Humpback Whale-Watching for your next Costa Rica Trip

Have you been wanting to take a trip to visit Costa Rica? If you answered "yes" to this question, then you may want to add whale-watching to you activity list. This may seem like a new and unusual idea in comparison to the usual Costa Rican beaches and mountain trips, but this new activity is becoming more and more common in Costa Rica.

The prime time to see these incredible animales is from August through October on the Southern Coast, and from December through April on the Northern Coast. You will be able to spot the beautiful humpback whale in Costa Rica. These whales are used to spending the summer months in the Northern waters and swimming down to the tropical waters for the winter months.

Costa Rica now has over 50 tour companies that specialize in whale-watching. Costa Rica welcomed over 100,000 tourists last year specifically to view these whales, and this year had a huge increase of whale-watching visitors. During the past 10 years there has been a 74% increase in Costa Rican tourism of whales, the largest increase in all Latin America.

The Ballena National Park was opened with the idea of safeguarding these precious creatures and providing them with a safe area for their reproduction. This park can be found in the Southern Pacific Coast, close to Punta Uvita, Puntarenas. The Ballena National park protects area of Costa Rica land and ocean. Since 1967, the humpback whale has been a protected species and estimates state that there are over 10,000 whales around the world.

North America’s economic crisis not affecting Costa Rica’s land

One would suspect with the economic crisis that the United States is having recently, Costa Rica’s properties would be negatively affected. According to some well-respected real estate agents, this could be a misconception. During the last five years or so, the real estate market in Costa Rica has been booming. Most of this is due in part to North Americans travelling to Costa Rica with bundles of cash, ready to purchase anything on the market from lots to condos or even beach properties.

In recent times, things seemed to have changed; due in part to decreasing stock markets and higher interest rates from lending banks. The state of the Costa Rican real estate, one might think, could be taking a turn for the worse. Not so, say some very qualified real estate agents. One negative factor of the big real estate “boom” was the fact that many new agents were selling high priced properties, now things are beginning to level off. What will happen with an overpriced property is, it will sit on the market for a long time, the seller will have to decrease the price, and then it will finally sell when the property owner becomes more realistic.

Another concern, potential land purchasers, are faced with is the increasing cost of construction materials. The costs of raw materials are definitely on the rise, but this is true in all countries not just in Costa Rica’s market. Even with these rising costs, Costa Rica still has a very inexpensive price-per-square foot to construct and is a big enticement for baby boomers and other people looking for a long term property investment. Several economy experts claim that the real estate market in Costa Rica will start to increase sooner or later, when the price of construction materials lessens or stops rising. Potential real estate buyers, property owners, and real estate agents have no reason for concern. Things have just made a full circle and are just like they were 5 years ago, before the big real estate “boom”.