Manzanillo Vacation Rental Evaluations

Coral Reef House / Dolphin Lodge

 

To send your own comments after visiting one of the houses, click here.

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

"Paul,
I have been searching for time to sit down and write to you and I have finally found it.  Like any vacation we came home to a ton of things to get done.  But, I just wanted to let you know that we had SUCH A GREAT TIME IN COSTA RICA!!!  Dolphi was EXCELLENT and Patricia cooked us the greatest meals.  We have not one complaint about our entire visit.  We definitely recommend to ANY adventure seeker the zip line tour it was awesome.  Thank you again for everything.
Can you send me Dolphi's e-mail again, I want to send him some pictures and thank him as well."
Emillye  March 2005
 

"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. 

     It was good to be home after 3 weeks but now I'm ready to go again!  Our next big adventure is driving across Canada (one way!) this summer."
Cheers,  Jill,  March 2005

"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:

On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), please rate the following:
1. Cleanliness when you arrived: 10
2. Cleanliness while you were there: 10
3. Friendliness of staff: 11 :)
4. General ambiance; e.g. tranquility, setting, location, surrounding area (be specific): 10 The location was very tranquil and offered easy access to the beaches and rainforest.
5. Functionality and general condition of house:  8 There were a couple times the shower lost pressure and stopped functioning (with soap in hair).  6. Location: 10
7. Amenities - level of equipment/supplies at house accurate according to web site? Suggestions for other amenities?  9 I think it would be nice to have a stereo with some outside speakers in the common area, but there may be issues with the neighbors.  More dish towels and non-stick pans would be nice.
8. If applicable, please rate the cooking: 10 Dolphi cooked for us one night and it was a great meal.


 "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!"

Lars  August 2003


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