Visitors to San Lucas Island National Park now have an easier way to get ashore after Costa Rica opened a new tourist pier at the former prison island in the Gulf of Nicoya. The modernized dock was inaugurated yesterday, replacing aging infrastructure at one of Puntarenas’ best-known historical and nature destinations.
President Laura Fernández attended the opening alongside Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) executive president Marcos V. Borges, government officials and tourism representatives. The first visitors arrived by boat during the ceremony and stepped ashore using the new pier.
The ICT financed the project, investing more than ₡1.1 billion in the new infrastructure. Borges said the pier is intended to improve access, safety and comfort for visitors while helping strengthen tourism in Puntarenas. The dock can accommodate as many as four boats at the same time and was designed to meet the accessibility requirements of Law 7600, Costa Rica’s law protecting equal access for people with disabilities.
Sustainability was also built into the project. The pier operates entirely with solar panels and includes a rainwater collection system for use at the site. The project also received an Ecological Blue Flag award in the construction category.
Building the dock presented unusual challenges. Crews were working inside a national park and over the water, requiring additional measures to protect marine ecosystems. Weather, tides and the logistics of transporting materials to an island also complicated construction.
Officials expect the benefits to extend beyond tourists. The new infrastructure should provide better working conditions for guides, park rangers and tour operators while making it easier for more visitors to include the island in trips through Puntarenas. The ICT also sees San Lucas as part of a wider effort to bring in cruise passengers and travelers interested in the Gulf of Nicoya’s history, wildlife and natural attractions.
The project involved coordination between the ICT, the Environment Ministry, the National System of Conservation Areas, the Public Works and Transport Ministry, the park’s board and the Culture Ministry’s heritage office. San Lucas Island remained open to tourists while construction was underway.
For many visitors, the island’s history remains its biggest attraction. San Lucas served as a prison for more than a century before closing in 1991. Its abandoned buildings and prison ruins remain throughout the island and helped inspire José León Sánchez’s well-known novel “La Isla de los Hombres Solos.”
But San Lucas offers more than its prison history. Visitors can explore about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) of trails, archaeological sites and one of the remaining tropical dry forests in Mesoamerica. Wildlife includes white-tailed deer, anteaters and howler monkeys, along with resident and migratory birds.
Costa Rica officially created San Lucas Island National Park on August 24, 2020. The island sits in the Gulf of Nicoya, a short boat trip from Puntarenas. The park is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Most visitors reach the island through guided boat tours departing from downtown Puntarenas.
For those exploring Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, the new pier removes one of the practical obstacles to visiting an island that combines national history, wildlife and some of the Gulf of Nicoya’s lesser-known scenery.
