Advice for Costa Rica trip in June

[AlaskaGirl1]

I have done a great deal of reading on the forums here and on other sites, but it has all left me confused, so I am hoping someone can help me out.

My husband and I are going with some family to Costa Rica in June. We are not primarily going to dive, but we would dearly love to get some diving trips in. Four years ago, we went to Antigua for our honeymoon and got our Open Water Dive Certification. We had hoped to make it south again to get in some more dives (no diving in Alaska until you get your dry suit training! ) but just couldn't until now. I understand that the visibility in Costa Rica will be less than that we experienced in Antigua. We just want to get in some more diving experience.

Originally, we were looking at the Catalinas or Cano Island, but then I started to read more that indicates that the Catalinas and Bats are only for advanced divers and that even Cano is only suitable for intermediate divers. Then, other sites seem to say anyone can dive those sites. Thoughts? We're fairly confident people who enjoy a challenge, but we are definitely still beginning divers. If we couldn't dive those sites, would it be better to try the sites in the Gulf of Papagayo, Tortuga, or Manuel Antonio? Or somewhere else? We figured we would stay on the western side of the country since most people indicate that visibility on the Caribbean side during the rainy season when we would be there (that seemed to be the consensus, especially on this forum, but someone please correct me if I am wrong!.

Thank you in advance for any advice or suggestions!

 

[dolesorchard]

We have not done the Bat Islands, but Cano and the Catalinas are not particularly challenging dives. The Catalinas are almost always drift dives and are quite nice but tend to be on the deeper side, 85-90ft. My wife and I did our first dives together there the day after she finished her open water. Cano is much shallower unless you go to Devil's Rock which I would call an advanced dive. The last time I dove Devil's Rock, it was me the divemaster and a woman from northern Canada who was doing her final open water dive, so I guess everything is relative. The visibility is not like the Caribbean and there are no coral reefs, but there is so much life in the water, much of it on the larger side. You will see white tips on nearly every dive, lots of green turtles, eagle rays, southern stingrays, maybe devil rays, cownose rays and mantas. My first dives in Costa Rica I swam with a whale shark during our surface interval! Don't let anyone scare you away saying the dives are "advanced", if you are not comfortable in the water, do a refresher before you go, if you get in the water and are not comfortable with the dive, abort it.

 

[ScubabunnyCR]

Cano and Catalina Islands will definitely work for you as they have easier dive sites and for the time of year you are looking at I would probably favor Cano over Catalina as the best diving in Catalina I have had was from December to May time. Bat islands is an advanced dive as you are going deeper and the currents can be stronger. You will have fun wherever!
Pura Vida!

 

[ibj40]

We're heading down on May 9 for a week, after having been away for 9 years (and hating it every year). Will be diving with Rocket Frog. When we were down before, dove both Bats and Cats, but the local diving (we stayed at the Hilton Papagayo then, and will be again this time) was extraordinary, as well. The majority of our diving is in the Carribean, and we really appreciate the difference in structure and life in the Pacific.

 

[large_diver]

Agree with other comments about Catalinas. My daughter and I did 3 days of 2 tank trips in early January of this year. Daughter had about 35 total dives at that point (17 years old, certified in 2012). There were some occasional currents, but nothing too dramatic. We did have one dive where we drifted and surfaced about 300 yards from the boat (the group was diving all together with the DM)......quick wave of a safety sausage and the boat picked us up. We were staying in Tamarindo...boat trips to the Cats from there (beach pick-up) were about 40-45 minutes. Visibility (Pacific diving) was ~25-40 feet, but really nice marine life = tons of morays, some eagle rays, octopus, large schools of barracuda, white tip reef sharks. The operator we went with (Aqua Rica) seemed to do a decent job with newer divers.

Here is my trip report = in case this helps

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ce...trip-report-tamarindo-shore-based-diving.html