Marino Ballena: Marine National Park, Uvita

This is the first marine park in Costa Rica and Central America, and it's remarkable for more than the beach shaped like a whale's tail.

Located in Uvita on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica is a unique national park, famously created to provide safe space at sea for migrating humpback whales who come here to mate. Marino Ballena is one of two specially-designated national marine parks in Costa Rica, protecting over 13,000 acres of the Pacific Ocean and some 270 acres of land, including beaches and mangroves.

A guided three-hour walk begins in the nearby community of Bahia, where a guide will give you a little bit of local history. After a mile, you'll enter the park in Playa Uvita, cross a creek, and join the trail. Look out for howler monkeys, white-faced monkeys, sloths, bats, raccoons, and scarlet macaws as you walk the paths with the sounds of the Pacific Ocean crashing in the background. You'll also check out and learn about the mangrove ecosystems in this area. Finally, get onto the beach and see the Whale's Tail before heading back to Bahia.

The famous Whale's Tail formation is a natural barrier reef offshore connected to land by a sandy isthmus created by currents. Look at photos of this formation from above, and you'll see precisely why it's called the Whale's Tail.