Repeatable, survey-grade drone mapping that measures exactly how Costa Rica's Caribbean shoreline is moving — protecting hotels, homes, and public beaches from Limón to Manzanillo, accurate to ±2cm and delivered in 72 hours.
The Talamanca coast is one of the most beautiful — and most dynamic — shorelines in Costa Rica. From the working port of Puerto Limón south through Cahuita, Puerto Viejo, and Manzanillo, a thin ribbon of black-and-gold sand separates rainforest and coral reef from the open Caribbean. That sand does not stand still. Heavy seasonal rains, strong northern swells, river-mouth sediment shifts, and rising sea levels reshape the beach constantly, and in several stretches the coast has been retreating for years — undercutting palms, threatening beachfront hotels and homes, and eating into the public coastal zone.
Erosion is a slow-motion emergency: by the time it is obvious, options are expensive and land is already lost. Managing it well depends on one thing above all — good measurement. You cannot defend a shoreline, win a permit, support an insurance claim, or design a sea wall on the strength of an impression that "the beach used to be wider." You need dated, accurate, whole-of-site data you can compare over time. A drone survey delivers exactly that, mapping the entire beach and backshore to ±2cm in a single flight and turning shoreline change into a number you can act on.
Shoreline monitoring is repeat-business mapping: the same stretch of coast flown on a schedule so the data tells the story of how the beach is changing. Each flight is captured with RTK GPS ground control, so every dataset locks to identical real-world coordinates — which is what makes flight-to-flight comparison trustworthy and lets us measure change directly. From those flights we produce the measurements and records that drive real decisions along the coast. You can scope a single baseline survey or an ongoing monitoring program with our online quote calculator.
Repeat flights measure exactly how far the vegetation line and high-water mark have moved between visits, mapping erosion and accretion hotspots along the whole beach rather than at a few profile lines.
Surface models let us calculate how many cubic metres of sand have been lost or gained, so hoteliers and municipalities can quantify damage and size any beach-nourishment or defence response.
Accurate terrain, setback, and elevation data help owners site new construction back from the active shoreline and design drainage and defences that account for how the coast actually behaves.
A dated survey-grade record supports SETENA environmental review, coastal-zone documentation with the municipality, engineering design, and objective before-and-after evidence for storm-damage insurance claims.
Anyone can fly a drone over a beach once and get a pretty picture. The value in erosion work comes from being able to compare flights precisely, and that requires ground control. On every project we establish RTK GPS control so the first survey becomes a permanent baseline, and each return flight lines up with it to within a couple of centimetres. Only then can the software subtract one surface from another and tell you, honestly, where the coast has retreated and by how much. A camera-and-photo pass without control looks similar but cannot be compared reliably over time — and comparison over time is exactly what shoreline monitoring is for. For sites where dense vegetation or backshore forest complicates the picture, we can combine photogrammetry with LiDAR to map ground under cover as well.
Tell us your beach or property location, its approximate length or size, and whether you need a one-time baseline or recurring monitoring. We'll respond with a detailed scope and price within one business day.
Request a Quote WhatsApp UsA beachfront hotel between Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo came to us with a problem the whole coast will recognise: over several seasons the sea had crept steadily closer, taking out a row of palms and leaving one guest cabin sitting only metres from a scarp of exposed roots and sand. The owners needed to make a case to their municipality and insurer, and to decide whether to relocate the cabin or invest in coastal defences — but all they had was old holiday photos and a strong feeling that "there used to be a lot more beach."
We flew the full property and the beach in front of it in a single mobilisation, establishing permanent RTK ground control on stable points behind the active zone. Processing within 72 hours produced a high-resolution orthophoto, a detailed surface model of the beach and backshore, and elevation contours — a complete, dated baseline of the site as it stood. We returned after the following rainy season and flew the identical footprint.
This is the recurring value of monitoring a shoreline from the air: the data is objective, it is repeatable, and it serves the whole effort — planning, permitting, and claims — at once. Owners planning new building on the coast can pair this with our guidance on Caribbean coastal development surveys, and either approach can be priced with our quote calculator.
All commercial drone operations in Costa Rica are regulated by the Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC), and coastal work is no exception. This matters for erosion surveys in particular: data gathered by an unlicensed operator can be challenged in a permit, insurance, or coastal-zone process, and an incident near a busy beach or the port of Limón creates real liability. Our operations comply with current DGAC requirements, which apply consistently across every region we serve:
The Caribbean coast adds two practical considerations. First, the airspace around Puerto Limón's port and the nearby airfield is controlled, so flights there are planned and cleared in advance. Second, several stretches — Cahuita National Park and the Gandoca-Manzanillo refuge among them — are protected areas where flights near or over the reserve are coordinated with SINAC, the national protected-areas authority. Most beachfront and property work sits outside those boundaries under standard DGAC compliance, but wherever a survey approaches protected coast or controlled airspace we secure the necessary permissions first and gather the data legally and respectfully.
Our survey team mobilises the length of the Caribbean coast with full equipment — photogrammetry and LiDAR drones, RTK GPS base station, batteries, and field laptops — scheduling flights around the calm, low-tide morning windows that give the cleanest shoreline data and the safest flying over water and beach.
Want the broader picture of surveying in the region? See our Caribbean drone survey overview, our guide to coastal development surveys, or our look at eco-tourism mapping around Puerto Viejo.
Every Caribbean coastal survey includes a full set of processed outputs ready for your engineer, municipality, insurer, or GIS analyst:
Deliverables are compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS, AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and all major GIS and engineering platforms. We also provide KMZ overlays for Google Earth on request. For a full breakdown of what surveys cost, see our 2026 Costa Rica drone survey cost guide.
Drone Survey Caribbean Costa Rica — Regional Overview
Caribbean Coastal Development Drone Surveys
Eco-Tourism Drone Mapping Around Puerto Viejo
LiDAR vs Photogrammetry — Which Is Right for Your Project?
Costa Rica DGAC Drone Regulations 2026
We fly the same stretch of shoreline on a repeat schedule, capturing every flight with RTK GPS ground control so each dataset locks to identical real-world coordinates. Comparing the surface models flight to flight reveals exactly where sand has been lost or gained, how far the vegetation line or high-water mark has retreated, and how much sediment volume has moved — measured to ±2cm across the whole beach rather than at a handful of stakes. That turns erosion from a subjective impression into a dated, defensible measurement you can act on and show to insurers, municipalities, or SETENA.
It depends on your exposure and goal. A stable stretch under long-term monitoring is often flown twice a year, before and after the heaviest rains and swell. Property that is actively eroding, or a site where you are designing sea defences or planning construction, benefits from quarterly flights, and we can also mobilise after a major storm to document damage quickly. Because ground control is established on the first visit, every return flight is faster and cheaper, and all of them compare directly against the original baseline.
Yes. A dated, survey-grade record of the shoreline and terrain is exactly the evidence that supports environmental review with SETENA, coastal-zone (Zona Marítimo Terrestre) documentation with the municipality, insurance claims after storm damage, and engineering design for retaining structures. Instead of arguing about how much beach has been lost, you present an objective before-and-after measurement of the whole site, which strengthens applications and speeds decisions.
A ground crew with a total station measures a few profile lines slowly and leaves most of the beach unmeasured, and on soft, shifting sand it is hard to reoccupy the exact same points months later. A drone maps the entire beach and backshore wall-to-wall in a single flight, in a fraction of the time, and RTK control lets every return flight line up precisely with the last. You get complete coverage, faster fieldwork, and directly comparable datasets — the three things erosion monitoring most needs.
A survey starts at $1,000 USD for sites up to 5 hectares, including the flight, RTK GPS ground control, full data processing, and all deliverables. Larger coastal stretches are quoted at $80 per hectare, and recurring monitoring programs are priced per visit at a reduced rate once control is established on the first mobilisation. We confirm scope and price within one business day — request a quote here.
From a single eroding beachfront in Puerto Viejo to a kilometre of public coast in Limón under long-term monitoring, we typically confirm availability and quote within 24 hours.
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