Giant wave overturns whale watching boat in Uvita

A boat carrying 32 tourists for a whale watching tour overturned Monday when a 6-foot wave crashed against the side of the boat, the Red Cross confirmed to The Tico Times. The tourists were mostly Costa Ricans on holiday for Independence Day.

“The boat was still near the shore trying to head out into the ocean,” Ciudad Cortés Red Cross Official Dialia Ovares told The Tico Times. “Everyone had on life jackets. No one was hurt.”

According to Ovares, a Red Cross volunteer was supervising the event when he saw the wave overturn a boat as it left the shore. The boat was only a short distance from the beach, and both the boat and all the tourists were left unscathed.

September is the peak month for migrating humpbacks to visit Costa Rica’s Pacific shoreline, and the accident comes just one day after the end of Uvita’s Whale and Dolphin Festival. From August to November, thousands of tourists will take whale watching tours in Uvita.