Guanacaste
Playa Ocotal is and attractive but small beach 3 - 4 km southwest of Playas del Coco. It is the cleanest and quietest beach in the area, offering good swimming and snorkelling. SCUBA diving is available, and nearby Catalina island is a recommended diving spot; it's the best place to see huge schools of rays, including the giant manta ray. Accommodations are good but not cheap. Camping is possible but not that common; be discrete and you'll have a better time. The south end of the beach is recommended for snorkelling.
The sea air is tinged with a whitish mist that many healers believe to be rich in negative ions, small particles charged with electricity that have beneficial effects on people animals and plants. The advantage of Ocotal is that this idyllic beach combines this kind of energy with hours and hours of brilliant sunshine, a mild climate and the warm inviting waters of the blue sea. Indeed, during the dry season (December-April) there are 9 hours of sun a day and there can be 4-5 during the rainy or green season.
Ocotal is the gate to the Gulf of Papagayo. It is a small beach of 700 mts. protected by hills and cliffs af sedimentary metamorphic rocks of 80 million years of age. Its clear sands mixed with scarce rock formations and the dry forests of the hills. Together with Cirial Point to the west and La Flor Peak to the north, it is a site of outstanding scenic beauty where the shimmering sands are dotted with mounds of rocks, the hills covered with tropical dry forest and the jagged coastline forever battered by the pounding surf.
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