Usually when people visit the beach they worry about sharks or even sea snakes, crocodiles hardly every cross their minds, but the reality is that seeing crocodiles at the beaches is not uncommon, at least not in Costa Rica.

Every year sightings of crocodiles swimming in the beaches are reported in Costa Rica, some of the beaches where this has happened include Tamarindo, Playas del Coco and Panama Beach in Guanacaste, Jaco, Doña Ana, Punta Leona, Esterillos, Manuel Antonio and Herradura in Puntarenas, among others.

It is possible and normal to see crocodiles on the beaches especially close to the estuaries, river mouths or mangroves.

As the rainy season begins the matting period for these animals also begins and many times alpha males claim their spaces and make smaller crocs leave the area who wonder to the ocean.

Experts warn of this situation and ask tourists and neighbors not to swim near the estuaries and to be on the lookout for crocodiles, however, warning signs at beaches are many times ignored

In the past, surfers and swimmers have had encounters with these reptiles, some only end up as a scare but others have a tragic result, in 2016 an American tourist suffered a crocodile attack that led to a partial amputation of his leg.