Playa Conchal - Shell Beach

Abi with a piece of blue plastic, here she is proudly displaying her birthday cake she just made, Happy Birthday!

Lily with a chunk of wet wood that she had a lot of fun playing with.

The power went out this morning and so Corey had to leave and find somewhere with internet so he could do his conference call for work. When he came back, he told us there was some construction going on and that the power would be out until 2. No power at home provided means he can't work, so looked like an ideal time to go to the beach!

While he was gone, Corey scouted out how to get to Playa Conchal, or Shell Beach, which a secluded beach that you need 4 wheel drive to get to, cause there is a little river. We parked in Brasilito at a restaurant where we ate lunch first cause it was starting to rain, then we started to walk the short distance to Playa Conchal. Playa Conchal is actually part of a nature reserve area and an exclusive resort - Paradise Resort - that we could use our timeshare at, except there is an all inclusive fee for each person each day, which puts it out of our budget... but we still took a tour on the way and that was fun - we got a ride in their little concierge tour truck. Kids thought it was fun. Anyway -

So first the resort tour, then lunch at La Casita Del Pescado where we tried all different kind of Costa Rican specialty drinks and ate french fries and hamburgers, then walking to the shell beach. A truck full of teenage boys offered us a ride, which the kids were excited to accept. They got to sit in the back of a truck while it was driving!

Me, Abi and Lily inside the car, Wes and Ethan among the 10 people in the back.

We arrived at Playa Conchal and were amazed that it really was a beach made of shells - tons and tons of broken shells. No sand, just shells! This beach is hogging all the shells! It was really cool, and you sink into shells when you walk more than you do walking on sand, we learned, so it was harder to walk and doesn't feel good on your feet. Mel was a little disappointed that she couldn't build a sand castle, she had even brought a leaf from home to be her flag. Oh well. We pretended it was a beach of small diamond and had fun rolling around in it for about 10 minutes when it started to rain. We all ran up the beach for cover under a tarp that the beach patrol guy was hanging out under. He said that there is an ocean current that brings all the shells to this beach. And the steep beach and rocks cause the ocean to break them all up, creating the beach we were beholding. Pretty neat.

The rain didn't last too long, and we headed out again and had a fun fun time digging, burying, hanging out in the tide pools, and playing Shell Man

Joe as Shell Man

Ethan trying to get covered in shells so he can be an even better Shell Man.


Wesley really impressed the big boys with this move that made him able to get lots of shells on his face, making him now a true contender for the Shell Man title.

The waves were fast and aggressive and the beach was pretty steep, so there wasn't a lot of shore for the waves to die out on and they'd come crashing up and then quickly retreat. There were some rocks on the north end of the beach that provided some protection, that was where we were hanging out the whole time. Joe and Mel in the safe waters of the tide pool.

Mel started the burying by working on Abi, she looked so cute lying there patiently letting herself be covered.

Highlight - Corey burying all the kids -

Lily got out before the final touches were finished.

Playa Conchal receives 4 out of 5 stars for being really cool for the kids and for not being dirty for the parents - little shells are a lot easier to brush off than sand. Our overall experiences today only gives 4 stars for the rain and the slight extra effort required in getting to the beach.