Summers are best spent outside, setting out as soon as the sun breaks the horizon to find friends for long days of adventure, and returning home for dinner with minds racing and full of new discoveries. And there’s no place better for a kid to spend summer than Las Catalinas.
Walkable streets offer the world’s best hide-and-seek, trails through tropical forests invite endless exploration and exciting bike rides, and the sparkling waves of Playa Danta welcome play in the surf or a journey out into the cove.
This summer, ConnectOcean is inviting kids aged 8 to 14 to participate in one-week Explorer Camps, a chance to set out among the shores, mangroves, rivers, and reefs of Guanacaste with the explorers, naturalists, and lifesavers who protect the natural world around Las Catalinas.
Each ConnectOcean Explorer Camp runs five days, each of which feature different activities, environments, and ecosystems. Explorers can join for daily drop-ins, or jump into all five days of adventure and experience:
Explorers set out into the waters offshore of Las Catalinas and swim to some of the area’s best snorkeling sites, where ancient volcanic rock creates homes for hundreds of species of fish.
Explorers set out onto the trail to Playa Dantita, learning about Costa Rica’s tropical dry forest (one of only two in the world) before getting to know their new friends through a series of fun beach team building activities.
The team sets out in an artisan watercraft, venturing into otherwise unreachable mangroves in the heart of Las Baulas National Park. It’s a look into the wildlife that thrives in one of the world’s strangest and most important ecosystems, and includes a short hike as well.
After learning about this important ecosystem, explorers return to the beach to do their part protecting them, taking part in a lively beach clean up with prizes for most items, most interesting items, and most enthusiasm.
This day of adventure takes explorers out onto the open sea, where the team searches for whales, dolphins, and manta rays as they learn about life far beyond the shore. A day spent watching birds on the ocean breeze, enjoying the sun on the waves, and diving under the surface to see the life that’s waiting.
There’s a whole world of life that exists between the high and low tide lines, and on this adventure day explorers work with ConnectOcean naturalists on Playa Danta to find it.
Afterward, the team learns about situational awareness, building competence in the water, and identifying/avoiding ocean hazards so that they can help protect another important intertidal creature -- people!
In all, the ConnectOcean Explorer Camp is five days packed full of exciting adventure, eye opening exploration, and fun with friends in one of the world’s liveliest natural playgrounds. Explorers will come home with stories to share, memories made alongside new friends, continuing curiosity about the natural world, and a lifelong love for the ocean.
ConnectOcean Expeditions is a PADI certified diving school and Marine Ecology Center that offers an Open Water Certification Course with access to some of the best diving experiences in Costa Rica and education about the conservation of the country's vibrant aquatic ecosystem.
This year, the camps will be offered in five sessions, with three in June and two in July. Dates are:
Pricing is as follows: