Dive Shop: Local Diving in Costa Rica | Dive Map and Descriptions | Rocket Frog Divers
Rocket Frog Divers is a 5-Star PADI IDC Dive Center in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. They recently become SDI accredited as well as NAUI accredited with an instructor qualified to certify through these agencies. Conveniently located 4 minutes from Playas del Coco (Coco Beach). The dive masters know the area, the reefs and took great care of our equipment, and lead with safety. There where three DM's in the water during our dives although our group consisted of four divers.
The shop utilizes 5 purpose built dive boats. The Pacific Express is features two 250HP V6 Yamaha 4 Stroke engines. This proves worthwhile for the more popular dive sites in the region, the Bat Islands (Isle Murcileago) and the Catalinas Islands. The Pacific Express makes the voyage to Catalinas in 40 minutes. The Devil Ray is a catamaran style dive vessel that offers a lot of room and comfort with an upper level sun deck for surface intervals. We used this vessel for the local reefs at Papagayo Gulf. Rocket Frog provides a senior staff member diving on the boat every day. After each day the crew will carry, clean, and store your gear at the shop to dry. The shop offers a pool area for lessons, training and certifications. The store offers a full array of merchandise and gear for sale. They also provide free beer to divers after the last dive each day. They have two 12 and 15 passenger vans to transport divers to and from the shop to the beach, a 4-minute ride. We had the opportunity to dive with 5 of the DM's. They speak English, Spanish, French, Swedish, German, Swiss-German. They offer Air and EANx tanks.
Dives:
We dive The Catalina Islands, South Point Reef; and Brumel Island, Arco Iris Reef, situated about a 40m minutes boat ride from Playas del Coco. The Catalinas’ are an isolated group of islands, south of the dive shop. There are large schools of fish, rays, white tip sharks and other marine life. We were not lucky enough to see Pacific Giant Manta on this trip, but fortunate to see mobula rays and humpback wales. Visibility in the Catalinas ranges throughout the year, however, we had average visibility in the month of August. Brumel Island is North of Catalinas and had average visibility, located on the corner of the coastline heading from Flamingo towards the north and forms a more or less L shape giving a couple of different spots that are accessible for diving. A flat sandy bottom at 40ft with a rock shelf rising out and boulders and rocks providing plenty of places for marine creatures to hide. It’s a great place for some shallow easy exploring and critter spotting. Brumel’s western facing wall is also a great dive site that can be used for all levels. Dropping in near to the middle of the main rock face you can follow shallow shingle covered slope along. Reaching a sandy channel you can continue following to the south and come upon pinnacles surrounded by sandy bottoms, up to 65ft, where we saw lots of white tip sharks chilling on the bottom. Eagle rays glide past and schools of grunts were common. Water temperatures range between 65-80 degrees F (18-27C). Other marine life we saw includes moray eels, octopus, puffer species, angel and butterfly fish, sea stars, round rays, eagle rays. Coastal sites is a great places to find nudibranchs.
We dive the local dive sites found within a 15-minute boat ride of Playas del Coco. See pic below. Sites such as Tortuga, Argentina Point, Sorpresa, Monkey Head, Shark Shallows, Aquarium, and Palmares to name a few. There are approximately 30 local dive sites in the Papagayo Gulf. Water temperatures and visibility were great. There are extreme thermoclines pass 35 and 45ft. The water generally is warm enough that a 3mm wetsuit will suffice. We had the opportunity to see white tip sharks, harlequin clown shrimps, lots of octopus, nudibranch, zebra eel, jewelry eel, guinea puffers, tan starfish, chocolate chip starfish, green turtles, blue neon starfish, king angels, Sea of Cortez angels, Moray eels, Eagle Ray, Leopard Round Ray, Moorish Idols, large schools of surgeon fish, and others. There is a wreck of an old sailing boat located in approximately 65-70 feet of water, the deepest you will go on this dive.
Hotel:
We stayed at The Palms at Coco Beach. The hotel has a Restaurant and Bar and is located on the northwest Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The ceviche is the best on the menu, as well as the whole fried red snapper with tapacones. Everyone is very friendly and helpful. The hotel is only 20 minutes from Costa Rica's Liberia international airport. Is also a 2 minutes' walk to the beach, just 82 feet away. You can easily walk 5 minutes and be in the center of town where there a lot of souvenir stores, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and ice cream parlors. Has a lounge poolside at where you can enjoy the soothing sound of the fountain and the sun. Offers live music on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Has huge TV's in the bar/restaurant area where you can watch all types of games from US and Latin America. The hotel also has onsite parking, Free WiFi, Smoke-free policy, Air-conditioned rooms, Ensuite bathrooms, Private balcony option, Cable TV, Conference rooms available, and an Onsite minimarket with alcohol and groceries. There is a soccer field across the hotel, and we had the opportunity to see some local teams play on Saturday evening.
Other Notes:
There are several other dive shops in the area, although some were closed. Rich Coast Diving, Deep Blue Diving, BA Divers.
I will be posting pictures soon
Rocket Frog Divers is a 5-Star PADI IDC Dive Center in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. They recently become SDI accredited as well as NAUI accredited with an instructor qualified to certify through these agencies. Conveniently located 4 minutes from Playas del Coco (Coco Beach). The dive masters know the area, the reefs and took great care of our equipment, and lead with safety. There where three DM's in the water during our dives although our group consisted of four divers.
The shop utilizes 5 purpose built dive boats. The Pacific Express is features two 250HP V6 Yamaha 4 Stroke engines. This proves worthwhile for the more popular dive sites in the region, the Bat Islands (Isle Murcileago) and the Catalinas Islands. The Pacific Express makes the voyage to Catalinas in 40 minutes. The Devil Ray is a catamaran style dive vessel that offers a lot of room and comfort with an upper level sun deck for surface intervals. We used this vessel for the local reefs at Papagayo Gulf. Rocket Frog provides a senior staff member diving on the boat every day. After each day the crew will carry, clean, and store your gear at the shop to dry. The shop offers a pool area for lessons, training and certifications. The store offers a full array of merchandise and gear for sale. They also provide free beer to divers after the last dive each day. They have two 12 and 15 passenger vans to transport divers to and from the shop to the beach, a 4-minute ride. We had the opportunity to dive with 5 of the DM's. They speak English, Spanish, French, Swedish, German, Swiss-German. They offer Air and EANx tanks.
Dives:
We dive The Catalina Islands, South Point Reef; and Brumel Island, Arco Iris Reef, situated about a 40m minutes boat ride from Playas del Coco. The Catalinas’ are an isolated group of islands, south of the dive shop. There are large schools of fish, rays, white tip sharks and other marine life. We were not lucky enough to see Pacific Giant Manta on this trip, but fortunate to see mobula rays and humpback wales. Visibility in the Catalinas ranges throughout the year, however, we had average visibility in the month of August. Brumel Island is North of Catalinas and had average visibility, located on the corner of the coastline heading from Flamingo towards the north and forms a more or less L shape giving a couple of different spots that are accessible for diving. A flat sandy bottom at 40ft with a rock shelf rising out and boulders and rocks providing plenty of places for marine creatures to hide. It’s a great place for some shallow easy exploring and critter spotting. Brumel’s western facing wall is also a great dive site that can be used for all levels. Dropping in near to the middle of the main rock face you can follow shallow shingle covered slope along. Reaching a sandy channel you can continue following to the south and come upon pinnacles surrounded by sandy bottoms, up to 65ft, where we saw lots of white tip sharks chilling on the bottom. Eagle rays glide past and schools of grunts were common. Water temperatures range between 65-80 degrees F (18-27C). Other marine life we saw includes moray eels, octopus, puffer species, angel and butterfly fish, sea stars, round rays, eagle rays. Coastal sites is a great places to find nudibranchs.
We dive the local dive sites found within a 15-minute boat ride of Playas del Coco. See pic below. Sites such as Tortuga, Argentina Point, Sorpresa, Monkey Head, Shark Shallows, Aquarium, and Palmares to name a few. There are approximately 30 local dive sites in the Papagayo Gulf. Water temperatures and visibility were great. There are extreme thermoclines pass 35 and 45ft. The water generally is warm enough that a 3mm wetsuit will suffice. We had the opportunity to see white tip sharks, harlequin clown shrimps, lots of octopus, nudibranch, zebra eel, jewelry eel, guinea puffers, tan starfish, chocolate chip starfish, green turtles, blue neon starfish, king angels, Sea of Cortez angels, Moray eels, Eagle Ray, Leopard Round Ray, Moorish Idols, large schools of surgeon fish, and others. There is a wreck of an old sailing boat located in approximately 65-70 feet of water, the deepest you will go on this dive.
Hotel:
We stayed at The Palms at Coco Beach. The hotel has a Restaurant and Bar and is located on the northwest Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The ceviche is the best on the menu, as well as the whole fried red snapper with tapacones. Everyone is very friendly and helpful. The hotel is only 20 minutes from Costa Rica's Liberia international airport. Is also a 2 minutes' walk to the beach, just 82 feet away. You can easily walk 5 minutes and be in the center of town where there a lot of souvenir stores, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and ice cream parlors. Has a lounge poolside at where you can enjoy the soothing sound of the fountain and the sun. Offers live music on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Has huge TV's in the bar/restaurant area where you can watch all types of games from US and Latin America. The hotel also has onsite parking, Free WiFi, Smoke-free policy, Air-conditioned rooms, Ensuite bathrooms, Private balcony option, Cable TV, Conference rooms available, and an Onsite minimarket with alcohol and groceries. There is a soccer field across the hotel, and we had the opportunity to see some local teams play on Saturday evening.
Other Notes:
There are several other dive shops in the area, although some were closed. Rich Coast Diving, Deep Blue Diving, BA Divers.
I will be posting pictures soon
