Nuqui Elopement: Where the Rainforest Meets the Pacific

I prefer Nuqui to Bahia Solano for couples who want the most isolated version of this experience. The town has fewer lodges, the beaches require a panga rather than a truck to reach, and on most mornings I have Termales entirely to myself and the couple. The additional logistics are worth it. Nuqui delivers the Colombian Pacific in its most undiluted form.

Termales: Hot Springs on the Pacific

Termales is a forty-minute panga ride from Nuqui. The geothermal springs emerge at the base of the cliff and pool on the sand before the pools drain into the Pacific at high tide. I have shot at Termales in the morning when steam rises from the warm water into the cool air and the effect is visible in wide shots with the ocean behind. I use the pools as foreground elements and position the couple in the surf beyond them. The combination of warm spring and cold Pacific happens nowhere else I know of.

Playa Cocalito

Cocalito is around an hour from Nuqui by panga and requires advance coordination with local guides for the access permit. The beach is completely enclosed by primary Choco forest with no buildings visible anywhere on the shoreline. I have shot here twice. Both times the isolation was total. The forest canopy extends over the top of the beach and the light through the canopy in the morning gives a softness that the open Pacific beaches do not have. For couples who want the most remote possible setting on the entire Colombian coast, Cocalito is the location.