Costa Rica: Catalinas Isl advice

[mcs]

I am planning a trip to CR for an April/May honeymoon and am looking to dive a couple of days before heading home. I would really like to see the mantas at Catalinas Islands while I am in the area.

My research on the Catalinas suggests it is a more advanced dive. How so exactly?

I am quite comfortable in a variety of conditions, although I have never dove the Pacific. I am particularly concerned about my wife; she is very comfortable in the water and did extremely well in some very fast current drift diving but she has less than 10 logged dives.

I guess my questions are - how difficult are the Catalinas in early May and what makes them challenging?
Are the Catalinas appropriate for a novice that is very comfortable in the water?
How do dive operators deal with novices interested in more advanced dives?
How difficult is it to get together a group of 4 or 6? Operators seem to require 4/6 to go to Catalinas.

In reading through other threads, this forum seems to be populated by a very knowledgable and helpful group - I am looking forward to any feedback/advice on diving Costa Rica.

(I am new here, so please forgive me if this has been discussed ad nauseum)

 

[Deep Blue DIving]

Hi and welcome to the board.
Right now we have a lot of manta rays around the Catalinas; up to 18 we counted. The conditions are not that advanced. I would take your wife on the trip. There is current and surge, but not that bad. We always try to dive with the current to make it comfortable.
Last week we had 5 trips to the Catalinas and usually it's no big deal to find more divers for the tour.
We go out with a minimum of 2 divers.
cu soon, Olli

www.deepblue-diving.com

 

[Missdirected]

Hiya, I have promised a couple other people my thoughts on the Costa Rica and the Catalina's. Give me about ten minutes to finish up and I will post

 

[drbill]

Ah, yet another Catalina Island to dive. Looking forward to MissDirected's post on this.

 

[Missdirected]

Ah, yet another Catalina Island to dive. Looking forward to MissDirected's post on this.

Kind of funny, John and I met on "your" Catalina then went diving on this one

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=185630

 

[johnnyseko]

Ohhhh I would love to go back to the one in California! I must say, some of my fav dives there.

 

[drbill]

Kind of funny, John and I met on "your" Catalina then went diving on this one

Of course I know that... I was there!

One of my life goals is to dive as many of the Catalina Islands in the world as I can.

Hijack over... back to Costa Rica (Iris, my Costa Rican housemate, would like that).

 

[rexman24]

Cat islands are a great dive and should be no problem for a novice. I have 23 dives and enjoyed my dives there. There can be some current and swells at times. If you go from Flamingo it is a 20 minute boat trip and Aqua Center dive took me out by myself when they didnt have anyone else that wanted to go. The Columbian owner is friendly and helpful(gave me a ride back and forth from Tamarindo), and its a good op. Of course with a longer boat trip it is easily done from Coco as well as noted above, but they will require more bodies. Enjoy!

 

[rexman24]

I should also say I did my certification and a number of dives with Deep Blue dive out of Coco, who posted above. The shop has new ownership and mostly new staff. I can say Lenin is a great and helpful captain and at the time I dove with them they were very reasonable priced, nice equiptment, friendly and helpful staff, and a comfortable boat. Coco is a very fun place too!

 

[mcs]

Thanks all for you thoughtful feedback. I think my fiancee will be able to handle it and enjoy herself, as long as we go with a reputable operator (isn't that always the case?).

Matt