My wife and I are down in Costa Rica this week and we dove on Monday and Tuesday. We are staying in the Manuel antonio area. Monday we dove Cano island and Tuesday was Tortuga Island. We were told on Tuesday that all of Costa Rica is experiencing poor vizibility conditions due to some weird currents this year.
Our trip to Cano was with Southern Expeditions. It was hard to find someone running a trip out there in the rainy season. Shops were either closed or wanted a minimum of 8 people to run the trip. I'll start by pointing out that this company is not a dive company, they are a tour company and this fact became very clear during the day. We drove an hour south to Dominical to be at their shop at 6:00 am. The shop was not open. Another couple showed up while we were waiting, who were going to go snorkeling at Cano today. A bit later a van pulled up and the driver told us all to come with him. He said he would take us to the restaurant where we would eat and meet the divemaster/ tour guide. When we arrived at the restaurant we were informed the divemaster was sick and would not be coming today. After eating the driver told us we will drive another hour and a half to Southern Expeditions other office. Once we got there they said we would pick up a divemaster on the way to Cano. One more couple joined the group to snorkel and we all hopped in this tiny fiberglass boat. The boat went to Drake Bay to pick up our divemaster. It was about an hour and half boat trip to the island. It was a rough trip in that tiny little cramped boat. Once we arrived they dumped the snorkelers out and took us to the dive site nearby. They chose the dive sites so they could stay near the snorkelers. The dive was around a series of large rock formations. We maxed out at about 60 ft. The viz was 25-30 feet. As a dive site Cano was just amazing. The fish were BIG. I saw the biggest porcupine fish and Moray I have ever seen. We saw white tip sharks, a spotted eagle ray, and a turtle. Lots of large schools of smaller fish and occasionally through the haze you could see a school of larger fish zipping by. We were supposed to go on a hike on the island between dives, but we never did. They did provide a light lunch on the island but never gave an explanation of why we didn't go on the hike. Our divemaster wasn't very useful. Luckily my wife and I are very self sufficient. My biggest gripe of the trip was that once we had completed both dives our gear was just shoved to the side of boat so the divemaster could break hers down and pack it up, we were required to sit in our seats while the boat was moving. That reminds me of another point, their rental gear looked a bit rough and there was not emergency O2 on board. We always bring our own gear, so it wasn't an issue but anyone who might be considering going with them might want to be aware of that. The trip back was just as long and rough as the way in. We were very glad to be back at our rental car. Cano was awesome and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in going, just with another company.
Tuesday at Tortuga was a completely different story. We dove with Herradura Divers. They were fantastic! We showed up at the shop in the morning and discovered that our reservation had been lost. We showed them our confirmation email and from then on they never missed a beat. They packed up the gear, a cooler full of drinks and even provided me an empty cooler to put my video equipment in. The dive boat was such a nice change from the day before. It was actually a dive boat. The trip out to Tortuga was about 45 minutes. It was a beautiful day to be out on the boat. Even my perpetually sea sick wife enjoyed the ride. Once at the first site the divemaster gave a good briefing. It was just the divemaster and us diving that day. The viz was poor, it was about 15 feet. There were also strong swells on the site. However, it didn't matter, the water was super warm, at 90 degrees and so many fish. Porcupine fish everywhere! There were trumpet fish 3 feet long. I ran into a large Moray that was swimming freely. We surprised each other as we came around a rock outcropping. It would take too long to go into the variety of fish there . The dives were max 60 feet and averaged around 40 feet. We chose to do the trip were you only dive, as opposed to eating lunch on the island between dives. However after the second dive the divemaster had the captain drop us off on the island for about 20 minutes so we could explore the beach. While we were on the beach the divemaster went above and beyond and broke down our gear and packed it for us. The ride back was good too. Once back a the shop our divemaster again went above and beyond and rinsed all of our gear for us. If you dive to see marine life Tortuga is hard to beat. It's now on my short list to do again. I also highly recommend Herradura Divers. My wife and I have been spoiled by some great diving companies and these guys rank right up there.
Our trip to Cano was with Southern Expeditions. It was hard to find someone running a trip out there in the rainy season. Shops were either closed or wanted a minimum of 8 people to run the trip. I'll start by pointing out that this company is not a dive company, they are a tour company and this fact became very clear during the day. We drove an hour south to Dominical to be at their shop at 6:00 am. The shop was not open. Another couple showed up while we were waiting, who were going to go snorkeling at Cano today. A bit later a van pulled up and the driver told us all to come with him. He said he would take us to the restaurant where we would eat and meet the divemaster/ tour guide. When we arrived at the restaurant we were informed the divemaster was sick and would not be coming today. After eating the driver told us we will drive another hour and a half to Southern Expeditions other office. Once we got there they said we would pick up a divemaster on the way to Cano. One more couple joined the group to snorkel and we all hopped in this tiny fiberglass boat. The boat went to Drake Bay to pick up our divemaster. It was about an hour and half boat trip to the island. It was a rough trip in that tiny little cramped boat. Once we arrived they dumped the snorkelers out and took us to the dive site nearby. They chose the dive sites so they could stay near the snorkelers. The dive was around a series of large rock formations. We maxed out at about 60 ft. The viz was 25-30 feet. As a dive site Cano was just amazing. The fish were BIG. I saw the biggest porcupine fish and Moray I have ever seen. We saw white tip sharks, a spotted eagle ray, and a turtle. Lots of large schools of smaller fish and occasionally through the haze you could see a school of larger fish zipping by. We were supposed to go on a hike on the island between dives, but we never did. They did provide a light lunch on the island but never gave an explanation of why we didn't go on the hike. Our divemaster wasn't very useful. Luckily my wife and I are very self sufficient. My biggest gripe of the trip was that once we had completed both dives our gear was just shoved to the side of boat so the divemaster could break hers down and pack it up, we were required to sit in our seats while the boat was moving. That reminds me of another point, their rental gear looked a bit rough and there was not emergency O2 on board. We always bring our own gear, so it wasn't an issue but anyone who might be considering going with them might want to be aware of that. The trip back was just as long and rough as the way in. We were very glad to be back at our rental car. Cano was awesome and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in going, just with another company.
Tuesday at Tortuga was a completely different story. We dove with Herradura Divers. They were fantastic! We showed up at the shop in the morning and discovered that our reservation had been lost. We showed them our confirmation email and from then on they never missed a beat. They packed up the gear, a cooler full of drinks and even provided me an empty cooler to put my video equipment in. The dive boat was such a nice change from the day before. It was actually a dive boat. The trip out to Tortuga was about 45 minutes. It was a beautiful day to be out on the boat. Even my perpetually sea sick wife enjoyed the ride. Once at the first site the divemaster gave a good briefing. It was just the divemaster and us diving that day. The viz was poor, it was about 15 feet. There were also strong swells on the site. However, it didn't matter, the water was super warm, at 90 degrees and so many fish. Porcupine fish everywhere! There were trumpet fish 3 feet long. I ran into a large Moray that was swimming freely. We surprised each other as we came around a rock outcropping. It would take too long to go into the variety of fish there . The dives were max 60 feet and averaged around 40 feet. We chose to do the trip were you only dive, as opposed to eating lunch on the island between dives. However after the second dive the divemaster had the captain drop us off on the island for about 20 minutes so we could explore the beach. While we were on the beach the divemaster went above and beyond and broke down our gear and packed it for us. The ride back was good too. Once back a the shop our divemaster again went above and beyond and rinsed all of our gear for us. If you dive to see marine life Tortuga is hard to beat. It's now on my short list to do again. I also highly recommend Herradura Divers. My wife and I have been spoiled by some great diving companies and these guys rank right up there.
