While many will "escape" to Chira for its seduction, lack of pollution and crime... many others will come for other reasons.
The Island of Chira... because it IS an island... is about the ocean and all that it entails. The Bay of Nicoya offers fishing. Shrimp, sea bass, rooster fish, dorado (mahi mahi) are common and provide much of Costa Rica
with its sea food.
The average sea bass that is common to the end user may be half a kilo but in the bay... fished in the right manner... can weigh up to 100
ponds.
There are many islands in the gulf ranging from some the size of football fields... with the largest being Isla Chira. One island was formerly used as a penal colony, another is known as a turtle breeding grounds. Another is a home for literally thousands of pelicans. And the lower portion of the bay has arguably some of the best scuba diving and snorkeling in all of Costa Rica.
And... Chira alone has ten separate beaches... each a little different than the other. It has a inland waterway (estuary) where many of the cattle that are raised on the island are loaded onto a special flatboat and ferried to the mainland.
It is a tradition in Chira that each New Year's all of the island gathers on Playa Muerto to wait for the sunrise... a tradition that dates back to the original indigenous Chorotega
Indians.
Horseback riding is common in Chira as it is bicycling. Cars exist but most inhabitants do not own one. ATVs and motorbikes are also common but not in numbers. Most fishermen own their own boats and they are not expensive to own or maintain.
Because there is not a large population on the island, flora and fauna are plentiful... there are many species that do not exist anywhere else in the country. It is a birdwatchers paradise and botanists will have a field day.
Isla Chira's charm and uniqueness stems from the simple fact that it IS an island... but there is almost and endless list of activities for the visitor. And
remember, at the end of he day... it is calm and peaceful... and it is a time to forget the stress and problems which exist in the other parts of your life.
