Manuel Antonio Damas Island Mangrove Boat Tour with Lunch

Damas Island and its mangrove forest

Damas Island lies in the estuary just north of Quepos, about 10 minutes from Manuel Antonio, where several rivers meet the Pacific behind a long sandbar. The tidal flats between them are covered by thousands of hectares of protected mangrove forest, one of the largest remaining on this coast, with red, black and white mangroves standing on arched roots in brackish water. The forest is a nursery for fish and shellfish, a buffer against storms and a refuge for an extraordinary density of animals.

A Damas Island mangrove tour is the only practical way in, because there are no paths; the channels are the roads. The boat departs from a small dock on the estuary and follows the tide into progressively narrower waterways, where the canopy closes overhead and the only sounds are birds and the splash of the boat. Is the Damas Island boat tour worth it? For travellers who have already walked the national park, it shows a completely different ecosystem that the park does not include.

Wildlife in the mangrove channels

The stars of the Damas mangroves are the white-faced capuchin monkeys, which live in troops along the channels and often come down to the lower branches to inspect the boat. Green iguanas bask on the roots, boa constrictors sleep coiled in the forks of trees, and with patience the guide may find a sloth, an anteater or a raccoon foraging at the water's edge. On the mud below, thousands of brightly coloured crabs wave their claws and vanish into holes as the boat passes.

Birdlife is constant: herons, egrets, ibis, kingfishers, ospreys and, in the dry season, migratory species resting on their way north or south. The naturalist guide carries binoculars for the group and explains how each animal depends on the mangrove, from the crabs that recycle fallen leaves to the monkeys that feed on the fruit. A monkeys-in-the-mangrove boat tour in Costa Rica is one of the most reliable ways to see them at close range, because they cannot be approached as quietly on land.

The boat and the tides

The tour uses covered boats carrying up to 25 passengers, with a roof against sun and rain, bench seating and a captain who has navigated these channels for years. Because the water in the mangrove rises and falls with the ocean, the boat can only reach the inner channels around high tide, which is why the departure time changes every day. Morning and early-afternoon slots are offered and we send your exact pickup time as soon as your booking is confirmed.

Travelling by boat means there is no walking and almost no effort, so the tour suits grandparents, small children and anyone with reduced mobility who can step aboard with help. The ride is smooth on the sheltered estuary water, and the two hours pass quickly between sightings. Bring a camera with zoom if you have one, insect repellent for the still air among the trees and a hat for the open stretches.

Lunch at the dock and the Quepos area

The boat returns to the dock, where a hot lunch is served at the riverside restaurant: typical Costa Rican dishes of rice, beans, chicken or fish with salad and plantain, with bottled water during the tour and soft drinks afterwards. It is a relaxed end to the morning, with time to look back over the estuary before the vehicle takes you back to your hotel.

Quepos, the town beside the estuary, grew around a banana port and is now the gateway to Manuel Antonio, with a marina, a market and the road climbing to the hotels along the ridge. The mangrove tour from Quepos combines easily with an afternoon in the national park or on the beach, and because pickup and drop-off are included for both Manuel Antonio and Quepos, the whole excursion takes about four hours of your day. For things to do in Manuel Antonio that do not involve hiking in the heat, it is the natural first choice.