Damas Mangrove Boat Tour

Our guide was excellent, giving great commentary from hotel pick up to Damas and on boat. Delicious fruit, lunch and juice. Captain Freddy was a super spotter too. Saw monkeys, bats, boa and numerous birds. Good length trip.

This was a pretty nice tour through the Damas mangroves. Juan, our guide was pretty funny and engaging. We saw a decent amount of wildlife, including a troop of capuchins. It might have been a tad too long, but it was still good overall. We had a nice dinner of chicken fajitas afterward.

We had an amazing experience with Iguana Tours! We took the Damas mangrove boat tour at night with our family of four with two small children. Honestly, it was one of my favorite parts of our whole trip! Our bilingual guide was very charismatic and educational, and the environment was so unique, dense, and unforgettable! We saw crocodiles, lots of very young iguanas, and hundreds of crabs in every color imaginable! A truly special experience on a river at night, and a very different glimpse of this amazing region than some of the more crowded adventures. There was even a delicious meal included afterward! Highly recommended!

Juan was a fantastic guide! He is well educated and gave us so much information about the area on the drive, as well as the mangrove. His English is fantastic also.

This trip duration could have honestly been cut in half. I found it incredibly boring. If anyone hadn’t already seen the capuchin monkeys that are plentiful throughout the area, they would appreciate that part of the boat ride. Otherwise all we saw were a few single bird specials and the actual mangrove trees and that is it. I was led to believe we would almost be guaranteed to see crocs and rainbow boas from the description of the tour that my hotel shared with me. This is not worth the money at all. The boat seats are incredibly uncomfortable. Everyone was complaining about it after the ride. They could invest in some cushions. Our guide was Monica and although she was friendly and seemed knowledgeable and her English was great, she had little to point out to us. There were very long periods of complete silence. Not her fault at all. There were 10 tourists on the boat. They were going to feed us dinner at their office afterwards and 6 of us asked them if they could just return us to our hotels rather than sticking around for a meal. I would suspect everyone was just done…bored out of their heads. I think most of us would much rather prefer to select where and what we eat so it’s an unnecessary add on. At least charge people less, do an hour long mangrove tour and get people back to civilization. If there were bountiful crocs, boas or anteaters it would be a completely different story. Our guide even told us it’s rare to see a croc, so why is it advertised in the e-brochure through my hotel property (Parador)? Dissappointed and wasted half a day.

Juan Castro and Monica Thurman who were our guides are very attentive, during the tour is impressive as they see the animals and their knowledge about these is very good. It is definitely a tour that those who visit Manuel Antonio should take.

We took the tour of the mangrove ladies, we were guided by Monica Thurman and it was spectacular, I totally recommend it, great experience and the guide is very professional.

Raul is an amazing guide! Very kind and knowledgable. He even helped us find a great guide in another part of Costa Rica after our trip. Freddie was a skilled boat captain and our trip through the mangroves was everything we hoped for!

We had a wonderful experience that we highly recommend to everyone. The safari was a perfect blend of relaxation and fascinating insights about everything we saw. Juan Castro was the perfect guide for this type of adventure – the kind of person who will definitely come to mind whenever we hear someone mention Costa Rica.

Amazing experience! Juan Castro (and company) were fun, informative, and knowledgeable of local flora and fauna! He (and the boat driver) found some UNfindable animals, such as the silky anteater! Cannot recommend enough!

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