Marine Diversity at the Playa Pavones Rocks

Esta publicación también está disponible en: Español

In this second photo tour of Nicoya’s secret beaches, we’ll take you to a hidden paradise: Playa Pavones. Located between Playa Garza and Barco Quebrado, the beach is surrounded by forest on one side and rocks on the other.

The property on the beach is private and in order to find it you’ll have to walk along the rocks from Barco Quebrado. Choose good shoes and watch where you step; the rocks are wet and can be slippery.

When the tide rises, the beach is concealed. This place’s real attraction is shown at low tide, when pools form that host a variety of marine species. Carefully watching the water, visitors can see beautifully-colored fish swim by or crabs and snails among the rocks.

Rafael Hugarte, who owns property in Barco Quebrado, says that during the high season there are more tourists, who visit to snorkel and fish. “Many people think it’s bad that the beach is private but it’s good because if not, it would get torn apart.”

A man looking for molluscs south of Pavones beach.

The road to get to this beach is not easily accessible, there are sharp rocks and the surface is wet.

View from Pavones to Barco Quebrado beach.

With the low tide small pools are created making an ideal place for snorkelling and fishing.

You can see crabs, snails and molluscs through the blue water.

The beach is surrounded by huge rocks and tropical forest.