TheAvatar
Contributor
BACKGROUND:
Taking a trip to Costa Rica to explore the jungles, volcanoes, whitewater kayak, and mountain bike for a week with my girlfriend. We also want to spend a second week diving. The problem is we were not planning on renting a car and would be staying on the east side of the country in Monteverde, so getting all the way to the South or the West where the diving will be seems like a hassle. Also, I'm not sure how good the diving is on the Caribbean side is or how good it will be in August (the rainy season?). The alternative is to drop more money into airfare and spend the diving week in Cancun ($300-$350 airfare) or Cozumel ($400-$500 extra airfare). Obviously, a day is lost to travel here (flights connect through the USA!)
The last thing is that we are young and adventurous, more at home in a tent or on a couch or a cheap hotel than in a fancy resort. Our goal is to dive as much as possible as cheaply as possible and chill on the beach, not luxuriate by the pool bar while diving only twice a day.
Also, we'll need to rent everything but mask/fin/snorkel.
QUESTIONS:
How will the diving quality differ between locations?
Is it really any cheaper to find cheap accommodations and book diving separately? It doesn't seem so in my research so far...
Is camping possible on Cozumel or Playa del Carmen or Cancun? Advisable?
Is it easy to eat cheap on the mainland? On Cozumel?
Are there nice white sand beaches?
Anyone want to recommend some dive operations?
Anyone with experience have tips to share?
Taking a trip to Costa Rica to explore the jungles, volcanoes, whitewater kayak, and mountain bike for a week with my girlfriend. We also want to spend a second week diving. The problem is we were not planning on renting a car and would be staying on the east side of the country in Monteverde, so getting all the way to the South or the West where the diving will be seems like a hassle. Also, I'm not sure how good the diving is on the Caribbean side is or how good it will be in August (the rainy season?). The alternative is to drop more money into airfare and spend the diving week in Cancun ($300-$350 airfare) or Cozumel ($400-$500 extra airfare). Obviously, a day is lost to travel here (flights connect through the USA!)
The last thing is that we are young and adventurous, more at home in a tent or on a couch or a cheap hotel than in a fancy resort. Our goal is to dive as much as possible as cheaply as possible and chill on the beach, not luxuriate by the pool bar while diving only twice a day.
Also, we'll need to rent everything but mask/fin/snorkel.
QUESTIONS:
How will the diving quality differ between locations?
Is it really any cheaper to find cheap accommodations and book diving separately? It doesn't seem so in my research so far...
Is camping possible on Cozumel or Playa del Carmen or Cancun? Advisable?
Is it easy to eat cheap on the mainland? On Cozumel?
Are there nice white sand beaches?
Anyone want to recommend some dive operations?
Anyone with experience have tips to share?
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