Photographing Dominicalito in Costa Rica

After spending more than two weeks in the Marino Ballena National Park and enjoying the wonderful beaches there, it was time to move on. We didn't get far though, because our next stop Dominicalito was located less than 20 kilometers north of Uvita. I hadn't seen many photos of Playa Dominicalito, but taking a close look at this area with Google Maps told me that this coastline had photographic potential.

How To Get To Dominicalito

Dominicalito is a small town next to Dominical, which is a famous surf destination. Getting there is actually pretty easy. Coming either from north or south you can use the Tracopa line of busses and tell the driver to drop you in Dominicalito. Alternatively you can go with one of the regular busses that serve the route Uvita - Dominical - Quepos, if you are staying in either of those places.

With all our luggage we decided to call a taxi though. The 20 minute drive from Uvita cost us 10 USD, which was ok considering that we would have payed 3 to 4 USD already to get to the bus station in Uvita.

Where To Stay

If you are on a budget as we were, you'll not find that many accommodation options in Dominicalito itself. Its larger brother, Dominical, has much more hotels, hostels and Airbnbs to offer. But it would have been quite a walk to get to Playa Dominicalito early in the morning and late in the evening each day to take photos, which was why I wanted to visit in the first place.

For 50 USD per night we found an Airbnb right in the center of the little town, just a 10 minute walk from the beach. For the two nights we spent there it was ok. But the host really needs to install some mosquito nets or offer a more flexible rate for AC use, which she promised to do in the future.

In case you have more money to spend, then check the Canto del Mar hotel. Every time I walked past the entrance I enviously looked up the hill, on which the villas are located.

Photographing Playa Dominicalito

Playa Dominicalito is a beautiful beach, which despite its proximity to Dominical wasn't very crowded during our visit. It stretches along the coast south of Dominical for about a kilometer and especially during low tide offers many photo opportunities. I explored the whole length of the beach and while the southern tip offers some interesting rock formations, the northern end is really the place to be for seascape photography.

Located there is a rock formation called Rocas de Amancio. This was the area I had spotted on Google Maps prior to our visit already and it didn't disappoint. As the tide was rushing in around sunset huge waves were crashing on the rocks around where I had positioned myself with my camera.

The photo shoot felt much different to Uvita, where the sea was mostly calm. There I never had to worry about getting my camera gear wet. In Dominicalito on the other hand I had to be much more careful and always keep an eye on the sea, watching out for some larger swell moving in every few minutes.

The video below contains a clip from the first evening I spent photographing Rocas de Amancio. As you can see, I was getting a bit agitated as the waves got close to my camera. But this is what seascape photography is about. You have to get close to the elements to capture spectacular photos. But never get careless while doing so.

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