White Water Rafting Río Pacuare in Costa Rica

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On my last minute trip to Costa Rica, I was lucky to book a super last-minute day trip to go white water rafting on the Río Pacuare. Named as one of the Top Five Rivers in the World for class II-IV rafting, it’s a must when visiting Costa Rica.

When it’s Meant to be

When looking up potential things to do in Costa Rica, I had noted white water rafting as an activity I could do. It sounded fun to me, but I didn’t make any solid plans before arriving for my quick five day visit. On the second day there, I made up my mind to try to raft the next day and before going out to dinner sent an email to Exploradores Outdoors asking if there was any availability. When I returned to my cabina after a delicious dinner in Cahuita I hopped on the wi-fi to check my email, but didn’t really expect an answer after 6:00pm on a Saturday. Imagine my surprise to not only have received a response, but that they did indeed have availability for Sunday and instructed me to book the tour through their website.

After following the instructions to book I received the confirmation email, and just sat in amazement for a moment: I had booked it less than twelve hours in advance. 

Make Good Choices

There are a number of different tour operators and tour options to choose from to go white water rafting on Río Pacuare, and you should do your research to find the one that meets your needs. I would have loved to book one of the multi-day tours available during which you raft to your lodgings for the night before continuing your journey down the river the next day.

However, I could only fit a day trip into my short time in Costa Rica. One of reasons I wanted to book this particular tour was that it included pickup at our accommodations, breakfast, the rafting trip, lunch, and transport to our choice of the Caribbean coast, San José, or Arenal Volcano at the end of the day. I’d been debating the best way to return to San José from Cahuita, so this was the perfect fit for me.

Early Bird gets to be in Group 1

At 6:50am Sunday morning I was picked up and met two other American couples that I’d spend the rest of the day with as Group 1 since our guide, Rob, was the leader of the entire white water rafting trip. During the ride he started giving us more details about the itinerary for the day and explaining some of the rafting commands we’d need to know on the river. Upon arrival at the rafting company’s Exploration Center, we were served a typical Costa Rican breakfast consisting of Pinto Gallo (spiced rice and beans), eggs, fruit, and coffee. After breakfast we prepped for the day ahead: slathering on sunscreen (despite the rain that was in the forecast for our entire trip), changing into swimsuits under clothes we didn’t mind getting wet, and stowing our backpacks in the secure lockers on site. Then it was back into the vans to reach to our launch point on Río Pacuare.

It was an organized chaos with the guides getting us all geared up with life jackets, helmets, and paddles while simultaneously loading up all the necessary gear for the day and amicably heckling each other. A sight to behold, each of the guys in our group had a GoPro mounted to his helmet. Us ladies started laughing at them while they helped each other adjust the cameras. We rafters then received a safety briefing before climbing into our rafts and pushing off.

Let’s Raft that River 

Getting out on the water was exhilarating, even if we spent the first few minutes practicing following the commands that Rob gave us. The hours that followed were incredible. I wouldn’t classify myself as an extreme sports enthusiast, but I really loved white water rafting!

The first few miles were all class II-III rapids which were just challenging enough for a newbie like myself while still being a lot of fun. It let our group get into the rhythm of paddling together and navigating the rapids per our guide’s commands before hitting the class IV rapids. Rob assured Group 1 that we’d be just fine when we reached the class IVs then immediately and emphatically crossed himself which made us all laugh. He also told us the Golden Rule of the River: First person to go flying overboard had to buy the first round of drinks for the group when we finished rafting.

This became one of the running jokes of the day. The best part was that it was Rob who came the closest to an involuntary swim, flying from the back of the raft onto the side where he caught himself and had to use the rope there to pull himself back into the raft. Between rapids, Rob provided us with information about the local area, pointing out cables the local indigenous peoples use to cross the river without descending to the river and re-ascending on the other side, luxury eco lodges that are only accessible by rafting or helicopter, and native flora & fauna.

Lacking Lunch

We stopped to take a break for lunch, but when the guides started pulling out all the food, they realized they’d forgotten the tortillas. Everyone would have to wait until we reached the Exploration Center at the end of the day to eat. Instead we just snacked on fresh pineapple and drank lemonade before getting back into the rafts. Between rapids were some calm sections of the river where the guides let us jump out to float along between the steep cliffs of the Pacuare River Gorge. We saw toucans, butterflies, and monkeys along the river which reminded me of the Jurassic Park movie set. Before the next rapids would come we’d all pile back into the raft to continue paddling.

The last rapid we paddled through is appropriately called Graduation and I certainly felt like I’d graduated to a novice rafter at this point. At last we reached the Exploration Center where lunch and beers were thankfully waiting for us. Since we’d bonded with Group 1 throughout our white water rafting adventure, we all sat together to eat and exchange contact information to share our pictures and videos when we were all back home. After changing back into dry clothes, I said adiós to Group 1 and loaded into the van headed for San José. I was so happy from the wonderful adventure I’d had and was so glad to cross white water rafting off the bucket list.

Lesson Learned

During that ride back to San José I realized I’d made a critical mistake during our ill-fated lunch break along the river: I had forgotten to reapply sunscreen to my legs since they were wet from the river. By the time I checked into my hostel, I could really feel the sunburn and grabbed the aloe from my bag to start slathering it on. 

Oops.

Always make sure to not only wear sun protection, but to also reapply your sunscreen.

I couldn’t recommend this white water rafting experience any more, I loved it and really felt the trip was a great value. Please don’t miss out on white water rafting the Río Pacuare when visiting Costa Rica!

Check out more of my Costa Rican adventures!

This was my first time white water rafting and I loved it! Tell me about your rafting (or other favorite) adventures in the comments below!