Costa Rica; Which coast?

[mempilot]

If you could only get to one coast on a 5 day stay in CR, which would you dive? I'm going to Honduras and Costa Rica in January for 2 weeks.

 

[crpntr133]

Never dove either side but I think that the east side is cleaner.

 

[drbill]

My housemate is Costa Rican. Although she is not a diver, her brother owns a dive operation on the west coast. I hear that the Caribbean side is not as good for diving, but I'm not sure why.

Dr. Bill

 

[mempilot]

My housemate is Costa Rican. Although she is not a diver, her brother owns a dive operation on the west coast. I hear that the Caribbean side is not as good for diving, but I'm not sure why.

Dr. Bill

Bill,

Do you have the name of the operation? I'm trying to make a list of contacts, as I'm kind of trecking it if you will.

 

[Scuba65]

All diving is done in Guanacaste, which is on the West Coast. I've dove there many times and i've used Ocotal Diving, and Deep Blue. Deep Blue is in Coco Beach and i've never had any problems with them the times i've used them. Ocotal Diving is a bit of a drive from Coco Beach and also a good operator. Now if you want some really goood awesome diving the only place that would be is Drake Bay...it's just like diving Coco Island but cheaper. if you have any question just send me a PM and i'll be more than happy to answer your questions.

 

[cyklon_300]

Sorry, but the statement that the diving at Drakes Bay rivals that at Cocos is a bit of a stretch...

At Isla Cano we saw a few bull sharks, white tips, mobia, a manta, large snapper, and sea snakes, but there was really only one site (Diablo del Bajo) that was worth diving more than once or twice. IMO, Drakes Bay was good for 2-3 days max...we were fairly uninspired with it by the 4th and 5th days...

Cocos, in contrast, has ~15 sites, most with world-class big animal action, squadrons of marbled rays, hundreds of white tips and hammerheads. Bait balls, dolphins, tuna, silkies, Galapagos sharks, silver tips, etc etc etc...8 days of diving was not nearly enough.

For my tastes (and money), these two places are hardly comparable.

 

[archman]

Soooooooo... why don't people dive the Caribbean side?

 

[cyklon_300]

From a quick google search:

"Most good diving is on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. The Caribbean reefs were decimated some years ago due to pesticide runoff from the banana plantations although the last two or three years have seen a definite return of life to the region. Dive operations are not very sophisticated but if you happen to be on that side of the country a day of diving can be fun. The best months are in September-November."

 

[archman]

The Caribbean reefs were decimated some years ago due to pesticide runoff from the banana plantations although the last two or three years have seen a definite return of life to the region.

Wow, I did not know any of that. Costa Rica has always stood out as one of the most ecologically responsible countries in the world. This must be their dark secret past.

 

[cyklon_300]

on our way to Drakes Bay, we traveled thru several banana plantations...each one of them looked like toxic waste dumps...lots of 55-gal drums of chemicals, workers with rubber gloves (and paper dust masks?) spraying stalks of fruit with whatever was in the drums...funky colored water in the ditches on each side of the roadway...

The word 'organic' didn't come to mind...