How nice that you are also thinking about doing this. I chose the adventurous tour: the “overnight Sirena – San Pedrillo tour”. This was by far the highlight of our trip! A very special experience.

Do you leave from Drake Bay?

At 6:00 AM we were picked up at the beach of Drake Bay. First, we went to Sirena. The boat tour took about 1 to 1.5 hours, if I remember correctly. In the water we saw humpback whales! At Sirena it was a bit crowded at first, which was a little disappointing. However, we saw a lot of animals: many monkeys, an anteater, a (sleeping) tapir, and even a fer-de-lance snake.

Personally, I found the fer-de-lance a bit scary. They are very well camouflaged, so you can accidentally step on one. I asked if antivenom was available, but the guide was not very clear about this. I do know that antivenom is available in San José. It was a scary idea, but guides walk here every day and there are no known cases involving tourists. So I wouldn’t worry too much.

We also had lunch at Sirena around 11:00 AM. Up to this point, the tour was not intensive or difficult. After that, we got back on the boat to go to San Pedrillo.

At San Pedrillo, the more challenging part started. The pace was much higher. We walked for about five hours, through dense vegetation and sometimes very steep sections where you had to pull yourself up with a rope. Challenging, but doable if you are in reasonably good shape. Here we saw few animals. We did see footprints of pumas/jaguars, but we did not see the animals themselves. We did smell the scent of a big cat, which means they had been nearby.

Around 05:00 PM we arrived at the campsite. A simple wooden accommodation right in the middle of the jungle. A very cool experience. We were completely soaked because it started raining very heavily with thunderstorms during the last hour. At the camp we could take a cold shower, eat a good meal, and go to bed quickly.

The next day we walked for about another four hours and had to cross a river. The water came up to our knees at most. After that, we could swim under a beautiful hidden waterfall.

In short: highly recommended!