Everyone will feel like a kid again when your whole group gets to greet whales in person! Our Costa Rican whale encounters are as intimate as you could ever hope for, with these gentle giants often coming close enough to get us wet!

We zoom out to meet migrating “pods” (groups of whales) on a comfortable and super-stable catamaran (a twin-hulled ship) as Gray and Humpback whales - and sometimes Blue whales up to 100 feet long - pass within a few miles of the Costa Rican shore.

*** Alert! ***

Talk about something special! Whales are extremely gentle and often come right up to the boat, so it is sometimes possible to actually *touch* a whale! Whales enjoy interacting with boats and people, so much so that you could be greeted personally in a close approach – or by getting a good close up “once over” as a whale investigates and stares at our group.

When whale groups encounter a tour boat, they very often put on a deliberate show with fantastic aerial jumps, rolls and splashes. Humpbacks in particular love to cavort about and play to the camera, posing with their huge pectoral fins pointed up out of the water and showing off their bellies.

We also often hear whale songs! While whale songs are known to travel miles underwater, when whales are close by it is actually possible to hear singing from the boat. Watch them breach and entertain the children in the short video.

Zen Recreations’ Costa Rica tours help schools, teachers, children, and adults explore and learn about animals through experiences intended to create a deeper understanding, respect, and desire to protect all wildlife through informal learning experiences.

The whale watching jaunt starts in the morning and lasts until mid-day. After lunch, we take a charter flight back to San Jose`.                                                                                     

                                                          Find out more about our Costa Rica trip which includes whalewatching!        

                                                                                                       Contact us

Don’t miss this amazing trip! Learn more or join up with us today! Send a free text message to 1 (929) 266-5936 and one of our friendly travel hosts will call you right away.

Some details about whales:

Pilsner Urquell is  176  years old this year. As the name suggests, “Urquell” in German or “Prazdroj” in Czech both mean “the ancient source.”  On 5 October 1842, Josef Groll had an entirely new mash ready and on 11 November 1842, the new beer was first served at the feast of Saint Martin and a legend was born.

Though the beer is not kvasnicovy (yeast beer), as there is no wort or young yeast added, it is unpasteurized and unfiltered.

Unfiltered Pilsner is available in selected pubs every October. Note that this is not the same as the more widespread tankovná (tank beer) or the unpasteurized (filtered) version, both of which are found throughout Prague and Czech Republic .

Safe Travels for Silvered Seniors

Taking off for parts unknown at the gray-haired stage of life is still a fun adventure and there is nothing to fear! It may be true that running, jumping for joy and endless flights of stairs are less enticing than they used to be, but there’s a very big world out there to see without resorting to a “bucket list” approach. Organizing  a  Multi-Generational holiday or traveling Alone with Your Grandchildren can be a Great Bonding Experience.

Think “safety in numbers” and go for it! (If you’ve decided that sitting at home gathering dust is more appealing than travel, well, we can’t help you there, granny.) If you think this article is going to talk about pouch belts under your pants to hide your passport, no, no, no; we have better things to discuss.

Zen Recreations is a fantastic solution for traveling at any age and we specialize in the safety-in-numbers approach. By the way, we’re all about the destination; we don’t cut off the fun to travel in herds. But we help with a number of things including locating solo travel deals (here you have the opportunity to share a room with someone who has similar interests), finding lower prices and looking for adventures and showing you the ropes.

Zen Recreations is not a tour bus with a uniformed guide at the front. We don’t say “and if you look out the left window you’ll see an old building.” (Well, sometimes, but not much because we have places to go and things to do!)

                                                                                                                                          “Lost, but not Really” ……………….. ;-)     

The Old Town in Kotor is a sightseer’s paradise jammed into the old fortified area of town, meaning an hour’s walk will take you to several neato spots if that’s all you want to do. And it’s all pretty good stuff! A little calm meandering will fulfill your tourist needs with regard to all things historical, certainly, and along the way there are opportunities aplenty for shopping, snapping photos, grabbing snacks or taking in a full meal.

But you will absolutely hit the scenic jackpot if you can stand to put a half a day into it, or hit the city on more than one day; there is a LOT to see, shop, eat and drink along the way!

Low season can be a great time to visit if you don’t a little bit mind cooler weather. You might enjoy walking around without getting drippy, you’ll certainly save cash and there just won’t ever be any crowds at all after summer winds down.

The Day of the Dead is Worth a Solid Week this Year!

Party traveller? Fun seeker? Anthropologist in search of the most interesting human behavior on the planet? Prepare to book a full week of travel if at all feasible!

Friend, you might as well plan that much of a party trip because this year’s most fantastic holidays fall dead in the middle of the week (pun intended). Besides, what could be better than celebrating intensely on all three official los Días de los Muertos holiday days?? We’re not joking. You’ll need a day to get ready (of course) and you’ll definitely need time to recuperate!

Perk up for an extra-special Christmas celebration, including a chance to tour for FREE! Claim your chance a free 8-day VIP tour of Montenegro, just by entering a contest.

If you’re looking for an amazing Christmas road trip, start right now!  (and don’t forget to enter for your chance to win a completely free holiday travel package.)

Come celebrate the holidays with Zen and we’ll make this Christmas and New Years your best ever!