After some users asked me about our trip last November, I thought I could share our experience here. After all, it's half a year after the trip and one year after my initial inquiry. So here goes:
Costa Rica was great. November is the end of the rainy season and we had many days with sunshine in the morning and rain in the afternoon. But it's the tropics and part of the experience.
We started in Dominical and traveled up to Manuel Antonio, Monteverde, Brasilito, La Fortuna, and Samara (so actually, we were criss-crossing the West Coast). For the most part we went on hiking trips, went swimming, or diving. We didn't do any of the zip-line things but went on a canopy tour in Monteverde, which I can recommend.
We dove in four separate locations:
1. Isla del Cano
We went with Southern Expeditions out of Dominical on a full-day tour. Diving was nice there; it was the first warm-water dive for me and I had a great time. The boat ride was a bit long (about 40 min. on the Drake river and another 40 min. on the open ocean) to get to the island but we saw humpback whales on the way, and the back-pain afterwards was well worth it. My wife decided to skip the second dive because she had a slight cold. While I was down looking at octopus the boat captain took her on a tour to see dolphins and she had a great time.
Here is a link to the dive shop:
Costa Rica Southern Expeditions- The Southern Pacific Eco Tour Experts- Kayaking, Snorkeling and Hiking
and here a link to my pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grimmerm/CanoIslandCostaRica#
2. Manuel Antonio
We ended up going out with Oceans Unlimited in Quepos. We drove out to one of the little islands of the Manuel Antonio park and dropped down. Unfortunately, the vis wasn't good that day (only about 5-10ft) and some people on the boat apparently had never dove in low-vis conditions before, which made it somewhat difficult underwater with people bumping into each other all the time, but overall it was fun. We went to dive sites 5 and 7 on the map on their website:
Costa Rica Scuba Diving with Oceans Unlimited Costa Rica
My pictures are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grimmerm/ManuelAntonioCostaRica#
3. Catalina Islands
In my opinion: If you only have time to go to one dive location, go here. We dove with Aqua Center out of Playa Flamingo and I can highly recommend them. The dive sites were just spectacular and I ended up going out twice with them (four dives at four different locations around the islands). Here is a link to the dive shop:
Aquacenter Diving Costa Rica, Scuba Diving the Catalina Islands in Costa Rica
and here are my pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grimmerm/SantaCatalinaIslandsCostaRica#
4. Playa Samara
We had a last minute change of plans due to a storm on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and decided to go to Samara instead. The storm had passed through a few days before we got there and the aftermath (wind, waves, clouds, low vis, etc.) could still be seen when we went out with Pura Vida Dive:
Pura Vida Dive - Samara Beach - Costa Rica - Playa Samara - Costa Rica
My pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grimmerm/PlayaSMaraCostaRica#
All in all, we had a great time despite some rainy days and occassional low vis diving. All dive shops were superb and I highly recommend each and every one of them.
We would go to Costa Rica again any day.
