Guanacaste or Cano Island area in August?

[Valwood1]

I've dived in Gulf of Papagayo a couple of time and enjoyed the trips, despite the limited viz and still not seeing the bullsharks after 4 or 5 in-season trips to the Bats. Anyone want to compare that spot and the Cano Island area for an August 2010 trip of a week or so? I am an average diver, 200+ dives, been to Indo, PNG, Oz and others. Thanks for your opinion.

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Valwood1,
you are not the only person not seeing the Bullsharks....

When you are not very satisfied with Playas del Coco it's maybe time to move to another place.
Isla del Caño is certainly the best place to dive in Costa Rica (except Isla del Coco naturally),
but the viz in August can be limitated to 20 to 30 feet.
I love to dive there and i dove once end of July and viz was
not the "normal" viz of feet but it was still beautiful 40/50 foot.

Chris Karrer

 

[GratefulDiver69]

If August at Cano is anything like my trip there last month you'd probably be a bit disappointed. We only saw 1 whitetip and a couple of stingrays during our two dives there. I was hoping to see a lot more sharks. We went with Oceans Unlimited out of Quepos. Their new boat is nice and fast, but it wasn't really worth the price to go there to me. Inshore around Quepos was also just okay, not very good.

Here's the video from our dives.
YouTube - Diving at Cano Island

 

[Roy L]

If August at Cano is anything like my trip there last month you'd probably be a bit disappointed. We only saw 1 whitetip and a couple of stingrays during our two dives there. I was hoping to see a lot more sharks. We went with Oceans Unlimited out of Quepos. Their new boat is nice and fast, but it wasn't really worth the price to go there to me. Inshore around Quepos was also just okay, not very good.

Here's the video from our dives.
YouTube - Diving at Cano Island

Hi all,

I was there in February 2010 as well, and although our dives were VERY short because we were coupeled with a family doing their first dive after OW certification (which is another story), we saw on the two 20 minutes dives lots of white tips. I think around 8 or 9 each dive. We did our dives on the leeward side of the island, due to the 'beginners' in our group. Altough I was no way dissapointed regarding the underwater world, I think the dives on the west side of the island (The Devil's Pinnacle) must be more statisfying; more schools of fish, more chance of pelagic encounters. Anyone here with experience diving the west side of the island?

Safe diving!

Roy

 

[ScubabunnyCR]

If you want a change of scenery then head down to Cano definately. As was mentioned earlier, the viz in August is likely ot have dropped and at that time of year due to weather we probably won't be runnung from Quepos area (maybe we will...weather dependent) so I think your most secure bet would be to head out of Drake BAy. especially if you are looking to do a couple of days diving. Bajo Diablo is fantastic as is Barco, we saw around 25 sharks there today, which was crazy but great!

 

[Roy L]

If you want a change of scenery then head down to Cano definately. As was mentioned earlier, the viz in August is likely ot have dropped and at that time of year due to weather we probably won't be runnung from Quepos area (maybe we will...weather dependent) so I think your most secure bet would be to head out of Drake BAy. especially if you are looking to do a couple of days diving. Bajo Diablo is fantastic as is Barco, we saw around 25 sharks there today, which was crazy but great!

Hi Scubabunny,

The gulf of papagayo compared to drake bay is indeed a change of scenery. Looks like you dive cano island on a regular bases. I assume the 25 sharks you saw, are white tips only? Do you see other species of sharks there?

What about other pelagics? Like on the catalina islands manta rays can be seen during (November - May, I guess), is there a manta season on cano island as well? On several web sites I read that manta's and whale sharks can be spotted at cano, but I never heard of somebody actually seeing one during a dive. What is your experience?

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Roy