Central America - 3 month stay, but where?

[Ashantiashanti]

Dear all,

after choosing the Philipines over the Galapagos, we thought about Costa Rica. Can anyone shed some light on living and diving in Costa Rica or another country in the region?

we want to have a base for three months where we will be self-studying. So we're looking for a modern town where we can get good internet, entertainment, go out etc. but also access to amazing diving. However, we cannot afford 1000usd+ LOB.

read a few things about Costa Rica, mantas and bull sharks?
We will be there from March.

looking forward to hearing your responses,
cheers

 

[drrich2]

I've not dove Costa Rica. Nothing I've read about the diving there has put it high on my list against other Caribbean options, and I'm told the Philippines diving would probably be better than what I'm likely to find anywhere in the Caribbean. I'll be interested to see if anyone posts telling you anything different than that.

Of course, that's if diving is the end all, be all of the trip. If you're interested in herpetology-focused guided tours in the rain forest, or other mainland jungle excursions, well, that might be different.

So tell me, what is it you guys will be self-studying? Has it got anything to do with the location? That's a factor.

Where are you coming from? The Philippines are way down my to-do list because it'd take a lot of travel time to & from there (my definition of a lot of travel time is any plane ride over 4 hours and any one way trip over one day), eating into the week I can generally take off at once. But if I were going to spend 3 months somewhere, and considering that the Philippines are huge with a number of diverse places to dive, seems like a golden opportunity to 'do' the Philippines.

Richard.

 

[Costa Reefing]

What would you like to know about the living down here? I moved here from Chicago 4 years ago now.

A good base would be Cocos beach, good nightlife, budgets for every need and the local diving there is very nice.You would also have access to various sites such as the Catalina Islands (A cleaning station where you can usually see really big mantas & white tip sharks more consistently compared to the local diving of coco) and the Bat islands (bull sharks May-Sept).

The nice thing about Costa Rica is that you have access to both the Pacific and Caribbean. The Caribbean isnt as developed though and I only know of 2 dive shops on that coast Not much research or diving is done on the Caribbean side so its hard to find info.

You can find some pics of commonly seen animals/coral in this thread (I would like to add as a note though that white tip reef sharks are fairly common along the entire pacific coast, I love those little guys lol)

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/central-america/477707-costa-rica-2014-a.html

 

[diversteve]

or another country in the region?

we want to have a base for three months where we will be self-studying. So we're looking for a modern town where we can get good internet, entertainment, go out etc. but also access to amazing diving. However, we cannot afford 1000usd+ LOB.

I think the other option is Panama. For the first part: Panama City - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The better diving is elsewhere though from what I've read. Some of the shops there pickup in Panama City but that's an all day excursion. I've also heard Boca Del Toros mentioned as an excellent shore diving location - but I think you have to stay nearby to dive there.

. Divers will find plenty of everything in Panama's waters, from the pulse-hammering drama of the Pacific--sharks, whales, dolphins, black marlin, 400-pound jewfish, abyssal drop-offs and volcanic formations--to the calm and clear Caribbean Sea, where three-quarters of the world's types of corals and more than half of its tropical fish species thrive on shallow and varied fringing reefs.

Panama | Scuba Diving

I really don't know much about it other than that.

 

[jake11]

We have been to both Costa Rica and Panama. I loved the diving in Costa Rica. The viz was not great but we saw a lot of stuff including being up close and personal with bull sharks !!! The people are friendly and the wildlife is abundant! We went North about 3.5 hours in Panama to Coiba to dive. The viz was terrible and we did not care for the diving that much. There is one community about an hour north of Panama city that a lot of expats lived in for very cheap. It was very pretty. It was called El Valle de Anton and we enjoyed it there! Check it out! If I had to choose I would pick Costa Rica!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Jake11 how many dives did you do at Coiba? I've seen some fabulous photos of dives in that area. Yes, the viz always looks bad but what's being photographed looks very cool. Personally, disappointed to hear.

 

[jake11]

We did a LOB called the Yemena( sp.?) I think we got in around 17 dives or so on a 5 day trip. Our dive guide was awesome and made the trip super fun but it was freezing and murky. On the last dive of the trip we did see a HUGE school of cow nosed rays. Only the dive guide ( Arthur Portman by the way) and I saw them and the 2 people that were only about 10 feet behind us saw nothing because the viz was so poor! Did I have fun, yes! Would we go back to Coiba, no!!! BTW, one of the other dive guides did spot a whale shark briefly but we didn't see it! It was kind of cool being in Panama and super cool to tour the Panama Canal!

Jake11 how many dives did you do at Coiba? I've seen some fabulous photos of dives in that area. Yes, the viz always looks bad but what's being photographed looks very cool. Personally, disappointed to hear.

 

[gb_williams]

I don't live in Panama, yet, but for the last 20+ years I've been visiting the country at least once every year. My wife and I own property and will live there when we retire. We have also dove both the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the country.

We dove Coiba in February for three days (9 dives). I found it very similar to Hawaii, in terms of underwater terrain and species of fish and animals. We did have one dive with bad visibility. Mostly, it was in the range of 30 - 60 feet, which is pretty good for Panama and Costa Rica. There are strong currents and a thermocline, where the water temp drops to 68 to 72. We saw lots of sharks -- mostly white tip -- colorful frogfish and very large schools of jacks and barracuda.

Staying on Coiba is an adventure and a naturalists dream. The lodgings are very basic. But, the birds, monkeys and animals are always close by, providing entertainment during breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Given your requirements for a modern city with all the amenities, I don't think I would recommend Coiba. It's a 7 1/2 hour drive from Panama City to Santa Catalina -- a small village that is both a surfing mecca and the "trailhead" for Coiba. Isla Coiba is another 1 1/2 to 2 hours by small boat. Santa Catalina does have internet, one or two small stores, a few inns and cabañas that are pretty basic and a few restaurants and cantinas. It's about three hours to the nearest major town, Santiago.

You might consider Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean side. During March through September, the diving is shallow -- 15 - 60 feet. The viz is 20 - 40 ft. While the fish population has dropped since the lionfish arrived 5 years ago, you'll see a large variety of reef fish and critters, including toad fish.

Bocas has a wide variety of places to stay from B&Bs to hotels to over-the-water cabañas. There is plenty of internet access and number of restaurants and bars.

Overall, you'll find Panama less touristy, less expensive and with less petty crime than Costa Rica. The roads are better, too. But, the only really modern city is Panama City. And, the closest diving is 90 minutes away in Portobelo -- which is just "okay" diving.

 

[flots am]

Dear all,

after choosing the Philipines over the Galapagos, we thought about Costa Rica. Can anyone shed some light on living and diving in Costa Rica or another country in the region?

we want to have a base for three months where we will be self-studying. So we're looking for a modern town where we can get good internet, entertainment, go out etc. but also access to amazing diving. However, we cannot afford 1000usd+ LOB.

read a few things about Costa Rica, mantas and bull sharks?
We will be there from March.

looking forward to hearing your responses,
cheers

I can't tell you anything about the diving, but Costa Rica is a really nice friendly place and I'd have no hesitation about going there for a few months.

flots.

 

[jake11]

BTW.. we dove from a resort called El Ocotal in Costa Rica and it was great!