Tag: airplane

Posted on

Small Plane Adventures

At least I think that taking a small plane to any destination in Costa Rica is a type of adventure and I love making cellphone photos from my window seat. Here’s a few shots from my recent flight to Limón, a 30 minute flight compared to a 5 hour drive. I fly to the more distant places requiring more than a 3 hour drive, like Limón, Liberia, Puerto Jiménez, Golfito and Uvita. Sansa is now the only in-country commercial airlines since Canadian-owned Nature Air went bankrupt. There are more than one charter services and a few private pilots like my driver Walter who, if you hire him to fly, rents a plane. So it is more expensive than Sansa on which you can fly to anywhere in Costa Rica from the San Jose airport for about a hundred dollars each way, some less and some more.

One shot for the email version, then a little gallery where you click an image to see it larger.

Leaving the Domestic Terminal at San Jose Airport.
Continue reading “Small Plane Adventures”
Posted on

Return Flight via Drake Bay

The return flight was from Palmar Sur, the closest airport to hotel but it has no ground crew, thus the co-pilot has to do everything from wheel blocks to loading luggage! 🙂 But Palmar Sur does have a new terminal building as does Drake Bay that we stopped in on the way back to San Jose and Drake Bay does have a ground crew! 🙂 I just love the sights from these short flights across Costa Rica. Below are 7 favorite shots from my return flight to San Jose . . .

Beaches are prettier from above! 🙂
Continue reading “Return Flight via Drake Bay”
Posted on

Man-made Bird?

On my walk up the hill the other morning a couple of little planes flew over and I decided to “capture” the second one in a photo! It is not one of our commercial passenger planes, Sansa Airlines, but some older private plane doing who knows what? 🙂

Plane flying over Atenas.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Costa Rica Coronavirus Treatment & Tourism Restarts

Read this interesting health new article in English explaining how Costa Rican scientists developed drug that stops the coronavirus. (article from qcostarica.com) It has been verified effective by George Washington University in the States and is undergoing trials here now. A vaccine is still needed for prevention, but this treatment will help prevent many deaths. Again Costa Rica leads the way!

Costa Rica coronavirus updates for Monday, August 3, article in TicoTimes.net. Not good, but we still had our first flight here from out of the country after 173 days of no flights. Those who come from only Europe, UK and Canada have very strict requirements related to Coronavirus to enter the country. Read more at:

Immigration Administration clarifies new Costa Rica entry policies, article in TicoTimes.net. And if you think you have a work-around by flying to Canada first, don’t! Because your passport tells where you live and if you go to another accepted country first, they will require you to stay in that country 14 days before coming on to Costa Rica. 🙂

Watch: Iberia plane receives water-cannon salute as commercial flights resume in Costa Rica, article in TicoTimes.net with video. The first tourist flight here since March is celebrated in multiple ways, but these tourists from Spain have a lot of Coronavirus health requirements to meet to continue their visit here, including a stay in quarantine if not already officially tested for the virus before arriving. Results of tests are usually in less than a day, depending on various factors. Read previous article for all the requirements. Even if from a “qualified” country, you have to really want to be here to “jump through all the hoops.” 🙂

I’m glad that as a resident I can visit any tourist spot open with only the requirement of a mask. But with an abundance of caution, I go nowhere else until the middle of September on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica in one of my favorite beach hotels, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. 🙂

U.S. repatriation flights to & from Costa Rica will continue in August, TicoTime.net. This is for both directions, U.S. citizens “trapped” here can fly to Fort Lauderdale and Costa Rican citizens (not expat residents like me) can fly back to Costa Rica only to the San Jose airport and will be placed in quarantine for 14 days and verified virus-free.

TMI? One friend in the states likes to say that to me when I give “Too Much Information!” But this is only for those interested or needing the information. Plus all of this is a part of “The Year to Remember – 2020!”

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Arrival Day Photo Overload

By the time I get to a place and settle in I usually have less than half a day there but seem to get as many or more photos as other days – the excitement of a new place I guess!   And so it was yesterday at Hacienda Guachipelín!   🙂

So to spare you, I’m saving today’s birds and butterflies for another day and putting today’s other photos in slide shows so it won’t look like so much.   🙂

Airplane Shots

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hotel Grounds

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hotel Mirador (Vista Point)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hotel Flowers

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart”    –Confucius

 

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

First Day Photos

I guess this is becoming typical of me, too many photos the first day of a trip. There just seems to be so many photo possibilities that I can’t stop. To not look overwhelming, I’ve grouped them into slideshows. Pick the one that interests you!   🙂

Hotel Banana Azul

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Flowers – Hotel & Puerto Viejo

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Puerto Viejo

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Airplane Shots

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hotel Banana Azul Website

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Surprising Vista at Xandari

By using my new 600mm telephoto lens instead of my usual Samsung Phone Camera for a vista from the hilltop resort Xandari, I zoomed in on the Alajuela Cathedral with Central Park to the right and the bigger surprise, at top edge of photo is an American Airlines plane landing or taking off at the San Jose International Airport in Alajuela! Luck of the timing on the plane and sorry that the blog template crops off part of the plane, not so in my original photo (see in gallery).

Below is another shot in same direction from the same restaurant with my phone camera to help you see how much I was able to zoom in and crop a little!  🙂  The cathedral is on the left side of the city that you see between the restaurant and the mountains. My last day at Xandari, Wednesday, Walter picked me up and we got my internet order package 5 blocks east of the Cathedral, ate lunch 2 blocks north of the Cathedral, then drove 24 km (15 miles) west to Atenas where I live. My small world!   🙂

Looking south over Alajuela, Costa Rica (& San Jose Airport) from Xandari Resort. I stood in this same spot for the Cathedral-Airplane photo, just zooming in!

 

¡Pura Vida!

See my Trip Photo Gallery:  2018 Xandari Resort

Xandari costa rica   (their website)

Retired in Costa Rica

Posted on

Sunset on this week’s adventures . . .

Sunset Over the Pacific 
From our little 12 passenger Sansa airplane on the hour-late flight back to San Jose.
Along the West Coast of Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida! 
 And ohhhh soooo many more photos to share, but exhausted again tonight and so much to do here. So tomorrow I will continue my report on Danta Corcovado Lodge, probably first with birds seen in the park, then much more over the next few days. Buenas Noches.
Posted on

Manuel Antonio National Park

Baby Green Parrot Snake in the Pacific coastal rainforest of
Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Shot with cell phone through a spotting scope
Three-toed Sloth
Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Shot with cell phone through a spotting scope
Glass Frog
Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Shot with cell phone through a spotting scope
Rare and elusive Squirrel Monkey
Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Shot with my Canon Rebel, 75-300 mm lens
A People-Watching White-faced Capuchin Monkey
Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Shot with my Canon Rebel, 75-300 mm lens
Sunset from El Avion Restaurant
Manual Antonio, Costa Rica
Cell Phone photo

We spent the morning on a guided tour of Manuel Antonio National Park with a guide who had a spotting scope making some of these photos possible. The web connection is still slow, but I was more patient today uploading these 5 photos, though it took about an hour. Only a couple of birds today, but a lot of birds yesterday which I will show some of after back home in Atenas with a faster internet. We are tried a different approach to the sunset tonight by eating in a restaurant overlooking the ocean. Not as good as last night, but we accomplished dinner at the same time!

Quepos and Manuel Antonio towns are like Gatlinburg, horrible tourist traps next to a wonderful National Park like Gatlinburg with the Smoky Mountain National Park. Our older, simple hotel is nice and right on the beach unlike most. They have no restaurant, but there is one next door serving all three meals. We had lunch in a nice restaurant near the park today and tonight’s in an old airplane, El Avion, which overlooks the beach and ocean. Different!