The Manuel Antonio Catamaran Tour, Boat by Boat

Every Manuel Antonio catamaran sails from Quepos. The boats leave Marina Pez Vela, the marina in the port town at the bottom of the hill, about ten minutes by road from the hotels in Manuel Antonio. They cruise south along the national park’s coast, anchor in Biesanz Bay to swim and snorkel, and serve a meal on the way back. Most trips take three and a half to four hours.

The trip this site recommends is Costa Rica Groups’ Catamaran Cruise with Meal, from about $95 a person on the booking platform when we checked in October 2026, with 187 reviews averaging 4.6. It collects you in Quepos and comes with a naturalist guide, water, juices and fruit, and lunch or dinner depending on when you sail. The listing calls the drinks an open bar; two guests this year were allowed six and eight drinks. Reviewers mention a slide, a jumping platform and pool noodles at the swim stop, and one noticed that most people aboard were families.

See dates for the catamaran cruise →

Quepos is where you board

People use the two names as if they were one place. Quepos is the working port town, with Marina Pez Vela, the municipal market and the bus terminal. Manuel Antonio is the strip of hotels and restaurants along the hill road, the beach at the park gate, and the national park itself, 5 to 6 km away. Every operator whose departure point we found sails from the marina in Quepos. We found no day cruise that boards from a Manuel Antonio beach.

That matters less than it sounds, because most boats come to you. Planet Dolphin collects from hotels in Quepos and Manuel Antonio 30 to 45 minutes before departure and charges extra outside that area. TUI picks up at Manuel Antonio hotels, and Faro needs your pickup point at booking or 24 hours ahead. Brisa Elegante has no pickup at all: you check in at its office in the marina’s main building.

If you haven’t booked a bed yet, choose for the rest of the trip, not the boat. Manuel Antonio is closer to the park and the beaches, has most of the restaurants and the hillside views, and costs more. Quepos is a regular Costa Rican town where you pay less and eat where locals eat. Manuel Antonio or Quepos goes into the trade-offs.

One listing’s web address says “puntarenas”. That is the province both places sit in. The port city of Puntarenas is somewhere else, far to the north on the Gulf of Nicoya, and it’s where the Tortuga Island catamarans start.

Four catamarans and a sailing ship

Five of the six trips sold here are half days from Quepos, the recommended cruise included. What separates them is mostly the boat and what the drinks cover.

Planet Dolphin sells a trip on its own boat. The All-Inclusive Catamaran Eco Adventure with Lunch starts at about $93, has 45 reviews averaging 4.6, and lasts three and a half hours, with snorkel gear, waterslides and trampoline nets. The operator says its Manuel Antonio catamaran, Tom Cat, holds 150 guests. “All-inclusive” here means lunch, coffee, fruit and juices plus a limited number of drinks: beer is sold at $1, fizzy drinks are extra, and towels aren’t provided. The trip is stroller accessible, and the operator carries life jackets in all sizes.

Faro Travel’s Catamaran Cruise to Biesanz Bay with Lunch starts at about $145, with 12 reviews averaging 4.5, most of the written ones from 2023. Lunch is grilled fish brochettes with pasta salad and fruit. Live music and photos are included; alcohol isn’t. One guest thought the time for snorkelling and the slides was short.

TUI’s Catamaran Adventure including Lunch starts at about $130 and has three reviews so far, all five stars. It collects from Manuel Antonio hotels, serves a grilled lunch and snacks, and leaves out alcohol. It runs only with at least four travellers; if that minimum isn’t met, you choose between a refund and another date.

Brisa Elegante is the one that isn’t a catamaran. It is a 100-foot, two-masted wooden gulet, built in Turkey and launched in 2010, and it takes up to 46 guests, where the big catamarans carry a hundred or more. It follows the coast for about two hours, then anchors near Playa Biesanz for an hour of swimming, snorkelling, kayaking and paddleboarding. The chef cooks the meal on board, with fish, chicken, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. A welcome cocktail is included and other drinks are sold at the bar. It starts at about $148, with 104 reviews averaging 4.9. It leaves on time, with no refund if you miss it, and in our October check it showed no dates before 4 November 2026. Catamaran or sailboat compares the two kinds of boat.

The sixth trip is a different day altogether. GTC Costa Rica’s Catamaran Adventure in Manuel Antonio, about $170 with no reviews yet, collects you in San José, Alajuela or Heredia. It stops for breakfast in Orotina and at the Tárcoles River bridge to look for crocodiles, then puts you aboard the Ocean King, a 100-foot, two-deck catamaran with two Jacuzzis and waterslides. Four alcoholic drinks are included, and the day ends with free time at Playa Espadilla, the public beach outside the park gate. Manuel Antonio is about three hours from San José by road each way, so this suits travellers who won’t sleep on the coast. Its listing promises snorkelling on a coral reef. The stops on this coast are rocky.

Pick the one that fits your trip:

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.

Morning or sunset

Morning boats leave around 8 or 9 am and serve lunch. Afternoon boats leave around 1 or 2 pm, serve dinner and are timed to finish around sunset. On the recommended cruise you choose: the operator asks for your preferred time when you book.

The season decides more than the hour. From December to April, the dry season, boats sail mornings and afternoons, the sea is usually calmer and the water clearer, and the afternoon sailing ends with the sunset. From May to November rain falls mostly in the afternoon and early evening, September and October are the wettest months, and some boats sail mornings only. Sunset sailings run reliably in the dry season; in the rainy months, check the calendar before you plan around one. The sunset catamaran guide covers the timing.

The park gives you one more reason to pick a day. Manuel Antonio National Park opens at 7 am and is closed on Tuesdays, which makes Tuesday a natural boat day. In the dry season you can walk the park in the morning and still make a 2 pm sailing.

What the price covers

Every trip here includes a meal and a stop to swim, and most include snorkel gear and a hotel pickup in Quepos or Manuel Antonio. Drinks are where the listings part ways, and “open bar” or “all-inclusive” always means an allowance:

• Costa Rica Groups: water and juices, plus drinks with a limit (six and eight, for two guests this year).
• Planet Dolphin: lunch, juices and a limited number of drinks; beer costs $1 and fizzy drinks are extra.
• GTC’s Ocean King day: unlimited soft drinks and four alcoholic ones.
• Brisa Elegante: a welcome cocktail, soft drinks and coffee, with a paid bar for the rest.
• Faro and TUI: no alcohol included.

No trip here includes entry to Manuel Antonio National Park, and none lands you in it; the Biesanz Bay swim stop lies outside the paid park. Park tickets are sold only online, through SINAC, at $18.08 for a foreign adult when we checked. Tips aren’t included on any of the six either. Bring some cash for the crew, along with a towel, reef-safe sunscreen and a change of clothes.

Dolphins, whales and the snorkel stop

Dolphins turn up on many trips, mostly pantropical spotted dolphins and then bottlenose, but no boat can promise them. Planet Dolphin says as much itself, and a guest on the recommended cruise in July 2026 saw neither whales nor dolphins. Sea turtles appear now and then. Brown pelicans, frigatebirds and brown boobies are on every operator’s list.

Humpback whales pass twice a year: roughly July to October, best in August and September, and again from December to March. A cruise in those months is your best chance. One guest on the recommended catamaran saw five whales at once in January 2026, and a Planet Dolphin guest saw a whale with her calf in August. Outside those windows, don’t count on one. Dolphins and whales in Manuel Antonio has more on both.

The snorkel stop is Biesanz Bay, a sheltered rocky cove under forested cliffs. It is not a coral reef. Expect angelfish and parrotfish, sergeant majors 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.

If a whale is the whole point of your trip, the Whale’s Tail sandbar belongs to Marino Ballena National Park near Uvita, about an hour’s drive south. That’s a separate trip.

The sinking people ask about

The catamaran sinking people still search for happened on 8 January 2015, when the Pura Vida Princess capsized in sudden high winds off Punta Leona, north of Jacó, on a day cruise to Tortuga Island. Three passengers died and 106 people were rescued. Costa Rica’s judicial police later found no negligence and put it down to natural causes. It wasn’t a Manuel Antonio boat, and none of the operators on this page was involved.

Catamarans are very steady in normal seas because the two hulls sit far apart, so they lean much less than a sailboat. They can still capsize in extreme weather, which is why the crew’s call on whether to sail matters more than the shape of the boat. Listen to the safety briefing and know where the life jackets are.

If you get seasick, take your usual remedy before boarding and pick a dry-season date if you can. The recommended cruise lists itself as unsuitable for people prone to seasickness, and also for pregnant travellers and anyone with back problems. Is a Manuel Antonio catamaran tour safe? has the rest.

Who it suits

For most visitors this is an easy half day: the park’s coast from the water, a swim, a meal and dolphins on many trips, with whales as the seasonal bonus. Families do well on the big catamarans with slides and nets. If you’d rather share the deck with fewer people, Brisa Elegante takes 46 at most, with dates from 4 November in our check.

If whales are the point, book between July and October or between December and March. In September and October, sail in the morning. And if you came for monkeys, give the national park a morning of its own: white-faced capuchins, mantled howlers and squirrel monkeys live there, and no boat goes in. Is the Manuel Antonio catamaran tour worth it? weighs the boat against the other ways to spend the day.

Check availability for the catamaran →