Scuba Diving CR

There was some really good diving out of Tamarindo and Playa Hermosa on the Nicoya Peninsula. The Bat Islands and Catalina Island were the best dive sites. Lots of marine life including manta rays, whales, dolphins, and enormous schools of fish. I didn't like the caribbean diving in CR as there is lots of dead coral due to the run-off from the banana plantations. I like to travel light and all I usually take with me is a dive computer. It's too much of a headache for me to lug all that gear around and the equipment at most dive shops is generally good but if not, at least serviceable. Have fun. Mike

you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

I was not impressed with diving near Playa Tamarindo.

The best diving is one of 2 places, Drake Bay and Isla Cano, and the Coco Island refuge, protected and Liveboard only, a top 10 dive site worldwide.

Diving near Playa Manzanillo has lots of fishes, but as above says, the reefs are barely alive.

Overall, diving in CR is really the bottom of the barrel besides Coco Island, as the Caribe side of Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and Belize, are far superior according to the divers I have met, and what I have read in Scuba.

PADI.Com has a website listing all Divemasters and locales, phones-emails worldwide, for more info in a given area.

There is also a Diving TT Branch on the LP Forum.

Diving in CA, also depends on weather and seasons, as well the many micro climates that influence water clarity along the Caribe coastlines, with April being a good month overall, currently its the Rainy season down there, so condition and river run off will effect the quality of the diving in many locales.

Check out the Scuba Board, too. Keep us posted!

You can book dive excursions in the Reserva Curu on the Nicoya Peninsula. They have small boats and can take you to many different dive spots. They have fins, booties and masks, but if you prefer your own you could bring it.

Playa del Coco diving

Playa del Coco and Catalinas islands in NW guanecaste are the hotspots for CR, good to great diving there. mostly bigger stuff. and its pacific ocean diving not caribbean reef diving.

check out Deep Blue Divers in PDC or Aqua Center diving in Flamingo

wether you bring your equiptment depends if you want to carry it or not

Coco island is some of the best in the world, but its 300 miles off the coast, minimum 3000$ investment and very advanced dive conditions.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Ballena Marine National Park (Costa Rica's longest reef on the Pacific side) or the Mystic Dive Center. There is another dive shop in the area, but I forget the name. Google for the other. Enjoy

I think it's called crocodive in Ojochal