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Dolphin superpods et quetzal bird 2026
Costa Rica
The dolphin leg of this trip is a 6d luxury expedition on a superb yacht tracking down massive aggregations of spinner dolphins to swim and interact with them. These superpods sometimes number more than 5000 individuals!
The quetzal leg happens in the pristine forest of the Central Costa Rica. February and march are the dry months and the perfect season to see the mythical quetzal bird, known to be the Quetzalcoatl Aztec god (the feathered snake)
Spinner dolphins use to range up and down the Pacific coast of Costa Rica especially in February and march.
We'll leave and return out of Puntarenas which make for easy acces to San Jose International Airport (SJO airport).
The key to success for our expeditions is using upgraded underwater scooters, which we ride at the dolphins' speed and that entice them to engage with us. The dolphins love following the scooters and will stay nearby, playing, feeding, and sometimes hunting.
Often, the entire pod will change direction to be near the scooter. Just imagine thousands of dolphins chasing you! As with most animals, their interest in the scooter depends on their mood, but we find that more often than not, they enjoy the scooters and willfully interact with it.
In addition to the spinner dolphins expedition we also offer the possibility to discover the pristine dry forest of the central Vally of Costa Rica. These forests are particularly rich in wildlife, and a bird lover paradise. We'll settle down in one of the best lodges of the area to try to get the famous and elusive quetzal bird.
Schedule :
Our dolphin trip just ended on Feb 28th and we have our last night in Puntarenas.
after breakfast on March 1st we'll leave by car to the Central Valley, about 3-4h drive.
We'll arrive around noon.
After lunch we'll go for a first quetzal quest, with local guides.
We’ll then enjoy the beautiful sunset from the lodge, before diner.
The lodge itself is a gem. We can enjoy a hummingbird feeding station and admire the mesmerizing activity of the smallest bird of the world.
march 2nd : we go for 2 quetzal quests by morning.
Each one lasts 2h, the first one is at 5.30. Then we’ll do the other one after breackfast at 8.30.
If you prefer only one it’s up to you, we can adapt.
By afternoon we may do a guided 6h hike dedicated to bird observation.
March 3rd : we’ll do one or 2 quetzal quests for sure but for this day the plan is not sure yet, I’m looking for something a bit different but dedicated to quetzal too. Let’s say it’ll be a surprise.
March 4th: we can go for one or 2 quetzal quests before the check out.
It’s the end of the trip.
You can arrange a private transportation to come back to San Jose, I can suggest you some good companies if you want.
This extension costs 2100$.
Including :
-transport Puntarenas-quetzal lodge
-4d/3n in the lodge
-all meals in the lodge
-7 or 8 guided quetzal trips (2h)
-a 6h guided hike for birding
-a surprise activity
Excluding :
- drinks
-transportation from the lodge on the last day
-hotel in Puntarenas
Schedule :
Day 1: Arrive to SJO anytime with overnight stay either near the airport or in Puntarenas and stay near the yacht. Arrange a hotel as you prefer. I usually stay this night at Hotel Cayuga in Puntarenas . Uber works in Costa Rica or Ingrid is a good local driver who you can reach on WhatsApp at +506 8739 5265 to arrange a ride well in advance one you know your flights.
Day 2: Depart at 8:30am on the boat to head out to find the dolphin pod.
Day 3, 4, 5: At sea with dolphins.
Day 6: At sea with dolphins then come back in the afternoon to Puntarenas. You can choose to stay in Puntarenas this evening (I will stay at Hotel Cayuga), or depart.
Cost of the dolphin trip :
$7000 per person per person. Includes accommodation on the boat with all meals, second chase boat, 2 scooters, permit fees, and 5 crew members.
What is not included:
Airfare SJO and transit to/from Puntarenas and any hotel nights before or after.
Occasionally the dolphins will get a group of lanternfish trapped at the surface and other predators will come to join them. Other predators include: mahi, mobula rays, marlin, silky sharks, tuna, and others. Video of what that looks like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vwY1bN6bx8. These encounters are not guaranteed, but it does, and can happen!
In 2023, in addition to the dolphins,we also saw and swam with orca, sperm whales, pilot whales, yellowfin tuna, mahi, marlin, silky sharks and massive schools of mobula rays.
Logistics:
We depart from Puntarenas on the mothership and use it as our base. Along with the mothership, we bring a 25ft dual outboard speedboat in order to be nimble around the dolphins. The mothership has four bedrooms with ten total bed spaces and four bathrooms with showers. The dolphins are normally 15 to 30 kilometers (10 to 15 miles) offshore. It's not that far out, however, we have to rapid charge the scooters and will need a mothership to be our home base.
We will stay five days and four nights on the mothership, with a cook to make all of our meals. This exclusive luxury expedition is limited to a small number of guests, four or five at the most, making it easy to accommodate any food preferences, allergies, etc. Some days we catch tuna or mahi from the yacht and eat that in various forms (ceviche, carpaccio, steaks, etc).
The boat has Starlink high speed internet with 300GB of data. More data can be added if needed at an additional cost.
here is a link to what we can expect on a typical day :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i3p1_XnkrZs6IEIpRISG2GhtrmylmkYU/view
A typical day :
On the first day, we leave Puntarenas at 8am and head out to find the dolphins. Hopefully we find some this first day, and if we do we load the scooters into the tender and go out and try to interact with them. We then head back to the yacht, have dinner and go to bed early to be ready for the next day. The captain and two other crew members will wake up early, typically 5:30am, and begin looking for the pods using the radar and binoculars. Some days we find them at 6am, some days they are spotted later.
Finding dolphins everyday isn't a guarantee but on our last trips we found them everyday. If we locate them early, we will get up and go interact with them before breakfast. Otherwise, we will eat breakfast and then load into the zodiac with the scooters and go to the pod. The scooters last about an hour each of continuous run time, and we find that each person usually gets a bit tired after about 15 minutes of continuous riding with the dolphins. When one person is tired, we change riders.
With two scooters and only a few guests, there is plenty of scooter time per person in the day. The scooters take approximately an hour to recharge, so if we find the dolphins early, we can often get 4 or 5 rounds in the zodiac with the scooters in a day. If someone has the energy for more encounters, we use the normal scooter, subwing or other toys to stay entertained while the main scooters charge up.
We are on the yacht five days and four nights, depending on where the dolphins are when we leave them, on the last day we usually arrive in Puntarenas fairly early in the afternoon. On the last night people either stay at a hotel in Puntarenas before departing the next day head off to explore other parts of Costa Rica once we dock. See the schedule below.
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