Dive Report: Herradura, Costa Rica

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

jonhall

Contributor
Messages
1,716
Reaction score
1,219
Location
Indianapolis
# of dives
100 - 199
I'm a little embarrassed to be posting a trip report for my one day of diving in Costa Rica because it doesn't compare to the GREAT reports from @Dan_T and @riskill1 on their recent trips.

Because most of my trips are guided by a timeshare and/or vacation club, this trip had us staying in San Jose for one week with great tours daily to different locations in CR and one week in Jaco, also in central CR but along the Pacific coast. I had decided before leaving home, that based on the reviews of diving in the area and in info I received back from dive ops I emailed along the coast, I would not take my dive gear and rent it if I did dive. In question was the visibility which, in the last diver reports I attained, was anywhere from 10-25 ft. I did take my mask (which is prescription) and my camera though.

Jaco is probably better known for surfing, body boarding, and paddle boarding. The closest dive op is in Herradura about 12 minutes away. Dec. - May is the dry season when visibility should be better. I was told that Quepos, farther south, near Antonio Manuel National Park may be better for diving but that would have been at least an hour drive.

I dove with Herradura Divers and communicated with the owner, Chris, through email. I decided to do a day a diving mainly so I could say I dove in CR. Set up the dives a day ahead through emailing. Chris starts promptly at 8:00 am. There were only 2 other divers. We all completed paperwork, got fitted for gear, and then rode in a van to the beach a couple of minutes away. Dive gear was in very good condition and gauges were analog. That was a nice change from my computer although I missed downloading the dives onto my laptop. A first for me was taking a small taxi boat to the dive boat, which was really a nice fishing boat, anchored a short distance from shore as all boats were.

Herradura Bay is a horseshoe shaped bay so the water was calm. We dove two sites in this area that were about 10 minutes away. Previous reviewers wrote that they went to Tortuga Island ~30-40 away looking for clearer sites. On to the diving: Once at the first site, Chris took his time in explaining safety, expectations, and the site. The water temp was about 83º although we hit a few pockets of cooler water. There was a slight current at times as well as some moderate surges but nothing too difficult. Visibility at best was ~25'. Both dives were about the same with max depths at 52 and 46 feet and 50 minutes in length. The first site, El Jardin had a nice, big tunnel to swim through. The second site was called South Rock. Sea life is varied - I saw common reef fish, small puffers, a few small lobsters, and some very colorful and varied starfish. In the tunnel there were 3 whitetip sharks (according to Chris) of which I could only see the forms but no detail. Others saw a turtle, octopus, and 5 stingrays - I guess I was in the wrong 25 feet of viz to be able to see them. We did see a mama humpback whale and 2 calves on the surface interval.

In the area (Jaco and Herradura) there are eco-adventure parks, tours to national parks, horseback riding, fishing, and a few catamaran trips that leave out of Herradura. Jaco Beach is a nice big beach with warm water (dark sand due to volcanoes) that was packed on the weekend, but not so much during the week. We enjoyed our time in CR.

Posting a few of the starfish pics.

DSCI1740.jpeg DSCI1741.jpeg DSCI1719.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • image.png
    image.png
    21.4 KB · Views: 74
Nice report! Herradura means Horseshow in Spanish.....it also means a lot of fun evenings too:cheers:
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom