There is a quote I once saw that said, “No great story starts with eating a salad on a good nights sleep”. On a similar (and less elegant) note, I like to say that the best moments in life start when you stop thinking and just say “ahh f*ck it”.
This is exactly how the start of my trip to Costa Rica began. I had no intentions of traveling there, especially because I had a pre-planned trip to the Bahamas coming up. My trip was set for April 11th and all flights / airbnbs were already paid for. But at the very end of March, I happened to be at my friend Rachel’s house for dinner. As she was cooking, she remembered she had a call planned with this guy Henry (who we had both gone to high school with). Rachel had been watching Henry’s nature filled Instagram stories for a while now and wanted to know where he was and what he was up to. I asked Rachel to put the call on speaker so I could listen in as Henry told us about this wonderfully spiritual place called Dolphin Quest. He described how much this place had positively affected his mental health and how beautiful the surroundings were. He basically gave us an extended elevator pitch on why we should come to Costa Rica and experience this place for ourselves.
I was really encouraging Rachel to just go for it and have her first solo adventure. As someone who has backpacked alone quite a bit, I knew how empowering it would be for her. But she said she wasn’t ready to go alone yet and asked me to come with her instead. My gut instinct told me to do it but my wallet told me otherwise. I had the Bahamas coming up so a random trip to Costa Rica felt fiscally irresponsible. I told Rachel I might be able to swing it after I got back from the Bahamas and saved up some more. But that timing wouldn’t work since Rachel wanted to go while Henry was still there, and he was leaving at the end of April. I looked at my calendar and figured out that the only time that could work is if we left the following week and came back with a 5 day turnover before my Bahamas trip. We looked up flights and found cheap roundtrip tickets for $285. So I looked up at Rachel and said…”ahh f*ck it”.
We bought our tickets and just sent it. A little over a week later and we were on a plane. I also asked another friend, Ali, to join us. She had to cancel some family plans, quit her babysitting job early, and push her first real job offer back by 2 weeks to make it work. But she said “f*ck it” too and found a way. When we arrived we met two lovely Austrian ladies who would be there with us for the next two weeks, Sophija and Katy. KC also joined us a few days later and thus our girl gang was complete.
To give you all an idea of what Dolphin Quest is, I’ll bring in a description from their website: “Let nature heal you through a transformative journey of immersive adventures, harmonious sustainability, and spiritual acceptance.”
Basically DQ is a family run, off the beaten path, eco-conscious jungle adventure. They have a 700 acre property (which is primarily powered through solar) where they grow their own fruit, vegetables, and herbs/spices. The property is right on the ocean but also submerged into the jungle. There are 2 dogs, 2 horses, an adorable little kitten, and a bunch of chickens to keep you company! To get there from the capital of San Jose, you need to fly or take a bus for 7 hours to the southern city of Golfito. From there, it’s a 30 min boat ride to the property.
Reymar is the head honcho who is basically running the entire place himself. His parents started DQ and now Reymar is keeping the place afloat. He was legit born in the waters just off the beach and grew up on the property. He is a jungle boy through and through…a real life tarzan. He led all of our tours and made us feel super welcomed. Our first night there we sat on the beach watching sunset as he had us go around and set intentions for our trip #wokeaf
You have the option to stay at Dolphin Quest as a guest or as a work-to-stay. If staying as a guest, your meals are cooked for you and you spend your days however you please. Whether that is doing tours or just relaxing. But if you want a cheaper option, then the work-to-stay is your best choice. This is what we did and I really recommend it because the work you do integrates you into the DQ family. You are not just staying there, but contributing and representing what DQ stands for.
We paid 25 dollars a night which included our stay and 3 meals per day. In exchange for the subsidized rate, we worked for 3 hours a day. The work varies based on what is needed but it’s usually some form of manual labor. Our work consisted of gardening, painting signs, deep cleaning a pool, unlittering beach trash, and building a rock path. The rock path days were pretty humorous…imagine 6 women carrying the biggest rocks they can find on the beach, piling them into a wheelbarrow, and pushing that 10 ton wheelbarrow back to the property. I’d also like to mention that it was one million degrees out. It really felt like that one episode of Spongebob where he is shoveling rocks at the driving school prison. But the hard work paid off because now that beautiful rock path we built will be part of DQ forever…and that makes me smile. Sometimes there are groups who just come to snorkel and eat lunch; so part of your work will be preparing for / welcoming the guests, answering any questions about the property, and showing them the grounds.
If there are no guests staying and only “volunteers”, then everyone pitches in and cooks together. The meals are announced by a blow through the conch shell; Lord of the Flies style. Everything is always super fresh and healthy and every morning there are home-made turmeric/ginger shots, kombucha, and noni.
Due to Dolphin Quests remote location, they are a 30 minute boat ride away from everything. This includes hospitals, restaurants, and grocery stores. So once there, you can only eat the food on site. I am a hungry hungry hippo so 3 meals a day when waking up at 6am, were not really enough for me. So the next time someone went to town I had to put in an order of munchie snacks to hold me over. I told Reymar if he got a vending machine on to the property he could make millions off me.
The sleeping arrangements vary based on what you book. Typically the work-to-stays live in a 3 story house all together, but we got a lil special treatment since nobody had booked the more expensive bungalows. All of the structures at DQ are like pseudo indoors. There is a roof over your head but no legit walls or screens keeping the outside…outside. Anything could come in at any moment, but thankfully we never woke up to a wild monkey on our lap.
Our beds did have mosquito nets over them, but most had holes. Mine was the only one that didn’t so Rachel came to sleep with me every night since she found a wasp in her bed. Goodbye to any remnants of Tamaras sleep (hehe sorry Ray). I did pack some melatonin so I ended up knocking myself out until the sounds of the jungle were 0.005% less distracting. The showers were all outside and always cold (but it was so hot that the coldness was actually refreshing…except for late at night when it rained and all you want is a nice warm shower)
For a city girl like me, the jungle took some getting used to. The first days there were laughable compared to how I handled myself and grew by the end. In the beginning, we were all freaked out by the cockroaches, mosquitos, and spiders. We couldn’t sleep because the damn macaws woke us up at 5am and the constant chirping of the insects and frogs kept us up at night. The hot and sweaty weather warranted multiple showers a day. We couldn’t charge our devices past 4pm to conserve energy. We had to walk everywhere with flashlights because it was so dark at night we couldn’t see and didn’t want to step on a snake. Oh! I also fell into a giant ant pile while playing soccer and got bit over my whole body. Just my luck.
But I think this adjustment is the whole point of Dolphin Quest. To let go of all the comforts and perceived necessities of our daily lives and bring it back to the basics. When you strip away all the fluff from life, you are left with unfiltered and raw goodness. Put the dang phone down and look up at the nature around you. Hear the sounds of the natural world and not the one we manufactured. Experience the real beauty of this planet by putting yourself smack dab in the middle of it
What really made Dolphin Quest an unforgettable experience were the tours. The tours we did were truly unparalleled to anything I’ve done before. They perfectly represent the essence of the pura vida lifestyle. For those that don’t know, pura vida means pure/simple life. It’s a phrase you will hear all the time when traveling to Costa Rica. But it’s not just a phrase, it’s a way of life.
Usually a boat tour in a popular tourist destination is quite scheduled and structured. Your boat is one of many as other companies are all doing roughly the same thing. It’s overpriced and nothing particularly unique to your group. But the tours at DQ are the complete opposite. Let’s go down the list shall we?
1. Dolphin Spotting Tour
By farrr my most favorite day and tour. Reymar took our group on the boat and gave us a tour of the surrounding area. He included many fun facts but the most memorable being that Costa Rica contains 4% of the entire world’s biodiversity. Pretty neat. We boated around until we spotted a pod of wild dolphins. They swam right up under the hull of the boat as we were moving. They were legit playing with us; turning on their bellies, jumping and spinning around (Deff showing off but I’ll consider it a humble brag). Once the boat motor was turned off, we jumped out to swim with them. The dolphins stayed close which Reymar said is usually quite rare. He said the dolphins typically swim away once people get in the water… but not with us! Since dolphins use sonar, Reymar hypothesizes that our good vibes and energy were keeping them close. When we were all in the water, it was a truly magical moment. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Nobody around, just us and the dolphins. If you put your ears underwater you could even hear them clicking when they got close. I can’t even think of another word to describe that feeling other than magical. Just pure unadulterated magic. After our time with the dolphins, we wake-surfed off the back of the boat, snorkeled, and ate juicy pineapple under the welcomed shade of a tree. 10/10 day and we did it all before 12pm. Lunch and a hammock nap came soon after.
2. Waterfall Hike
Henry took us through the jungle on a hike to a lil waterfall. We saw monkeys, poisonous caterpillars, and lots and lots of spiders in their web. Thank god Henry was in front because I’m so blind that those spider webs were coming straight for my face. Once we reached the waterfall, we all said “f*ck it” and went in even though we forgot our bathing suits. After we cooled down with some natural mud masks, we walked back. Then the sky opened up in a torrential downfall. The sound of the rain on the trees is one of the most humbling and peaceful sounds mother nature makes. Rather than get upset at being soaked, we laughed, danced, and embraced the rain.
3. Animal Sanctuary
Ohhh myyyy sloths and monkeys!!!!!! This wonderful establishment is run by a woman who dedicated her whole life to rehabilitating animals and reintroducing them back into the wild. She legit has monkey children who latch on to her like a baby would. We got a tour of the sanctuary where we fed sloths, monkeys, birds, and a bunch of other animals I’ve never even heard of. Then at the end we had the most amazing experience where the free roaming monkeys came to play with us. I got hugged by a monkey and now my heart is full and I can die happy. Also I’ve included every photo I have of them because they are too cute not to spotlight. Thx kk biiiii
4. Botanical Gardens
A 20 minute walk down the beach from DQ are the botanical gardens. Another family run business that houses these beautifully well manicured gardens filled with lush plants, flowers, and fruit trees. We walked around reading the informational pamphlet in British accents as we hid from the sun under the bamboo trees. The owner was the sweetest old lady who gave us these magical berries that change the taste of sour to sweet, and vice versa. We tried it out on some tequila and lemons that night and let me tell you, they work!
5. Pavones Overnight
We took an overnight trip to the nearby surf town of Pavones. We had to take the boat 30 mins and then a car another 45. Suuuuper lowkey and not yet discovered by all the Instagram try-hards. Great place to watch pro surfers absolutely murder the gnar bro. Most of our group went surfing but because of my stupid bum knee I just sat and watched.
There is also one cafe and it’s an Israeli owned vegetarian joint. How random. But hey, wherever there is good food, there is a jew! Lol ok Tam moving on. On our boat ride back the sun was setting over the gorgeous mountainous landscape. It got dark pretty quick but to our surprise, the water was sparkling with the most bioluminescence I’ve ever seen. We all said those magic three words (ahh f*ck it) and jumped out to swim. We felt like mermaids as the blue bioluminescent plankton got stuck in our hair. We were all giggling and splashing around like little kids. It was that pure awe-struck kind of energy that just fills your soul. Then I looked up at the sky and it was filled with the most stars I have seen in a long time. The whole sky and the whole sea were shining in harmony. It was pura vida. No other way to describe it.
6. Puerto Jimenez
One night we took the boat to the nearby town of Puerto Jimenez. We ate at a real restaurant for the first time in a long time and got some drinks. We hopped around to a few different places and danced the merengue with random (kinda creepy) old Costa Rican men. Classic.
The rest of our time we took it upon ourselves to explore and relax. We took out the kayaks and snorkeled, rode horses, did yoga and worked out, read (and napped) in the beach hammocks, watched sunset, and danced in the rain some more. Rachel even caught us some fresh fish for dinner one night and KC led us in a full moon ceremony with a bonfire on the beach. We had long deep talks about life and what it all means. There were happy tears and sad tears and an overall cathartic feeling of relief from the overthinking, overstimulating lives we normally lead.
Dolphin Quest feels like a hidden oasis from the rest of the hectic world. Time simply ceases to exist over there and I am eternally grateful I got to experience it. Due to its remote location, you forget covid even exists. It was honestly such a breath of fresh air. If you want to see for yourself, there are a bunch of different options for you! If you want to stay as a guest or do a work-to-stay then visit their website: www.dolphinquestcr.com
Another great opportunity they are now offering is long term rentals at a discounted rate. Farm to table meals, private kitchen accessibility, Wifi, and weekly organic grocery deliveries. This is ideal for remote workers who are sick and tired of looking at their bedroom wall and want to look at this view instead!
They are also always looking for creative retreat organizers and facilitators that could bring groups down. Whether that is in wellness, art, fitness, or adventure!
The covid restrictions in Costa Rica are pretty chill. You can just go there with no test or quarantine needed. All you need to do is get tested on your way back into the U.S. Easy peasy. So go show them some love and check out their website and Instagram!! @DolphinQuestCostaRica
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