The ship docks at the end of a pier leading to the island Punatarenas. While this is not what people think of when they think of Costa Rica, it is probably more representative of a larger portion of the population of a country that survives on tourism. There are many tours we could have taken – Coffee plantation, zipline in the treetops, water sports, etc. – we’ve been there done that here. Instead, we disembark and enjoy walking around this spit of land.

The street vendors, located under blue tarps along the black sand beach, are setting up their stuff to sell to the ship’s passengers. They take pride in the display of their items – very nice and lots of colorful items for sale. The vendors are polite and very friendly. There are also a lot of independent taxi drivers attempting to sell you a 3 hour tour to see the sites beyond Puntarenas.

Leaving the tourist area, we walk to the square where the Cathedral built in 1850 is located. Sadly, the homeless are everywhere.

Since it’s early – just after 9 am – it is pretty quiet.

The church is very well-kept and beautiful. The first of many churches we will visit.

Outside in the square are some interesting sculptures. We don’t read Spanish so we have no idea what they are called. Still, amazing art in a rustic setting.

The restaurants along the beach are typical beach bars – too early to be open!

We stop and chat with a couple who are standing with the Jehovah’s Witnesses material. Turns out they moved here 6 years ago from Illinois – small world. They were asking a lot of questions about the world cruise and didn’t try to convert us 🙂

Arriving at the ship, some of the tours are disembarking and they are still setting up the water station that is always available when you return. It’s almost 90 degrees at 9:30 am – summer in Florida temperatures.

As I mentioned the first church, let me also mention this is the first medical team we’ve seen coming on board to take a passenger off.

Back to air conditioning and what we thought would be a quiet ship. Turns out it is the crew’s practice drill so they are ‘mustered’ around the ship. Interesting life we are living!