Kayaking and Snorkeling at Chora Island (Isla Chora) is an excellent combination tour to kayak to a beautiful tropical island near Samara, Costa Rica where you can then go snorkeling. Although it is a popular destination for tours, it remains relatively unpopulated with its white sand beach and clear waters for underwater observation. Ocean kayaking provides a good workout and allows you the liberating experience of being out on the open sea.
On this tour, your will be picked up from your hotel and driven down to the beach at the town of Samara circling a sandy cove and shaded by tropical palm trees. Upon arrival, your guide will launch the open sea kayaks into the water, and with a partner you will settle into the kayak seats with lifejackets and paddles. Riding in a double kayak is more fun and a lot easier than a single kayak because you’ll move more powerfully through the gentle waves. Plus it’s fun to share the experience with a fellow traveler or loved one.
Your guide will paddle along with you to ensure your safety and show you where to go. When you make it across the bay to Chora Island you can pull up onto the beach and your guide will help you out of your kayak. Next you will receive high quality, well maintained snorkeling gear for your underwater journey.
The turquoise ocean water in this area is typically crystal clear and calm, with excellent visibility for snorkeling during most times of year. Your guide will swim along with you and point out the marine life living in this seemingly quiet world. Many varieties of colorful tropical fish, sea turtles, star fish, octopus, eels and interesting looking blowfish, to name a few, make their home here. Depending on the time of year and visibility, you may also stop at a coral reef along the way to do some snorkeling in that area before heading to the island.
The white sandy beach on Isla Chora is beautiful and provides a great spot to relax and stretch your legs. After snorkeling, if time allows, feel free to lay in the sand or walk the beach. Your guide will be busily chopping up tropical fruit so that you can refuel before your paddle back to the mainland. Bottled water and fruit juice will also be provided.
Due to the time you’ll be spending out in the tropical sun you’ll want to be sure to wear sunscreen, a hat and sun protective clothing. Ocean kayaking is a moderate activity and participants should know how to swim.
Transportation is included from Samara, Nosara and Punta Islita. One way transporattion can take up to 45 minutes depending upon your pick up location. Total time for the tour including transportation is approximately 2.5 to 3.5 hours again depending upon the pick up location of your hotel. Also included in this tour are: kayaks, snorkeling gear, a bilingual guide, fruit snack, bottled water and fruit drink.
The Kayaking and Snorkeling Tour to Chora Island is available from Nosara, Punta Islita, and Samara and Carrillo
6 and up
Latitude: N 9° 51' 46.18"
Longitude: W 85° 30' 54"
12/06/2021
My first time snorkeling and had an amazing time. The guide was great and we got to take our time in the water and eating our snack. I am not a fast kayaker so I was always in the back but the guide would stop and allow me to catch up.
11/30/2021
The kayaking and island were very nice. I have been to better snorkeling places. Our guide was very nice and helpful.
03/05/2020
The vehicle we traveled in was a mess, but the adventure and guides were great
12/27/2019
Samara beach was a great spot. Saw some fish & even an octopus. The kayaking was nice & smooth. Choro Island was a nice reprieve to take some photos, eat some fruit, drink some water & relax some more in the clear water.
12/10/2019
Tour guide was great!
11/24/2019
The water was very rough and visibility poor. There isn't a reef so even on an ideal day we wouldn't go snorkeling again.
08/06/2019
We had to wait over a half hour at a hotel due to teenagers losing their key (not the fault of this tour). The kids ruined the experience by hitting me with a ball multiple times (unintentionally) etc. The paddling was okay. The staff tried to accommodate us and another couple by letting us snorkel and eat before the kids. We tipped well to show our appreciation. The water was not as clear as I expected and there was quite a bit of down time. I just wanted to return to the hotel.
04/17/2019
The guide was wonderful but could have helped us understand more about the birds and fish - at least know the names and the history if the reef would have been cool. I was expecting calm Waters with reef and coral but it was very choppy water and it was hard to see the fish - there was no coral at all and it was difficult to see anything because of how cloudy the water was with sand - the guide did find a brittle star and let me hold it and that was incredible!!!!!!!!!! And we got to see a sea turtle on our way back !!!!! So very thankful about those two highlights!
11/01/2018
2 charming brothers picked us up for our kayaking tour. Only had to travel down the dirt road to get to the beach, 2 minutes!! They gave us some instructions and we kayaked out to the island for snorkeling. One guide snorkeled with us while the other prepared our pineapple snack! He was super knowledgeable about the ocean and environment.
04/24/2017
Snorkeling was our favorite tour. We have even bought gear to continue snorkeling on future vacations. OUr guide Bryan was great and very friendly. We even booked an extra tour with his company for dolphin sighting on one of our free days.
03/29/2017
We have snorkeled better reefs with clearer water, but the guides (Brian and Carlos) help in spotting things like octopus made the whole experience very enjoyable. The unexpected photos and videos were excellent.
03/20/2017
Our guides were so nice and so informative. It was a perfect day at the beach!
12/26/2016
Guide was late on pickup due to breakdown. Really nice guides
10/05/2016
Solo tour but it was great! My only issue was that they were supposed to email me pics and videos and they didn't. Sad. Would love to see them. My guides were so friggin great! I had a bit of a panic attack walking out and the guide took my hand and swam with me till I was comfortable. Pointed out fish and plants I would have never seen on my own.
12/23/2015
Excellent tour. We had great guides and they worked very hard to make sure that we had a very good experience. They were very professional and attentive. They had very good safety policies in place which made me feel at ease, I was a little nervous about my 12 year old swimming for that long, but they kept a close eye on him and let me know regularly that they were monitoring him at all times.
03/12/2015
The snorkeling was nice because the guide showed us and made us touch weird fishes but the kayaking part is very limited and the site (Chora island) is disappointing.
02/22/2015
Great guides and provide us pictures!