Playa Pelicano rewards the effort required to find it. The beach occupies a shallow cove a short boat ride from Puerto Jiménez, sheltered enough that the water barely stirs even when afternoon winds ripple the wider gulf. The sand here is fine and light-colored, mixed with smooth pebbles that click beneath your feet near the waterline. Almond and beach grape trees arch overhead, their branches hung with bromeliads and occasionally visited by scarlet macaws that crack seeds with prehistoric-looking beaks.
“One of the few gulf beaches accessible mainly by water, preserving a sense of discovery and guaranteeing solitude.”
Credit: FlickrPlaya Pelicano — photo by Reinaldo Aguilar
The cove's seclusion makes it feel like a private discovery, though fishermen occasionally anchor here to clean their catch or escape midday heat. The water is extraordinarily clear in the shallows, revealing schools of juvenile snappers and hermit crabs that patrol the sandy bottom. Snorkeling near the rocky headland at the south end brings encounters with angelfish, parrotfish, and the occasional spotted eagle ray gliding past like an underwater bird.
By late afternoon, the gulf takes on a glassy quality, reflecting the forested slopes of the Osa Peninsula across the water. You might have the entire cove to yourself, the only sounds the rustle of palms and the occasional splash of a feeding fish. There are no vendors, no facilities, no wifi signal—just a pocket of coastline that exists in its own time, where the distinction between relaxation and boredom dissolves into something approaching contentment.
