Costa Rica for Checkout Dives?

[Snoweman]

I wouldn't recommend Liberia. San Jose with a ride to Manuel Antonio. Lots to do in MA, and you can do a trip to Uvita and Cano Island. Nice diving, big schools of pelagics, clear viz, and perhaps a thermocline. Definitely not the same as the Caribbean, but a great experience.

 

[Scubanoobi]

My girlfriend will soon finish up her OW class. I see flights to Costa Rica are pretty reasonable right now. I'm looking at the Liberia / Playa Hermosa area for a possible first dive trip for her. Any advice? Is this a fairly easy dive area with some shallow-ish options? I prefer walls myself, but starting off easy for my girlfriend.

Costa Rica is my favourite place to dive, Rocket Frog has several locations, they do beach pickups too if it’s close by. I stayed at the Riu and they picked me up.

Catalina Island is a really nice dive with lots of white tips, the Bat Island Trip (not for beginners) is the best dive I’ve done. It’s expensive ($165 USD), I’ve done it 5-6 times and saw bull sharks every dive but one.

Visibility is not great (20-30 feet) but lots of sea life.

 

[nippurmagnum]

I wouldn't recommend Liberia. San Jose with a ride to Manuel Antonio. Lots to do in MA, and you can do a trip to Uvita and Cano Island. Nice diving, big schools of pelagics, clear viz, and perhaps a thermocline. Definitely not the same as the Caribbean, but a great experience.

I would not recommend Cano Island for cert dives. I did two trips there the last two years, and viz was at times as little as 5 feet, with significant surge and current. Plus the boat ride was a full hour in bumpy seas. It can be interesting diving (massive scoops of barracuda, white tip sharks, turtles, and occasionally whales in the summer) but not the place you want to be learning/practicing basic skills.

CR generally is not an ideal place for cert dives. I’d vote for Roatan or Bonaire instead. Go to CR once you’ve got 50+ dives. My 2 cents.