Manzanillo Vacation Rental Evaluations
Coral Reef House / Dolphin Lodge
To send your own comments after visiting one of the houses, click here.
We recently stayed at the Dolphin Lodge (which abuts The Coral Reef House) in
Manzanillo and had the most amazing vacation of our lives. We spent eight
nights exploring the area and relaxing on the beach, which is a one minute
walk away! Our family consists of husband, wife and three children ages 3, 7,
and 8. Being close to the beach was what we wanted and what we got! We had
fantastic weather, it only rained at night, which sounded lovely on the metal
roof. The owners and manager Dolphi were extremely helpful in setting up our
rental car, jungle tour, and even women to cook for us. The house was a clean
and comfortable beach house. The beach is very safe for children which was a
concern of ours, since Costa Rica is known for its riptides.
> Some of the highlights of our trip were:
> The jungle tour with Tino. He was so knowledgeable and patient with our
children. We saw so much wildlife, snakes, spiders, bats, flora, monkeys. We
even got to eat sugar cane, which our children loved.
> Having Trina and Marme cooking for us. It truly was a vacation having these
lovely ladies cooking delicious authentic cuisine for us, and then cleaning up
afterward. Eating out with small children can be difficult so having our meals
at the house for a large portion of our vacation was wonderful.
> This is a beautiful location, where one can truly relax. This is not a beach
house with all the bells and whistles there is no tv and no phone. This is a
place to relax and reconnect with your family or loved ones, which is what we
wanted. We enjoyed relaxing at night with the kids all nestled in bed under
their mosquito nets while my husband and I enjoyed a glass of wine, or a rum
concoction on the deck listening to the waves. The mosquito nets weren't
necessary but a very nice novelty and the kids loved it. When we felt like
experiencing some culture and shopping we drove into Puerto Viejo which was
about 8 miles away, but because of the road conditions takes about half an
hour. It's a cute beach surf town, very hippie and laid back, tons of shops,
places to eat, fruit stands, and great people watching.
> There weren't very many negatives about the house or Costa Rica. Mainly
eating out could be a challenge with small children because service can be
very slow. We just had to keep in mind were on vacation so what's the hurry.
We were lucky our kids were on their best behavior at the restaurants we went
to.
> All in all I would recommend going to Manzanillo for a relaxing vacation. We
hope to go back in a few years and see more of what this beautiful country has
to offer. David, Feb 2011
In as far as Manzanillo is concerned we can highly recommend the lodge and guides we use every year September for our trips. We are the booking agents in Southern Africa for the lodge and we can handle all bookings, arranging of guides etc.
Dear Paul,
I wanted to let you know that my wife and I along with our friends Gwil and
Kathy had a wonderful time at the Coral Reef House in February. It
was great to be there while Pennsylvania was being buried with 3 – 4 feet of
snow. We had a great time hiking,
swimming, bird watching, and of course, visiting Maxi’s. Our
4 hour guided hike with Tino was awesome.
Thanks,
Doug February 2010
Paul,
Just wanted to let you know that my family and I had a great time in Costa
Rica. What an experience staying "away from it all". We loved it. Dolfi was
great and so was Tino. Thanks for recommending him as a guide. Your Web site
was helpful in so many ways. Thanks for everything. Kerry
July 2008
"Hi Paul,
Just letting you know we had a fantastic holiday in Costa
Rica. Dolphin Lodge was perfect for our family and Dolphi was brilliant in
organizing things for us.
Thank you for recommending the Costa Verde and Leo's shuttle
service. Both were excellent. Leo was very reliable in having us picked up
and taken to various parts of the country.
"Hello Paul, We had a fantastic time at the Dolphin House! It rained 2 days straight when we got there, but then cleared and was gorgeous. The river crossing was up to our waists, adding to the adventure. Tino was a fantastic rainforest guide, very knowledgeable and speaks great English. Thanks for the recommendation..." Marc November 2004, Ratings below:
"Dophi, I was one of the teachers with the second
Expedition Company group to stay at Manzanillo. This is just a quick note to
say thankyou for a wonderful stay at the Dolphin Foundation. We were made to
feel very welcome and appreciate your hard work in making it such an enjoyable
stay with a wide range of activities. I hope you have managed to get some rest
now that we have returned to England!"
Dear Jim,
Finally enough time to write and tell you what a great time we had in
Manzanillo. Everyone is in complete agreement that this was by far the
most memorable vacation we have ever experienced. ....
We all agreed it was the most memorable vacation we have every
experienced. Fording the stream with our rental van and wending our way
through the palms in the pitch dark on the horse trail at the end of the
arrival trip was memorable. It took a few days to get into rhythm but with
Dolfi's help and advice we did. We fished with Carlos at least a half day
every day except perhaps two. With the exception of two half days the
weather was beautiful. We jumped tarpon almost every trip and everyone got
at lest one to the boat. On our best day we jumped 13-15 and got three to
the boat (two were in the 80-90 pound range). We had great fun catching a
ton of jack, many of them very large compared to what we catch in Florida.
The fly fisherman among us were elated. The rest of us spent our evenings
replacing straightened hooks or otherwise trying to repair our favorite
lures. We had no idea that tarpon and jack could destroy lures so
easily. Other than jack and tarpon we caught one mackerel, one barracuda,
one shark and a 21 pound snook (Andy) just behind the breakers at the river
mouth, apparently a rare feat. After arm wrestling with Willie we
retrieved some of the snook and Dolfi cooked it up and it was
delicious. Fishing in the Gandoca estuary was not productive and quickly
abandoned. Trolling over the deeper reefs was similarly unproductive.
We all enjoyed the locale, meeting lots of friendly and informative local
folks and traveling to Cuhita??, Puerto Viejo, and other places along the
coast. The accommodations were fine and as advertised. ... Even with our
hectic pace, there are lots of things we didn't get a chance to experience
which bodes well for a return. For all of us it was a unique experience
and one we will not soon forget. We each have our indelible memories ( for
myself it was taking a newcomer we met a Maxis out for his first tarpon
fishing trip (a New Zealander circling the world with his girlfriend who
had never heard of tarpon before) and watching as a 90 pound tarpon erupted
out of the side of a swell just seconds after the two others fishing had
great hits. We all looked at each other and yelled "who has the
tarpon?". As luck would have it, it was the newcomer; my son-in-law and I
had giant jack. For my wife Betsy, it was taking a large wave over the bow
of Carlos' boat (thank god it was the bow) while fishing in the river mouth
and surviving intact and still in the boat. I insisted that Carlos buy her
a drink at Maxis that evening which we christened an "over the bow" (cafe
rica, baileys, milk and ice. When well-shaken it is white and frothy just
like the wave.). All in all it was a great and memorable experience for
everyone, and justified our decision to take a vacation in an unusual place
with few if any tourists.
Thanks for all your help in setting this up and making it happen and to
Paul as well. I hope we get a chance to meet. Once our recovery is complete,
I am looking forward to a return.
Best regards, Larry. June 2003