Isla Bolaños seabird boat trip

Bolaños is a bare rock of 25 hectares rising 81 metres out of Bahía Salinas, about 1.5 km off Punta Descartes, and it is the only place in Costa Rica where American oystercatchers are known to nest. Brown pelicans and magnificent frigatebirds breed on it too. The scrubby dry forest that covers it drops its leaves in the dry season.

The island has been a wildlife refuge since 1981 and is now part of Santa Rosa National Park. It sits right in front of Playa Coyotera and can be reached by boat or by kayak from the shore, and a few local outfits run trips around it. The bay is one of the windiest corners of the country from November to March, and humpback whales use it from August to December.