Bespoke Adventures on the Pacific

Whether you're looking to reel in the catch of the day, cruise the coastline at sunset, or simply spend quality time with family and friends at sea, Vuelto Loco offers fully customized experiences designed around you.

Departing from Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, our private charters are led by an experienced local captain and crew who know these waters like the back of their hand.

Our boat is equipped with premium gear and comforts to ensure a safe, fun, and memorable time on the water. Whether it's a special occasion or a spontaneous escape, we'll help you craft the perfect day at sea.

Choose your adventure

• Deep sea or inshore fishing
• Sunset and sightseeing cruises
• Wildlife spotting and coastal exploration
• Private dining and celebrations on board
• A little bit of everything

Isla Tortuga

Islas Tortugas is two islands, Tolinga and Alcatraz, sitting off the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula beside the Curú Wildlife Refuge. What makes them worth the run is the sand. Almost the whole Costa Rican Pacific coast is dark volcanic gray, ground off the mountains and carried down by the rivers. Tortuga's is pale, built from shell and coral rather than rock, and the water sitting on top of it turns the shade of turquoise people usually associate with the Caribbean. Because the islands sit inside the mouth of the Gulf of Nicoya rather than out on the open Pacific, that water is normally flat.

From Marina Pez Vela it is about 48 nautical miles, roughly two hours each way depending on the sea. That is why you will not find it on anybody's daily schedule out of Quepos. The catamarans that run Tortuga leave from Puntarenas, which is a 13 mile hop, and they arrive within an hour of each other in the middle of the morning and head back together in the middle of the afternoon.

That timing is the real argument for doing it privately. Get there before the day boats and the beach is empty. Stay after they have gone and it is empty again. It is the same island either way. The difference is whether you are sharing it with a couple of hundred people off four catamarans, or with nobody.

The snorkeling is gentle rather than spectacular: reef fish in the shallows, rays working over the sand, the occasional turtle. It is water you get in and out of a dozen times across an afternoon without making a plan about it, which is rather the point. Ashore the islands are busy with hermit crabs and iguanas, and there are usually frigatebirds and pelicans overhead. Curú sits just across the channel and holds howler monkeys, capuchins and white-tailed deer, if anyone in the group would rather walk than swim.

A realistic day is a six o'clock departure, anchored off the island by eight, four or five hours there to swim, eat and do very little, and back at the dock in the early evening. We will fish the way out and the way back if you want to. The crossing regularly turns up dolphins, turtles and flying fish, and between July and October there is a fair chance of humpbacks on the way.

Proposals, celebrations and days that have to go right

We have done this more than a few times. The most common is a proposal at sunset, and it works for a reason no restaurant can match: nobody else is there. The crew know when to be present and when to disappear, which is most of the job.

Past that, it is anniversaries, birthdays, vow renewals, bachelor and bachelorette days, and the occasional company group who wanted something better than a meeting room. For a bachelorette or a birthday the shape most people settle on is a coastal cruise with music, swimming and food, three or four hours through the afternoon and finishing at sunset.

Tell us what you are planning and how you want it to feel. Flowers, a photographer, a cake, a particular bottle, a specific song at a specific moment. All of it can be arranged with enough notice, and none of it is unusual for us.

Memorials and scattering at sea

We take these out quietly and without a fixed format. The boat carries up to twelve, there is shade, seating and a head on board, and we go far enough offshore that it feels like open water rather than a harbor.

Families usually want the same few things: somewhere to sit, time that is not rushed, and a crew who stay out of the way. Some bring flowers, some bring music, some want the captain to hold the boat in one place and say nothing at all. Whatever shape it takes, tell us beforehand and it will be ready. There is no charter booked after yours.