Maps

I just love maps, and have since I was a kid. Living in a remote part of Costa Rica, it’s been thrilling to be able to create maps for the area using my GPS and Photoshop. I’m not actually exactly sure what the appeal is… maybe it’s just that it’s fun to contribute something to the world’s knowledge. Maybe I feel a bit like an explorer.

As you explore the maps I have here, keep in mind that they were all created the hard way, by drawing using Photoshop tools… every color chosen carefully to make the maps as pretty as possible, but also readable so you can find what you’re looking for. I’ve upgraded some of them many times as new businesses appear or disappear. In Santa Teresa, I seem to notice a new restaurant every time I drive down the street, so I’ve taken to waiting a couple of years to see if the newer places are still around. Not all of them can make it through their first rainy season when tourism drops substantially.

Favorite Maps

One of my favorite map is the very large coastal map, showing everything from Montezuma north up to Tortuga Island. It’s here on the website: Montezuma to Tortuga Island Coastal Map. When you go by boat through this area, it has to be one of the most beautiful boat journeys in the world. There are so many different types of topography, rocks, beaches, and you will even pass a submerged shipwreck with the top of the boat still sticking out of the water!

But my favorite map is for Cabo Blanco, which I just love as a work of art. I researched so many different maps of Cabo Blanco to gather all the information I could so that I could make a single map with all the world’s knowledge about this place (well at least everything online.) You can see that one here: Cabo Blanco Park Map

Disclosure:

There are a few things I’ve left off the maps on purpose. A couple of secret spots and waterfalls that don’t have tourists there and the locals hardly know about them either. Like announcing a great secret surf spot to the world, I felt like it was just going to far, and wanted to keep a few wild places undiscovered for as long as possible.

Best Topographical maps of Costa Rica, click here:

1:50,000 Scale Map from the Instituto Geographica de Costa Rica