Diving near Alajuela, Costa Rica

[jasondcrawford]

I'm thinking about doing a semester abroad next year (January - April 2009) and one of my options is Alajuela, Costa Rica. Before I make my decision I wanted to get some information on the diving, as I am not familiar with the area at all. Mainly:

How long will I have to drive to either coast for a good dive?
Will the water be warm enough that time of year?
What is the diving like (visibility, things to see, cost) -- my big diving trips were to Hawaii and Belize -- is the diving comparable to either of those places?

I appreciate the help!

 

[djtimmy77]

From there, probably 1-1.5 hr to Jaco/Herradura area or Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast (with good traffic) and 4 to the carribean coast.

The water is plenty warm enough year round.

I spent 5 months in Escazu, and made the trip quite frequently to surf.

I can't comment on the diving because I wasn't certified when I lived there.

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Jason,
as djtimmy77 said (by the way, thanks man!) the next Diving from San Jose are we.
The actual road over the "Monte Aguacate" is full of curves and sometimes accidents,
but it takes about 1.5-2 hour by car to arrive in Herradura.
If they finish the new highway from Sant Ana to Caldera, the travel would be 1 hour.

Watertemp here is whole year +/- 80 and diving with a shorty is rarely a problem.

Diving in Cost Rica is not like Hawaii and especially not like in Belize.
The pacific sea here is full of plankton and this makes visibility poor but feeds the fishes and so the grow.
I never was diving the caribbean side of Costa Rica due the lack of serious dive shops,
but recently there opened 2 new shops and it would be worth do check them out.

Poor visibility is relative and it oscillates between 10 to 40 feet, december tru may usually 25 ft.
We are spotting now daily big manta rays but usually after April they will get less frequent.
Usual encounters are white tip sharks, pagros, jacks, grunts, makarels, puffer, box and blowfishes,
needlefish, barracuda, angelfishes, sting and eagler rays, lots of lobsters, nudibranchus, seastars, and, and, and

Prices start at 80$ per 2 tank dive and we have a "frequent diver card"

Best regards

Chris Karrer

 

[ScubaTub]

Cano Island

I just spent a week at Cano Island off the Osa Penninsula and made 6 dives. The water was clear because the Pacific currents washed out the crud. BIG critters and lots of them. Sometimes the current would bring in some plankton, then wash it out within minutes. Generally, visibility was excellent. The dive locations in the Cano Island reefs were a little cloudy at low tide, but even then 20-30' visibility. Easy to see, difficult to get clear underwater photos.

I was a visitor. HerraduraDivers is local, so his advice may be more valuable. I have contact information about a PADI instructor from San Jose who frequently stays at Drake Bay. If you want his name, then conatct me at matt.tdpc@net-link.net.
​

 

[dlemmons]

On the caribbean coast is Reefrunners.
Reefrunner divers is now back under it's original ownership.
On the caribbean, we have costa rica's larges reef system.

check us out... - Welcome to Reefrunner Divers - PADI SCUBA Diving in Costa Rica on the Caribbean Coast Based in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limon - Welcome Cruise Ship Passengers From Limon

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Scubatub,

i found the waters at Isla del Cano enough clear to shoot those fotos:

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/3747

But i just came back from another short trip to Isla Coiba in Panama,
and there the water was more cloudy than normal for this season.
So maybe you go some kind of a "cloudy week", everywhere on te pacific shore of Costa Rica
the visibillity can change very fast due the high amount of plankton and algaes.

The mentiones fotos where shot in february and july 2007/2008.

Best regards

Chris Karrer

 

[dlemmons]

This is the usual march/april/sept/oct diving on the caribbean, however jan and feb usually has a few storms that obviously don't help the vis.
That's when the surfers are happiest

Reef Runner Divers Puerto Viejo Scuba Video