Morning or Sunset Catamaran in Manuel Antonio?

Between December and April, take the sunset sailing. The afternoon boats leave Marina Pez Vela in Quepos at around 1 or 2 pm, anchor in a bay to swim, serve dinner on the way back and reach the marina as the sun goes down. From May to November the answer flips. Rain on this coast falls mainly in the afternoon and early evening, some boats stop running the afternoon trip, and the morning sailing is the better pick.

The catamaran pinned below is the Costa Rica Groups trip on Iguana Tours’ catamaran, the most-reviewed of the six trips we compare: 187 reviews, averaging 4.6. Its listing includes lunch or dinner depending on when you sail, a naturalist guide and round-trip transport from Quepos. It asks for your preferred time, and for your hotel at least 24 hours ahead. It costs from about $95 on the booking platform.

Same route, two departures

Every operator we found sails from Marina Pez Vela, about ten minutes by road below the hotels on the Manuel Antonio hill. The route doesn’t change with the clock: south along the national park’s coast, past small rocky islands, into Biesanz Bay to swim and snorkel, and back with the meal. Most trips take three and a half to four hours. None of them enters the park or includes park entry.

Why sunset sailings follow the dry season

Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is dry from December to April and wet from May to November, and September and October are the wettest months. The rain arrives mostly in the afternoon and early evening, which is exactly when a sunset boat is out.

Operators adjust to it. One local guide reports that in the rainy months the afternoon tour stops and only the morning boat sails. Another boat offers a single departure time at some points in the year, depending on the season and on bookings. Brisa Elegante, the wooden sailing ship, runs a single 9:30 am “September Cruise” early in September, then is out of the water for its annual maintenance until 4 November.

Sunset sailings run reliably in the dry season. In the rainy months, check the calendar before you build an evening around one.

What else changes

The swim stop is the same cove either way, a sheltered rocky bay with angelfish, parrotfish and the odd moray eel in the rocks. From December to April the water is usually clear. After heavy rain it clouds over, and the swim and the waterslide become the main event.

For wildlife, we found nothing showing that one departure sees more than the other. Dolphins are around all year and humpbacks pass twice a year, roughly July to October and December to March, and no boat can promise either. One January reviewer on the pinned trip saw five whales at once, then the sunset. The dolphins and whales guide goes through the months.

On heat, the two are closer than they sound. The morning boat is out until around midday or 1 pm and the afternoon boat leaves at 1 or 2, so both spend the middle of the day on deck. Bring a hat and biodegradable sunscreen whichever you pick.

The meal follows the clock: lunch in the morning, dinner in the afternoon. On the pinned catamaran, drinks are included up to a limit; reviewers counted six on one trip and up to eight on another.

Pairing it with the national park

The afternoon sailing fits neatly after a morning in Manuel Antonio National Park. The park opens at 7 am and guided walks finish around midday, so a 2 pm boat is easy to make in the dry season. The park is closed on Tuesdays, which makes Tuesday a natural boat day in any season. Tickets are sold online only, through SINAC, at $18.08 for a foreign adult. In the green season, when the afternoon sailing may not run, do the park and the boat on different mornings.

A sunset on a sailing ship

If the sunset is the point and a wooden ship appeals more than a catamaran, B E Cruises runs a sunset cruise on Brisa Elegante, a 100-foot, two-masted gulet built in Turkey. You check in at its office in the marina at 1 pm, dinner is cooked on board, and the ship sails into the sunset afterwards. The catamaran or sailboat guide sets the two kinds of boat side by side.

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check; operators use seasonal pricing, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Whether the trip is worth the money is weighed in is the Manuel Antonio catamaran tour worth it, and the homepage lines up every boat.

Times from the operators’ listings and sites; seasons from Costa Rica’s tourism board; park rules from SINAC. Checked October 2026.