• Los Sueños MarinaThis is a sportfishing dock. Walk it in the morning and ask what is going out. You learn the day by looking. You do not have to book a chair.
  • Herradura BayThe bay is a longer walk than the dock, with less noon shade. Swim before the heat. It is calmer than the open beaches south, and it is not flat.
  • Sportfishing fleetBoats here leave early for a full day offshore. Ask the night before if one is going. Looking at the fleet does not put you on board.
  • Carara National ParkThe macaw park is a short hop north. Be there when it opens. Later the trail is hot and crowded, and this is not a place to leave the path.
  • Playa JacóThe town beach is a short ride south, longer than this bay and much busier. Use the cool morning. Shade on that sand goes once the sun is high.
  • Marina boardwalkWalk the docks even if you are not fishing. Crews will say what leaves the next morning. It is a marina, not a nature trail and not a beach.
  • Sunset chartersLate boats leave for a turn around the bay. Ask when they cast off, because it is not a fixed hour. Bring a layer. You are afloat, not on sand.
  • Playa HerraduraThe beach beside the bay is the swim, and some days it has a shore break. Check the water before you get in. Morning is calmer, and shade is thin.
  • Scarlet macaw morningScarlet macaws pass over the bay and the forest edge at first light. Be outside early. By midmorning they have settled, and are easy to miss.
  • Los Sueños golfThe course sits on the hill above the docks. It takes the cool part of the day, not a gap between swims. It is a round, not a beach walk.

The landscape is marina bay, rainforest hills, and beach. You are likely to see scarlet macaws, howler monkeys, crocodiles, pelicans and sportfish offshore. The plants around them are mangrove, beach almond and rainforest at the edge of Carara.

Around Marina Los Sueños, macaws are in the hills at first light, on the way to Carara. The marina at noon is boats. Pelicans work the bay, and the forest is not a walk from the dock.

Marina waste and bilge rules, Carara National Park beside the bay, and macaw conservation on the Herradura forest edge.

In Marina Los Sueños, stay on the trail and do not feed what you came to see. That is the rule that keeps this place the way it is.

The climate is tropical wet. It is hot, about 25–32°C. A shorter dry season from December to April. Heavy rain from May to November. Los Sueños sits at sea level.

In the greener months the morning is still usable, and the rain tends to wait until afternoon. The countrywide calendar is in the best time to visit Costa Rica.

Most people start at Juan Santamaría in Alajuela and continue by car. From the Central Valley, add time for the mountain roads.

The drive is simple until the last kilometers. Arrive in daylight if you do not know the road. Buses, shuttles, and rental cars are compared in getting around Costa Rica.