Suggestions for diving in Costa Rica

[dwigton]

Hi,

My wife and I will be visiting Costa Rica from Jan 20-Feb. 8. We are moderately experienced divers with approximately 25 dives each. We prefer shallower dives from 35-70 feet. More interested in coral sea life than testing our deep diving skills. We are looking for suggestions of dive sites and dive operators for our trip. We have been looking at the Caribbean side near Cahuito and Manzanillo, and also at the northern Guanacoste beach area. Totally open to your experiences and suggestions! Thanks in advance.

 

[flyboy08]

We very much liked Catalina Island last December! We stayed in Flamingo Beach....at the FB resort. I'd have to look up the dive shop...it was about four miles away....

My avatar picture was taken there

 

[DaneNee]

My buddy and I just dove with Agua Rica dive shop out of Tamarindo in Guanacaste. Its a small operation that took us up to the Catalinas. Great dive sites, great visibility and great guides. Max depth was 60 feet.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Stayed in Flamingo Beach in Guanacaste a while ago. Catalina Island was great. Requested to go to Bat Island, but I guess it was too far. It is more volcanic rocks instead of limestone corals. You get to see pelagic creatures like manta rays. We also saw whales breaching during our surface interval, and also followed them around when they were surfacing for air. I also though my regulator was making a squeaking sound throughout some of the dives, but was told by the DM that it was the mother whale communicating to the baby whale. This was in the month of aug, so creatures might vary.

 

[Ds4x4]

my wife and i just came back from costa rica, we stayed in tamarindo. we went through tamarindo dive center, davide the owner was awesome and very patient with my wife. we did the catalina islands, it was a great dive spot. hopefully the weather will cooperate better for you than it did for us. great surfing in tamarindo too! Pura Vida!

 

[Rezdin]

Going to the area in January 2018, I hear the current is quit string in the Catalina's.
Im a New diver, looking for something more tame with more coral and shallows. Any suggestions?

 

[dmaziuk]

We dived with Rocket Frog Divers in Playa Ocotal, I highly recommend them.

On Catalinas we went into the channel and got hit with a surge that knocked the cylinder out of our DM's BCD and my wife and left a few bits of skin on the wall. Outside of the channel, however, there wasn't much of a current. There weren't any mantas either, that was a bummer. That was in late April, your critters and currents may vary.

I'd have to look at the logs but I get the feeling most of our dives were in the 70-90' range, not 30-70'. And there is no coral to speak of: there are rocks and life is on and around them. It's different from Caribbean reefs, e.g. you don't see as many colourful aquarium fishes as you would on the Caribbean side, instead you get huge schools of fish. They seemed to be less shy, too. I'd say it's worth checking out for that alone.