of instruction we recieved, which without a doubt did more than attribute a little to our success.

Two hours later our lesson ended and Jessie's surf school invited us to keep the boards for the rest of the day and continue to practice what we had learned. Although neither of us will be joining the pro surf circuit soon evidence of the quality instruction we recieved and the success we had is in the videos and photos seen here.

The day after our surf trip our vacation came to an end but the adventures, cultures, explorations, and quality service we recieved has Pura Vida Adventures excited about sharing these experiences with our clients. Please do not hesitate in contacting us to put together any Costa Rican vacations, wether you want an adventure, naturalist ecotour, family, or romantic vacation we have a trip for you, your family, your friends or your school group.

Costa Rica Canyoneering in Fortuna, travel by horseback and soothing the bones in the mineral hot springs of Arenal Volcano

After experiencing the canyoneering in Turrilaba we were excited to see how the Fortuna canyoneering compared. The Canyoneering program included four rappels of significant length, one rappel as long as 150ft. as well as narrow slot canyons. As expected the canyon was a wet canyon as are most of the canyons in Costa Rica. Although the bottom of the canyon was covered in water, the volcanic rock provided good traction as participants traveled down the canyon's watershed.

The canyon's width varied from 8ft in length to about 2ft in length at its narrowest. Many of the rappels were set up on an angle with a fixed rope above the rappel with a pulley attached to the fixed rope. This allowed the rope's life to be extended as it minimized friction with the volcanic rock.

As is the case with most of the canyoneering trips in Costa Rica the Lost Canyon has been sculpted and worked on to facilitate a great amount of participants of various levels to experience canyoneering. No experience is necessary to take a trip down this canyon and the fitness level of a moderately fit 50 year old is enough to not find the trip too difficult.

Beyond the rappels this trip allows the common person to access and get views of extraordinary waterfalls nestled deep in the jugle of Costa Rica.

The next stretch of our trip took us on horseback as we travelled from Fortuna to Monteverde. The guides provided incredible instruction and the horses were well trained as we rode along the Arenal Lake.

The expertise of the guides and the demeanor of the horses allowed even a beginner like myself to eventually relax and enjoy the beauty of the landscpe that surrounded us. This part of the trip allowed the option of travel by horseback or mountain bike, and although I know I would have been much more comfortable on the mountain bike it was a great opportunity to try something new. No surprise to me the instruction and horses provided did more than facilitate a positive expericence.

Before beginning our travel via horseback to Monteverde we had the opportunity to relax and soak our bones in the hot springs of Fortuna. Fortuna is well known for its hot springs and was a great way to spend a relaxing evening.

To learn more about Pura Vida Adventures travel vacations to Costa Rica visit our website: http://www.pvadventures.com/travel/Costa%20Rica/index.html

Rock Climbing in Costa Rica does exist and the whitewater is plentiful

Although not well known for its rock climbing, while traveling around the Turrialba area we were able to find one area developed for climbers. A private owner of land has a rock that is about 350-400 vertical feet in height and has developed over 20 singlepitch sport climbs ranging from 5.6-5.12 in difficulty. Not expecting to climb but only there simply to scout the area out. The owner a passionate climber happened to be there with gear and invited us to do a little climbing. We took him up on this opportunity and climbed a few routes which were well bolted and very clean. It was a great opportunity to become familiar with the area and although the climbing was great the area surrounding the climb was simply magical. To access the climbsite you crossed a crystal clear river with a 10-12 ft high canyon. The site was beautiful.

The property owner had developed a very basic lodge for camping and he also had plenty of space for tents. Off to one side of the campground a natural cool spring pool was avaialbe for soaking your muscles after a long day of climbing, mountain biking, running, or exploring the canyon. This area was a great climb site, but an even better training camp for endurance and adventure athletes. As we walked away from this place I had mentioned to Massie, our friend who brought us here, "this would be a great place for us to host an adventure racing camp out of."






While to find the rock climbing in Costa Rica takes quite a bit off local beta the whitewater is not only well known but world renown. After completing our time in Turrialba having had the opportunity to paddle the Pacure River twice, visit a world renown international tropical tree and plant research institute, a coffe making plant, a rare climbing area, and a canyon; we were on our way to Fortuna for some more adventure with Desafio Adventure, who had originally invited us down to experience their trips and adventures and discuss the possibility of working together.

Day 1 in Fortuna found us on the Rio Toro River a Class III-IV River run the Toro had over 40 rapids in its action packed 8 miles. This river unlike the Pacure is narower and reminded me of a large creek in some ways. The rapids are long and quite continuous. Desafio Adventures started their company running this river. They were the first commercial company to consistently run this river and have been doing it for some time now. In relation to the Pacure River which is filled with companies the Toro has limited companies consistently offering trips on this river and until a few years ago Desafio nearly had the river to themselves. The guides at Desafio were well trained some had experience guiding in the US, while other had trained in an intense raft guide school that was recognized by the country of Costa Rica and taught by Daniel Arguedas one of Costa Rica's first official rafting guides.

The river itself was action packed with lots of bending rapids that caused high water flows to crash into the canyon walls. The diffiulty of the rapids for the most part was class III with a few exceptions of class IV but the length of the rapids, tightness of the canyon, and the lack of slower water in between rapids made for an action packed trip.

One last thing the first day in Fortuna ended with Bungeeeee!

Turrialba Costa Rica Adventure and Ecotour Vacations

Our Final Day in Turrilaba was spent was spent first visiting a Costa Rican Coffee Plantation. We were once again amazed by our guides knowledge of the process of coffee making from the seedling of the plant all the way through to the roaster. He also explained to us how the different qualities of coffee are determined and seperated from one another.

The trip ended with a coffee tasting where you could taste the difference of first quality and second quality coffee. One of the most amazing things about the coffee plant we visited was the amount use they got from each plant trying to make the farming practices more sustainable. Some examples were using the older bushes to heat the incinerators necessary for part of the coffee processing, as well as using the final composting as fertilization for future plants.

Costa Rica Adventure and Ecotour vacations with Pura Vida Adventures

Costa Rica Exploratory Programs from Dec. 30th- Jan 10th Pura Vida Adventures is in Costa Rica experiencing what adventure opportunities are available and which companies we feel can provide the type of service our clients come to expect . We were invited down here by Desfacio Adventures who like us offer multi sport adventure opportunities. Our first five days however were on our own until we met up with a company in Turrialba named Explora Natura. The goal of this trip is to come back with a wealth of information about these companies so that we can recommend programs for our US and International clients:

Day one was spent on the Pacure River, considered one of the best whitewater trips in the world we were greatly pleased with the 20 miles of whitewater the Lower Pacure offered, as well as the scenic views. Our plan was to take the first day to scout the Pacure, only able to rent one kayak we, Julia and I, split time in the kayak while the other rafted. Photos of Day 1 River trip our included. Day 3 will bring us back to the Lower Pacure where now familiar with the river we will kayak as a team of two going at our own pace, scouting the rapids that need scouted, and having what hopes to be another great river day.



Day two became a two part adventure the first part of the day included a canyoneering trip with Explora Natura, followed by a mountain bike ride and educational tour of CATIE, an environmental research and study graduate institute.

First the canyoneeering tour I highly recommend this activity to anyone visiting this area. I would explain it as a zipline canopy tour on steroids, but more than doable for most people. Explora Natura has put a lot of time and thought into creating a canyoneering trip that is safe and exciting. The amount of work they put into rigging, trail building, and setting ziplines over the years I can only guess. The result of the work however is a great canyoneering adventure that many more people can enjoy. The program includes 4-5 waterfall rappels, a hanging bridge, 4 considerable ziplines, and knowledgeable guides not only in the area of canyoneering but also in the flora and fauna you would see around the way.


The knowledge the guides brought to us in CATIE during the mountain bike ride was even more incredible. I would explain this trip as an experiential tour of tropical plants with transportation via mountain bike. The physical difficulty of this program is not to difficult and could be easily done by a person of basic fitness. If you can walk four miles without much difficulty, this program will not be too difficult for you. The trip includes riding through sugar cane and coffee fields, as well as experiencing in nature where palm oil, rubber, cocoa, cinnamon and various fruits come from. The guides also tell you how trees of the same family can be cross pollinated to avoid fungus or disease that are putting a species at risk.

Day three of our trip provided us with another opportunity to kayak the Pacure River. This time Julia and I were able to rent kayaks from Mario Vargas at Costa Rica Kayak tours. Mario not only owns a wide range of Jackson kayaks which he uses for teaching and some rental, but also is known as a world class boater himself. His boats are reported by many as the best fleet of kayaks in all of Turrialba, Costa Rica.

The trip along the river was great Explora Natura provided us with a shuttle, a delicious lunch and a couple of great river guides who were working a rafting trip but more than willing to provide us any information we needed during the trip. Julia and myself both had clean runs on the river and were sorry to know that this would be our last day on the Pacure River for this year's trip. The rivers 23 mile trip and continuous class 2 and 3 rapids along every turn brought two great days of river action during our river trip. Below you can see video of Julia running the river right creek line on one of the class four rapids called Lower Huacas.

More info to come on this blog. to learn more info about our travel vacations to Costa Rica visit our website: http://www.pvadventures.com/travel/Costa%20Rica/index.html

American Canyoneering Association instructor Rich Carlson and Pura Vida Adventures' 5 day Canyoneering Course.

Pura Vida Adventures is proud to announce that we will be offering an American Canyoneering Association Instructional Program hosted by Rich Carlson (founder of the American Canyoneering Association) Feb 1-5/2010. Spots are limited. More info available at below as well as at http://www.pvadventures.com/Canyoneering/index.html#canyoneering instruction.



Cost/ Dates/Location $495 a person, dates are Feb. 1st-4th 2010, Pura Vida Adventures Brevard, NC- airport transportation from Asheville Airport available for a small additional fee.

Prerequisite Knowledge Interested students should have experience and knowledge with rappelling, as well as be familiar with and know most basic climbing knots.

What to bring Particpants should bring carabiners, harness, and helmets, as well as other basic rope gear. This equipment can be provided if you do not have it.

Topics covered This program is a fast track course it will include material from American Canyoneering Association Technical Canyoneering, Advanced Canyoneering and Canyoneering Self-Rescue curriculums.
Instructor info Rich Carlson, founder American Canyoneering Assoc., Joe Moerschbaecher owner PVA first commercial company to offer canyoneering in the southeast
More info and booking info to find out more about this course or to book a spot email us at contact@pvadventures.com or call 772-579-0005.

Shuttle Service, Frequently asked questions, and water sources along the Art Loeb Trail

The 34 mile Art Loeb Trail is one of the most popular weekend backpacking trails in the Asheville area. The trail begins at Camp Daniel Boone and travels through the High Balsams of the Wilderness Area and drops into the forest covered lands along the last two thirds of the trip. Ending at Davidson River Campground at the southern end of the trail the Art Loeb has been described as the highlights of the Appalachain trail compressed into 34 miles. Some of the highlights along the trail include Shining Rock Ridge, Tennet Mountain, Black Balsam Mountain, Pilot Mountain, and the rock face of Cedar rock.







The most popular hike is from North to South because it provides a little less elevation gain and provides for easy alternative exits if the trail or weather makes it difficult for hikers. Many backpackers with only a weekend who find the 34 miles a bit daunting will either hike the northern section from Camp Daniel Boone to the Blue Ridge Parkway (approximately 14miles, shuttle cost $125) or the southern end the Blue Ridge Parkway to Davidson River Campground (approximately 20 miles, shuttle cost $80). It is important for backpackers hiking in the North Carolina area to understand their limits based on the elevation demands along the trip.

Below are some frequently asked questions regarding the Art Loeb Trail,

Where are water sources on trail?
Water source 1 (WS1) Just before deep gap 1 where the trail makes its southern bend on the ridgeline, (WS2)after passing black balsam there is a short spur from the art loeb that takes you to the black balsam parking area. from there head north on Ivestor Gap trail for about 200m and you will see a spring on your right, (WS3) Deep Gap Shelter, (WS4)Butter Gap Shelter. ALL THESE WATER SOURCES WILL BE IN OPPOSITE ORDER IF YOU ARE HIKING NORTH TO SOUTH.
2. Should we carry a water pump purification system (or just chemical tablets)?
This is completely up to you either will work fine.

3. What is a good source (web site, etc.) of weather information for the trail (as opposed to cities in the Valleys)? NOAA weather website at Mount Pisgah. Is there a rule of thumb as to how much cooler it is at 6,000 feet than in Brevard? Typically 20- 30 degrees.

4. Any recommended economy places to stay in Brevard or nearby? Sunset Motel in Brevard has the cheapest rates. Once you have booked with us we can provide you a code for a discount at the Holiday Inn Brevard another option is the Hampton Inn Brevard.

5. Where are the bailout points?
Gloucaster Gap, Butter Gap Trail to the fish hatchery, Cat Gap Trail to the fish Hatchery, North Slope Connector trail

6. Any other advice you can give us? Be sure to pay attention to your map and compass, specifically on the northern end until you leave the wilderness area as the trail is only vaguely marked in this area. Please note that campfires are not allowed within the wilderness area on the northern end of the trail.


Pura Vida Adventures offers Art Loeb Trail Shuttles, Guided day hikes of the Art Loeb trail, and multi day backpacking and slackpacking trips of the Art Loeb Trail. Please contact us at 772-579-0005 or contact@pvadventures.com