Mirador Lodge - Arenal Volcano Photos
August, September, October and November is rainy season in Costa Rica but usually the weather is clear in the morning with an hour or so of rain in the afternoon & clear skies at night. These Arenal photos were taken from the Southwest side of the volcano from the Mirador Lodge in Monteverde (one of the rare spots where you can see the volcano from Monteverde); 16 km (11 miles) from the volcano as the crow flies, elevation 1,500 meters compare to the Arenal Volcano's summit who is @ 1,700 meters (1 meter = roughly 3 feet).
The photos below were taken from the balcony of a cabin on October 14, '05 @ 10h55 pm, and October 15 @ 0h24 am and 9h08 am.
The West face of the volcano is the most active side at the present with lava flowing every 5 minutes or so since March '05 (as we updated this page on February 1, 2006). Note that the lava is constantly changing sides or paths depending on conduits (vents) opening and closing and the lava finding the path with the least resistance, just like a stream does.
Photos below were taken from the balcony of a cabin at Mirador on September 21, 2005 @ 0h39 am, 1h15 am, 4h42 am, 5h51 am, 5h53 am and 6h32 am.
All Arenal Volcano images on this page were taken with a Nikon D70 digital camera equipped with a 70/300mm zoom and a tripod with a 30 seconds exposition @ 1,600 asa for most of the night shots (or 400 asa from 2 days before to 2 days after the full moon), no flash (you cannot use a flash because the volcano is to far and too big for your little camera flash to be of any use). Sometimes you have to wait an hour or so for the clouds to clear up or the volcano to wake up. It's a mountain so be patient, no instant gratification like zapping a cable TV here! Sometimes it stays cloudy all night and you can't get a glimpse of the volcano. Monteverde is a cloud forest after all.
Photos below taken on September 10, '05 @ 5h11 pm, 7h11 pm and 7h40 pm. Daytime the lava is grey, nighttime it's red and glowing (like a cigarette). Because we are near the equator the sunrise is roughly at 5h30 am and sunset is at 5h30 pm all year long. See our Costa Rica Sunrise Sunset Time Table or this educational page about why seasons change (opens in a new window).
All the pictures below were taken from the balcony of a cabin on August 27, 2005, between 8h50 pm and 3h30 am (I could not go to sleep, it was simply too spectacular). When the moon comes out then you get much more light for the images and can take pictures @ 400 asa, 15 seconds exposition). And sometimes you get lucky and the lightning becomes a giant and powerful flash! The light on the left side of the last picture is the dam of Lake Arenal.
Back to Mirador Lodge or see our private cloud forest trails for the exclusive use of our guests (just a few steps from the cabins). See also our most recent Arenal Volcano Photos
The arenal photos on this page are Copyright MonteverdeInfo.com, Photos by Jacques Betrand
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