Metal detecting in Costa Rica

[paleomike]

Hi fellow treasure hunters, I am gong to Cota Rica next Month and was wondering if anyone out there knows about the Costa Rican laws regarding metal detecting? Is it legal to detect both on the beaches and inland. Is a permit required? Any suggetsitons as to which beaches have yielded Spanish wreck coins in the past. Thanks for any and all input.

 

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[DWT]

Paleomike : I've made several trips to Costa Rica over the past ten years , Never had any problems using a detector there , been told to leave a few site's tho , We've even hunted national parks there , We have hunted both beaches & inland with out much problems , Hunting the beaches you will have a lot of Tico's come up to you ask what you are finding , Hunting inland if it is on private land just ask permission , As far as I know there is no law against detecting in Costa Rica if you are not allowed there you will be told , real soon , Here is a link to one of the coins that I found in C.R. .. http://www.nuggethunters.org/cgi-bin/atl2/atl.pl?ct=5&md=second&id=3 ,, Hope this help's , David

 

[GuyinWH]

WOW!
I've been reading this website for a while and been wanting to join since I just got my first metal detectors yesterday, and just noticed this post, so here I am...
I was born in Costa Rica and have alot of family over there, both sides of my family have been in the gold business since before we got to Costa Rica even, but mainly restricted to mining and panning. But, I will tell you with 100% absolute certainty, you will get arrested and put away in jail for a VERY long time for digging up anything in Costa Rica, SPECIALLY if you're a foreigner. Whether its a national park or not does not make a difference, and the National parks are even worse, I have cousins that have been SHOT AT just being in the parks and "looking" suspicious (they were just camping in the wrong place but they actually did intend to go digging for gold, but the Guardia Civil didn't know that, so they spent 2 weeks at La Reforma near the Airport). Laws in Costa Rica are sketchy but they will never let anyone take anything from the ground, not even a national, at least if you are a national you can get a permit, but then you still have to hand it all in for 0 gain. Same applies to the beaches, city areas, and private property. My family has over 2000 acres of land in Costa Rica... Guess where we can get gold from... only the mines on our land. Indian burial grounds? They even slightly suspect we are touching them and we wind up in jail whether they have proof we dug up indian artifacts or not, the system in Costa Rica is extremely fair, moreso than here, but when it comes to national treasures/relics, or nature, its the system versus you and you can't win.

Don't take a dumb risk over there, I've seen too many people get screwed over for nothing in the end. Heck I remember some canadians getting arrested near Monteverde for mining in a CANADIAN owned mine (at least I think it was) even... Sucks for them, new law sometime back made it illegal for foreigners to mine any mines. Don't know what the state is with the gold mining NOW but that may be worth looking into.

wow sorry didnt realize this post was so old.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Guy-in-WH, wow you dredged up an old post, eh?

Everything you've said about the dire sounding no-no-status has also been said, over the years, for Mexico and other S. American beach resort type places too. The reason people come up with these answers is that they're probably reading from the perspective of treasure salvor type shipwreck laws, or exporting gold bars across borders type stuff, pyramaids and national monument stuff, etc.... If you asked enough lawyer/consulate people, they might think/say that applies to someone plying the beach for loose change. But the reality is: detectors are a common site on all the tourist beaches down there. And there are dealers in a lot of those countries too (like Mexico, at least, for all the major manufacturers, in any major city). So obviously those machines are being sold for some usage, eh?

 

[Saturna]

wow sorry didnt realize this post was so old.

HaHa I didn't even notice that 'til you mentioned it.

 

[wwace]

Gee Tom did you even read what he said? He is actually from there and I would believe him from what several friends have told me about Costa Rica. You would probably be OK at large tourist beach but you will be accosted nearly anywhere else, and certainly not safe after dark for foreigners. A pilot friend owns a bar there, he has two guards with automatic weapons after nightfall for security. Yeah I realize the post was old but felt GuyinWH was spot on in his advice.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

wwace, I think we are confusing two issues here: whether or not you can detect there in Costa Rica (ie.: the laws regarding the issue of metal detecting as a hobby), and the issue you now cite: whether or not it's safe, from the perpective of getting mugged, etc..... Sure, I agree with you. Use caution. Don't drink the water, don't buy rolexes from the guy on the street with the trench coat, etc..... But that has nothing to do w/the legal issue.

 

[GuyinWH]

wwace, I think we are confusing two issues here: whether or not you can detect there in Costa Rica (ie.: the laws regarding the issue of metal detecting as a hobby), and the issue you now cite: whether or not it's safe, from the perpective of getting mugged, etc..... Sure, I agree with you. Use caution. Don't drink the water, don't buy rolexes from the guy on the street with the trench coat, etc..... But that has nothing to do w/the legal issue.

Oh so I guess I inadvertently revived an old post..

Eh, hell the waters safer than here. I don't drink the water here as a matter of fact. The rolexes yeah stay away from them, haha.

But as far as the law is concerned in CR; That's the problem. I can find you about 20-30 articles in the countries constitution/bill of rights, and amendments and whatnot, that justify public metal detecting, even on beaches!
Only problem is, there's some shady laws over there, and with about ~75% of the country in some sort of protected land status (including the beaches) everything is considered a national patrimony for one thing or another whether its a law or not. No judge will ever let you get away for going to Isla del Cano, for example, and detecting on it even though its public land/park and not a national park of any sort (that I know of at least) just because it is considered a national patrimony/heritage/whatever site. And the worst comes when you're a foreigner. I've been in some situations over there where I felt lucky that I wasn't a foreigner (heck my spanish isn't 100% so I kinda got the nasty treatment a bit).


Lets put it this way, unrelated but you'll get a feel for the laws over there with this. Look up Costa Rica LAND for sale +lawyer or +fraud in yahoo or google. I've known MANY investors that go over there and
do all the paperwork and buy land and get a deed/title to the land and whatnot, but look at the yahoo results long enough and you'll see more horror stories than you could imagine. That's the law in CR for you, it takes a VERY good lawyer to get anything done right, and I assure you they're all "good".

In Costa Rica you can go to the most expensive law firm in the country or the cheapest, they will tell you what you want to hear. Why's that? Easy money off a person that doesn't know any better, you don't even have to be a "gringo" you just have to ask them "Can I do this legally and how?" They'll show you why you can do it and then when you get caught they'll even represent you in court (after waiting in a jail for a few months undoubtedly) and try to defend you for cheap... Easy money.

Let's just end with this..
If I need a lawyer in Costa Rica, me being a national and all, even I am hestitant and iffy about them.

Only thing I can do and anyone who doesn't wanna get in deep crap is hope they do something to ACTUALLY change the laws relating to treasure hunting over there. Unfortunately nothing ever gets done with the laws and any Costa Rican will tell you that.


Oh yeah, missed that point. Muggings, yeah if you want to do beach hunting get ready to get mugged. I sure as heck won't bother taking my $1000 detector over there only to have some punk who doesn't even know what it is take it. Screw that.
And that's another issue that really stinks over there, something we call "chapulines". Little kid muggers, they're between 5-16 yr olds who go around stabbing and stealing basically. They cut down on those some but you can still run into one; hit one of them and you land in jail for long time (CRAZY laws protecting kids that are strictly enforced, little bastards are guaranteed to get away 90% of the time) and they like the beaches now I hear. :-/

 

[TORRERO]

I just returned from Costa Rica after a 3 day vacation and took my machine and hunted Jaco beach
and some on the beach in Puntaranas.
No one even gave me a second glance...
I did not see anyone else doing it, but did ask around, where I was told there was not a problem
and no one would care, which seemed to be the case.
A few asked me what I was looking for, but no one bothered me or my friend Paul, who was with me.
We even walked around a beach in Puntaranas at night, accross from our hotel, did not find much
but were not bothered at all.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

"I was told there was not a problem and no one would care, which seemed to be the case. "

But you know what that means don't you torrero? It simply means you didn't ask high enough up the chain of authority/bureaucrats, with the right combination of buzz words.

 

[TORRERO]

"I was told there was not a problem and no one would care, which seemed to be the case. "

But you know what that means don't you torrero? It simply means you didn't ask high enough up the chain of authority/bureaucrats, with the right combination of buzz words.

Maybe the reality is like, you know.... Gays in the military... "Don't ask don't tell"
But lets be realistic here...
I was on the beach in Joco (pronounced "Yaco") and there was some sort of Police station / compound / recruit / something government place, right accross the street from the beach, and as we are hunting I / we can see groups of armed police / patrols coming and going down the street.
They were looking at us, and we were looking at them, and there were lots of locals sitting around
and no one even blinked....
The guys under the tent kinda thought it was funny actually...
seeing me dig coins and pulltabs...
I think the hype is all overblown.....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

"I was on the beach ...... and there was some sort of Police station / compound / recruit / something government place, right accross the street from the beach, and as we are hunting I / we can see groups of armed police / patrols coming and going down the street.
They were looking at us ........ and no one even blinked...."

I bet that if you had asked them, and asked high enough up the chain of command there, using the right combination of words/phrases, that you would indeed have gotten a "no". Same for any sandbox in the USA too.

However, I'm like you: If no one seems to care, and you are ignored, then to me, that's open game. Yet there is no shortage of md'rs who seem to think it's STILL our obligation to go grovelling at city halls, police stations, etc... "begging for no's", lest we be "giving our hobby a black eye", blah blah blah.

 

[ybpoor]

"Muggings, yeah if you want to do beach hunting get ready to get mugged"

Muggings, yeah if you want to do beach hunting get ready to get mugged.

Hilarious!! When was the last time you were in Costa Rica?

 

[zyndro]

Old thread, however im interested in getting into this hobby.

Im from costa rica, im born and raise here, im 30 and as far as i know nobody has ever been taked to jail for searching metals at the beach.. at least i've never heard on the news such of thing before.

now if you go into a national park the history could be different, theres a lot of restrictions there even for people from costa rica, for beaches there's a schedule, you can't be there like after 5pm and stuff like that.

im really thinking on getting one of those things to just go and do some beach searching in the most visited beaches here ( jaco, puntarenas, playa hermosa, herradura ) i dont see any reason why the people ever tell you nothing, they are public beaches and you are not doing anything ilegal.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

zyndro, welcome. Hope you have fun and find lots of fumble fingers beach-goer losses on your beaches and/or land there. Good luck.