Guanacaste Area in Costa Rica in March

[Jeannie Knierim]

I found a great deal to Liberia, Costa Rica mid March for Spring Break and decided to book it before doing any research.

I thought I would check in with the experts here to learn about where to stay and dive and if there is enough to see diving for a week in the area or if I should rent a car and explore another area while there.

Any and all recommendations are greatly appreciated! I usually research alit before booking a trip, but the price I got on airfare made me jump at the chance.

 

[nippurmagnum]

I just did six dives in Guanacaste this week, in the Catalina Islands with Rocket Frog. There were significant issues with visibility, as there was red tide. Viz was better when it was windy, but awful when seas were flat. On a given dive it could range from 3 feet to 40 feet. Even so, I saw white tip reef sharks, nurse sharks, long tail sting rays, eagle rays, leopard rays, morays of many species, turtles, nudibranchs, etc. Decent but not spectacular diving.

Rocket Frog is based out of Playa del Coco but picks up divers with their boat at the Flamingo marina, which is actually on the adjacent playa Potrero. So if you are staying in the Flamingo/Potrero area, it’s very convenient and a short boat ride to the Catalinas, and it’s cheap for Costa Rica standards, $85 for two tanks. They offer nitrox, too, which many other operators do not. They have excellent custom zodiacs and take good care of you (for instance, rinsing and drying your gear if you dive multiple days), though dive standards in Costa Rica are definitely not on a par with more traditional dive-centric destinations, and some dive masters were rather inexperienced.

Anyway, the diving could well be spectacular by the time March rolls around, if the viz has improved. We saw several whales near the boat on successive days, but with the very limited viz it would have been near impossible to see them underwater. Ditto for manta rays. If the conditions are right though, you could get lucky. Happy to answer any questions you have.

 

[Jeannie Knierim]

Thanks for your reply. We are accustomed to diving in Cozumel with a small family owned operator. When we dive, it is usually my husband and I and maybe 2 others with our guide. How many people are assigned to a guide with Rocket Frog? It looks like their boats hold a lot of divers. I know my operator is Cozumel has spoiled me with their personalized service. I just can't imagine going out on a boat with 20 or so people with only 1 or 2 guides...

I sure hope that the Red Tide is gone by March! One other question, did you see any sea horses on your trip? Those elusive creatures have evaded me for years, but I always hope that I might get lucky one day and spot one.

 

[nippurmagnum]

Also, I think a car is a must in CR. I don’t think

Thanks for your reply. We are accustomed to diving in Cozumel with a small family owned operator. When we dive, it is usually my husband and I and maybe 2 others with our guide. How many people are assigned to a guide with Rocket Frog? It looks like their boats hold a lot of divers. I know my operator is Cozumel has spoiled me with their personalized service. I just can't imagine going out on a boat with 20 or so people with only 1 or 2 guides...

I sure hope that the Red Tide is gone by March! One other question, did you see any sea horses on your trip? Those elusive creatures have evaded me for years, but I always hope that I might get lucky one day and spot one.

There were anywhere from 3 to 12 people on the Rocket Frog boats. Usually the ratio of divers to divemaster was 4 to 1. In low viz, you couldn’t do much more than that.

The local dive operator in Potrero (Brindisi Divers) seemed to be packing their boats like sardine cans.

Didn’t see any sea horses on this trip, though the divemaster I liked best (Michael from Slovakia) said that they were around, and he found a lot of really tiny nudibranchs, after I told him I liked nudis.

I personally don’t think Costa Rica is a “dive-only” destination, we love horseback riding on the beach, zip lining, learning to surf, hiking to waterfalls, etc. I recommend renting an SUV, National seems to have the best rates from Liberia ($45 a day) though their vehicles have a lot of miles on them. A vehicle gives you much more freedom to explore.

Hope the red tide is gone by the time you arrive. Either way, it’s worth getting in a couple of dives.

 

[dmaziuk]

We dived w/ Rocket Frogs around spring break a few years ago, it may have been late Feb or early Apr I forget. I'd pretty much second @nippurmagnum's opinion: decent diving if not super-spectacular. We also had varying vis, not too bad though, and nasty thermoclines -- on one of those dives my computer clocked 24C at the bottom and 30C at the safety stop on the same dive.

Rocket Frogs do local sites too, in addition to Cats and Bats, where you'll just as likely see rays and octopuses and so on. Note that the "big attractions": bull sharks, giant mantas, may or may not show up on the day when you take the trip to Catalinas, so... With those longer trips they need enough takers to pay for the gas so schedules may change on short notice if people fail to show up, or more customers walk in.

 

[jonhall]

if there is enough to see diving for a week in the area

I dove only 1 day much farther south along the coast (near Jaco) in the month of January - the diving season there was just starting back up - runoff from the mountains cut the visibility way down and the diving was underwhelming. To be honest, I dove just to say I dove in CR - and I couldn't talk my buddy into diving with me after telling him the viz wasn't great. Rocket Frog shows 22 local dive sites on an old map I've had for a few years, so plenty of diving to keep someone busy for a week......but I agree with @nippurmagnum

I personally don’t think Costa Rica is a “dive-only” destination, we love horseback riding on the beach, zip lining, learning to surf, hiking to waterfalls, etc. I recommend renting an SUV, National seems to have the best rates from Liberia ($45 a day) though their vehicles have a lot of miles on them. A vehicle gives you much more freedom to explore.

I was lucky and spent a week in San Jose doing tours everyday (that lasted the whole day) and then a week on the coast. As much as I like the beach and diving, seeing the sites was the highlight of the trip. La Paz Waterfall Gardens, Poas and Arenal Volcanoes, Baldi Hot Springs, Sarapiqui River, biological reserves, boat rides, national parks, monkeys, sloths, ziplines, walking the city of San Jose, etc... so much to see and do!!

 

[turtlegurl]

Hi all,
Any recommendations on hotels? My husband and I will be there in August diving with Rocket Frogs. We don't need fancy, but clean and comfortable with either food nearby or onsite.