Located in the beautiful central Pacific coast of Costa Rica, this small town of Dominical is a paradise with a beautiful beach where waves can reach 10 feet in height. Dominical is located 40 kilometers south of the famous Jaco Beach in the province of Puntarenas and is a beach only for experienced surfers. Attractive to surfers not only from Costa Rica but the rest of the world, this little village is a great place to relax and enjoy various water sports and activities.

Dominical is a tiny coastal village located 28 miles south of Quepos and the majestic Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the most important touristic places of Costa Rica. Dominical is a strip of beach of4 kilometers with few hotels, cabins, lodges or restaurants in the area. With its magnificent landscape of forests and green palms, this beach is a great place to observe the birds and take a tour of the surroundings. To reach Dominical is necessary to drive from San Jose via San Isidro de General on the Talamanca Mountains or you can reach across the highway from the coast from Quepos passing through the town of Hacienda Baru.

With an almost perfect weather throughout the year, Dominical has almost all the time a warm temperature during the day and a cold breeze coming from the sea during the night. Many of the surfers who come tend to sleep on the beach under the stars. However, there are lodgings for all budgets. The meals are a fabulous experience in Dominical, especially if you love food from the sea. There are several local restaurants or “soda”, these places normally serve fresh lobster and shrimp or even a delicious fish or crab.

It is almost impossible to swim here due to heavy waves and strong tides, but you can enjoy kayaking, scuba diving or snorkeling. Also the tourist can enjoy programmed riding tours to the waterfalls of Nayuca that are close or maybe can visit the Whale National Marine Park which is home to large numbers of marine mammals besides other animal as turtles and whales who come here during the mating and breeding season. If you want you can plan a day trip to the beautiful Caño Island that is located near the coast. This island is considered one of the best spots for snorkeling adventure in the world and is home to an impressive marine life of all kinds such as sharks, turtles and whales that come to the mating season and animation in the same way as Whale National Marine Park. Because of that one of most interesting activities for the tourist is the whale watching.

It is not known why, but observes the whales and dolphins have always fascinated us since the beginning of the world. They are among the most famous animals on the planet interesting for its sociability and clear intelligence and especially of the dolphins who express affinity for the human being. That’s why it has become increasingly common for tourism the trips to watch whales and dolphins in their natural environment, in the middle of open sea where these creatures can swim freely.

Costa Rica has coastline on both sides of the national territory. The Pacific coast and the Caribbean coast. This makes Costa Rica a country with rich marine, despite not having large reefs it have a wide variety of biological groups. However one such group is not exactly fish, but marine mammals, cetaceans.
In Costa Rica cetaceans represent the third group of mammals with more species
in our country, after the bats and rodents
We can find on both coasts, some are frequent visitors, others are residents.
To be able to observe whales is necessary to be very aware of three things:

-Do not get to much closer to, recommending a distance of 150 meters from mothers with offspring and 100 meters from individuals alone (in the case whales). In the case of dolphins often they are the ones who come to the boats, so it is recommended to lower the speed and not to cross in front of them.

-Have enough patience because not always is easy to see these animals.

-Use the necessary equipment and travel with someone with the required experience.

Remember that it is extremely important not to cause any stress or endanger our lives or those of Cetaceans and their offspring. Recall that the whales come to Costa Rica to have their young and breed that is why we must be very careful because their behavior is not equal to many times that we see on television. They need their space, so we must respect them.
In our Pacific coast is more common to see them in the case of the whales in the months January to March and June to September.
The dolphins can be seen throughout the year.
Some of the areas most famous for whale watching and dolphins in Costa Rica are:

• Coronado Bay in the South Pacific.
• Osa Peninsula and surrounding areas.
• Golfo Dulce.
• Guanacaste and Nicoya Peninsula.
• Southern Caribbean

However the most famous place to see whales and dolphins in Costa Rica is Parque Marino Ballena located between Punta Uvita and Punta Piñuela in the south pacific in a region called Osa. Is an important place where the tourist can see interesting animals as the famous Humpback whale