Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
canned, tuna is increasingly flash frozen and sold in fillets for sushi. Left raw, tuna
is blood red in color, with a smooth texture and a rich buttery taste.
Thirty kilometers southwest of Pedasí,
Laboratorio Achotines
(Tuna Laboratory;
995-8166;
www.iattc.org
;
tours US$1)
tracks the movement and behavior of these fish, tag-
ging them to study migration patterns. The tuna lab is also the only place in the
world with tuna spawning in captivity daily. But instead of making sashimi lunches
for staff, they use the process to study tuna eggs and larvae. Affiliated with the
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, a global regulatory consortium on tuna
fishing, the lab routinely sets quotas for catches along the Pacific coast of the
Americas.
Visitors can tour Laboratorio Achotines by appointment and watch an interest-
ing educational video. Another highlight is to show up for the feeding of prize-sized
tunas.
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Azuero Coastline
Gorgeous and a little remote, the rolling green coast of Azuero has seen a recent boom in
lodgings. Many do not take children - easy to understand if you note the number of cliffs
and swimming pools - so check ahead if you have little ones.
Playas El Toro & La Garita
The two closest beaches to Pedasí serve as a popular day trip for residents of Pedasí, es-
pecially since the ocean here is usually safe for swimming. However, the waves can pick
up if there's a strong surge coming in.
At Playa El Toro you can actually drive onto the beach if you have a vehicle, but Playa
La Garita is flanked by a rocky slope, and a hike of about 100m through light scrub and
dirt (which turns to mud if there's been any recent rain) is required to reach the beach.
Despite their close proximity to Pedasí, both beaches are quite isolated and private.
Neither offers much snorkeling - the water is simply too murky. An open-air restaurant
serves seafood and beer.
You can hire a taxi in Pedasí to reach these beaches (US$5 one way); if you're driving
from central Pedasí, turn east off the Carretera Nacional onto the paved street beside the
Residencial Moscoso and drive about 250m to the Cantina Hermanos Cedeño bar. Then
take the road just past the bar for 1km until the road forks. Follow the signs for 2km to
the beaches.
