puravida02
Guest
Hello everybody:
I'm back from a wonderful weekend diving in Costa Rica's North Pacific. Thanks to everybody who wrote to welcome me to this community. The following is a brief trip report:
Our trip was arranged by Francesco Nistri, PADI Instructor who owns Divingmania (www.divingmania.net), in my opinion, the best managed operation based in San Jose (as there are plenty of good operations but based on the coast). In turn, Francesco teamed with Kristian Schumacher co-owner of Summer Salt in Playas del Coco (www.summer-salt.com) and one of the only two PADI course directors based in Costa Rica. These were our "dive masters", what a luxury! They rented a comfortable 38 ft from a local dive operation (Resort Divers), which besides from an annoying diesel emmisions problem, was perfect to fit our group of 11 divers.
Our weekend included diving Bat Islands on Saturday and Catalina Is. on Sunday. From Playas del Coco, the trip to Bats takes 2 hours and to Catalinas around 45 minutes. For those who are not familiar with Costa Rica's Pacific coast, Bats are located on the northwesternmost tip of the country and Catalinas more to the south, in front of Flamigo Beach. http://www.costaricamap.com/ing/mfrmap2.html
OK, now to the dives:
First: Saturday 7/9/05, 11:00 a.m. Spot: Big Scare/Bat Is./Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
This is the famous spot to come face to face with the bull sharks. It as a sunny morning, clam waters and we had some 50 ft viz. We descended to a sandy spot at 65 ft. No sharks there. Francesco lead the pack down to 75 feet. At that point, the clear bright waters started turning into dark murky ones, adding even more anxiety and "scare" to the Big Scare. When we were at 80 ft or so, he started pointing to the front and banging at his tank for us to see. I couldn't see anything. Apparently, one bull shark had just passed by very quickly and only one other diver saw it. He kept looking around some 5 more minutes without success and then started gradually ascending for shallower waters. We kept diving where the viz was nicer, knowing our chance to see the bulls had passed but still enjoying the rest of the dive. We continued the dive guided by Kristian as Francesco went down to 100 ft to take one final look. Once on the boat said he was able to spot four of them. So, we didn't see them, or at least most of us didn't but I guess that now that I've done it the myth and drama that preceeded the dive is gone. It's another nice spot and, if you're lucky you'll see them. Still, a very nice dive.
Second: Saturday 7/9/05, 1:00 p.m., Spot: Black Rock/Bat Is/Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
I've dove the Costa Rican Pacific Coast many times including Caño Island, which many say is the second best place, second to Cocos Island, obviously. I have to say that Black Rock (Roca Negra) was the best dive I've had here. Amazing! Even though by the time we got in the water there were some clouds covering the sun, which in turn affected our viz., our dive was just incredible. We didn't see sharks but we did see spoted eagle rays, huge jacks, tarpon, schools of fish which formed walls around us some 30 ft high, etc. In this dive, you basically go around the rock which I estimated goes down to some 90+ ft. Most of our dive happened around 50 - 60 ft and we gradually spiraled our way up. Moral, if you ever make the long trip to Bat Islands, be sure to dive Black Rock. If you happen to see bulls at Big Scare, think about it as a bonus.
Third: Sunday 7/10/05, 9:30 a.m., Spot: Catalina Is - West Side/Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
When you dive in Catalinas, be ready for some current. We did a drift dive at a max. depth of 65 ft. The viz wasn't great so no real need to go deeper. Even though we didn't see the frequent white tip sharks, we did see spoted eagle rays. The dive was nice and relaxing without been amazing.
Fourth: Sunday 7/10/05, 11:30 a.m., Spot: Catalina Is - West Side/Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
This time we basically started where we left the first dive and continued with the current diving to the west. Viz. was better and much more life in general. We followed a beautiful green turtle for some 5 minutes. Towards the end of the dive, we were able to witness the most amazing spectacle: first we saw one octopus. As the group carefully lied on the bottom to take a closer look at it hiding behind a rock, we realized it was actually two of them not one. We stayed there observing amazed for almost 10 minutes. According to Kristian, what we saw was their mating act. One of them was trying to break appart from the other without success. They must have changed colors before us some 10 times. This alone was worth the whole day.
Finally, on the way back to Playas del Coco we were escorted by a group of 4 dolphins who just loved to surf our waves and do all sorts of jumps to our enjoyment.
I'll be back in Playas del Coco in 2 weeks and I have to make up my mind if I want to try Bats again. Will see...
BTW, our rainy season (May through November), although not so convenient for doing top side activities (unless you don't care about getting wet!) it's THE season for diving our Pacific coast as the waters are warmer and calmer. During the sunny season (December through April) it gets really windy and the water is usually very cold.
Cheers
I'm back from a wonderful weekend diving in Costa Rica's North Pacific. Thanks to everybody who wrote to welcome me to this community. The following is a brief trip report:
Our trip was arranged by Francesco Nistri, PADI Instructor who owns Divingmania (www.divingmania.net), in my opinion, the best managed operation based in San Jose (as there are plenty of good operations but based on the coast). In turn, Francesco teamed with Kristian Schumacher co-owner of Summer Salt in Playas del Coco (www.summer-salt.com) and one of the only two PADI course directors based in Costa Rica. These were our "dive masters", what a luxury! They rented a comfortable 38 ft from a local dive operation (Resort Divers), which besides from an annoying diesel emmisions problem, was perfect to fit our group of 11 divers.
Our weekend included diving Bat Islands on Saturday and Catalina Is. on Sunday. From Playas del Coco, the trip to Bats takes 2 hours and to Catalinas around 45 minutes. For those who are not familiar with Costa Rica's Pacific coast, Bats are located on the northwesternmost tip of the country and Catalinas more to the south, in front of Flamigo Beach. http://www.costaricamap.com/ing/mfrmap2.html
OK, now to the dives:
First: Saturday 7/9/05, 11:00 a.m. Spot: Big Scare/Bat Is./Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
This is the famous spot to come face to face with the bull sharks. It as a sunny morning, clam waters and we had some 50 ft viz. We descended to a sandy spot at 65 ft. No sharks there. Francesco lead the pack down to 75 feet. At that point, the clear bright waters started turning into dark murky ones, adding even more anxiety and "scare" to the Big Scare. When we were at 80 ft or so, he started pointing to the front and banging at his tank for us to see. I couldn't see anything. Apparently, one bull shark had just passed by very quickly and only one other diver saw it. He kept looking around some 5 more minutes without success and then started gradually ascending for shallower waters. We kept diving where the viz was nicer, knowing our chance to see the bulls had passed but still enjoying the rest of the dive. We continued the dive guided by Kristian as Francesco went down to 100 ft to take one final look. Once on the boat said he was able to spot four of them. So, we didn't see them, or at least most of us didn't but I guess that now that I've done it the myth and drama that preceeded the dive is gone. It's another nice spot and, if you're lucky you'll see them. Still, a very nice dive.
Second: Saturday 7/9/05, 1:00 p.m., Spot: Black Rock/Bat Is/Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
I've dove the Costa Rican Pacific Coast many times including Caño Island, which many say is the second best place, second to Cocos Island, obviously. I have to say that Black Rock (Roca Negra) was the best dive I've had here. Amazing! Even though by the time we got in the water there were some clouds covering the sun, which in turn affected our viz., our dive was just incredible. We didn't see sharks but we did see spoted eagle rays, huge jacks, tarpon, schools of fish which formed walls around us some 30 ft high, etc. In this dive, you basically go around the rock which I estimated goes down to some 90+ ft. Most of our dive happened around 50 - 60 ft and we gradually spiraled our way up. Moral, if you ever make the long trip to Bat Islands, be sure to dive Black Rock. If you happen to see bulls at Big Scare, think about it as a bonus.
Third: Sunday 7/10/05, 9:30 a.m., Spot: Catalina Is - West Side/Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
When you dive in Catalinas, be ready for some current. We did a drift dive at a max. depth of 65 ft. The viz wasn't great so no real need to go deeper. Even though we didn't see the frequent white tip sharks, we did see spoted eagle rays. The dive was nice and relaxing without been amazing.
Fourth: Sunday 7/10/05, 11:30 a.m., Spot: Catalina Is - West Side/Guanacaste/Costa Rica:
This time we basically started where we left the first dive and continued with the current diving to the west. Viz. was better and much more life in general. We followed a beautiful green turtle for some 5 minutes. Towards the end of the dive, we were able to witness the most amazing spectacle: first we saw one octopus. As the group carefully lied on the bottom to take a closer look at it hiding behind a rock, we realized it was actually two of them not one. We stayed there observing amazed for almost 10 minutes. According to Kristian, what we saw was their mating act. One of them was trying to break appart from the other without success. They must have changed colors before us some 10 times. This alone was worth the whole day.
Finally, on the way back to Playas del Coco we were escorted by a group of 4 dolphins who just loved to surf our waves and do all sorts of jumps to our enjoyment.
I'll be back in Playas del Coco in 2 weeks and I have to make up my mind if I want to try Bats again. Will see...
BTW, our rainy season (May through November), although not so convenient for doing top side activities (unless you don't care about getting wet!) it's THE season for diving our Pacific coast as the waters are warmer and calmer. During the sunny season (December through April) it gets really windy and the water is usually very cold.
Cheers
