Costa Rica 2/07 Diving Pics

[Sveta]

Finally finding some time to do a quick report on day 1 in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica.

Well, the diving was awesome!! I actually didn't have very high expectations regarding vis and temps. I went out there expecting 10-20' vis and 65-70F water temps....well, what we got was completely different!! Vis on most dives was more in the 50' range (tough to get a good measure when it's that good) and temps @84F! I felt kind of dumb for bringing along my 7mm full suit, hood, 5mm gloves.....until I spoke with several other divers who had done the same thing. Luckily MissD got me a 3mm shorty for the trip.

Going out with Diving Safaris was great. MissD had made it clear to them long before we went out there that we wanted to dive as much as possible. I don't think they took us seriously at first. We only managed 2 morning dives on day one and they had no plans on going to the Catalina Islands as we had requested. Well, once we realized this, we began recruiting any and all divers we met on trips we did go out on. It really paid off as the next day we would go to Catalina and get in a night dive! After that, the shop knew we were serious and it was funny when we found ourselves switching boats in between others trips so we could do one more dive..... The shop did a great job getting us on as many trips as possible and the DMs we went out with made every dive interesting, pointing out things we would have never seen. From tiny clown shrimp and seahorses to giant mantas! On the surface intervals we saw turtles and even a humpback whale! I was blown away by how much life there was and the variety. We saw a little of everything on day one and it set the stage for the rest of the week....just couldn't wait to get back it the water!

So enough talk...here are some more pics. These are from day one.
Dive 1 - Monkey Head
Dive 2 - Virdor (turning point)
(I was going to give the depths/temps but just realized I wore my computer that died right after these dives - thank goodness I had a backup!)

Were you diving in Playa Hermosa? I'm going to a surfing camp in the same area in a couple of months but the owners of the camp told me that there were no dive operators around so i couldn't go diving. Is it true? can you pls provide me with more info before i stuck in a camp for 10 days straight

 

[riguerin]

Were you diving in Playa Hermosa? I'm going to a surfing camp in the same area in a couple of months but the owners of the camp told me that there were no dive operators around so i couldn't go diving. Is it true? can you pls provide me with more info before i stuck in a camp for 10 days straight

There's 2 different Playa Hermosas in Costa Rica:

One is in Puntarenas on the Central Pacific coast just West of San Jose ... near Jaco. It's a sick hollow beach break that's popular with surfers. There are a few surf camps here ... likely where you're headed.

The other is located in the North Pacific province of Guanacaste, on the Gulf of Papgayo near the Nicaraguan border. This area is popular with the diving and sport fishing crowd. There's also some excellent surf spots (like Roca Bruja and Ollie's Point), but they're remote sites and are best accessed by boat.

If you want to try to mix surfing and diving, you're best off heading to Guanacaste. There's a tourist town called Tamarindo with a really easy rivermouth break ... perfect for beginners. It's also home to the Witches Rock Surf Camp (the first and original Costa Rican surf camp). There's some good dive operators to the North in Playa Flamingo, Ocotal, and Playa do Cocco. There's some excellent surfing to the South at Avellanes & Playa Negra ... Playa Grande, Witches Rock and Ollie's to the North. There's also several very nice hotels in Tamarindo if you don't want to get stuck with spartan surf camp accomodations. Tamarindo is a fun little party town.

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

Awesome pictures!

 

[Missdirected]

Were you diving in Playa Hermosa? I'm going to a surfing camp in the same area in a couple of months but the owners of the camp told me that there were no dive operators around so i couldn't go diving. Is it true? can you pls provide me with more info before i stuck in a camp for 10 days straight

Riguerin covered everything well. I just wanted to say welcome to the board When are you headed to CR?

And thanks CB. We have so many more however, I am having a problem with my new photo program. Hoping a friend may have some time to pass by and teach me some of the basics sometime soon.

 

[Sveta]

There's 2 different Playa Hermosas in Costa Rica:

One is in Puntarenas on the Central Pacific coast just West of San Jose ... near Jaco. It's a sick hollow beach break that's popular with surfers. There are a few surf camps here ... likely where you're headed.

The other is located in the North Pacific province of Guanacaste, on the Gulf of Papgayo near the Nicaraguan border. This area is popular with the diving and sport fishing crowd. There's also some excellent surf spots (like Roca Bruja and Ollie's Point), but they're remote sites and are best accessed by boat.

If you want to try to mix surfing and diving, you're best off heading to Guanacaste. There's a tourist town called Tamarindo with a really easy rivermouth break ... perfect for beginners. It's also home to the Witches Rock Surf Camp (the first and original Costa Rican surf camp). There's some good dive operators to the North in Playa Flamingo, Ocotal, and Playa do Cocco. There's some excellent surfing to the South at Avellanes & Playa Negra ... Playa Grande, Witches Rock and Ollie's to the North. There's also several very nice hotels in Tamarindo if you don't want to get stuck with spartan surf camp accomodations. Tamarindo is a fun little party town.

Thanks for the info. Indeed, i'm heading down to Central Pacific Coast. I have checked so many surf schools, picked the one that suited me the most and ... i can't even dive there. Well, then i will just enjoy surfing and check diving on my next trip. Thanks again.

 

[riguerin]

Thanks for the info. Indeed, i'm heading down to Central Pacific Coast. I have checked so many surf schools, picked the one that suited me the most and ... i can't even dive there. Well, then i will just enjoy surfing and check diving on my next trip. Thanks again.

Well hope you have fun. Playa Hermosa is a great wave. Picks up the prevalent Southern-hemi ground swell during that time of year. Heavy A-Frames firing up down the beach ... it's like the Costa Rican version of Pipe (I'm only exaggerating slightly ... there's no reef . I've scored some great barrels there.

If you get solid South swell and Hermosa looks nuts, check out Boca Barranca to the North and Pavones to the South ... these are some of the worlds longest waves. Not exaggerating - you can get 1/2 mile long lefts when they're going off. Good luck !

 

[justleesa]

looks like a great trip! and what H-U-G-E schools of fish!! Looking forward to your report

 

[Pura Vida Diver]

Herradura Divers is in Jaco, about twenty minutes up the road from you on the main road in to Herradura before you get to the Los Suenos resort. An Italian guy named Nico runs it. We are 1 hour south of you in Quepos. Guanacaste is a pretty good hike from where you are. You can check out our website at www.oceansunlimitedcr.com.

Diving conditions in the central Pacific have been excellent this year with viz consistantly 40-70 ft. and lots of critters showing up.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[torontoscubagirl]

Wow great pix! Thanks for sharing.
Where exactly were you folks diving? Is this the Caribean or Pacific side of Costa Rica? And where did you stay?

Thanks!

 

[bubba105]

Good to hear...Mau and Lisa(his fiancee) are good friends. Glad to hear you had a good time diving with him.

Anybody interested in fishing, we used Mau & Lisa's fishing charter on the day before we flew. Caught a ton of fish, dorado, wahoo, no tuna but we even had a sailfish. It was a great time. Very reasonable rates, here's the web site if you're interested.
www.northpacifictours.com