In Coco de Playas now?

[szohn]

Anyone diving been diving Costa Rica this month?


The dive shop just told us the bull sharks are gone for the season, and we're disappointed. We were there the end last november and got to see both the sharks and a couple mantas. We planned the trip earlier this year to have a better chance at seeing more of the bulls.

If you've been there this month or are there now, what have you been seeing? I'm looking for something to tell my girlfriend to get her even more excited.

Btw, I know we'll have a great time, CR is awesome. We're just looking for reminder of how awesome it is before we get there.

Thanks!!!

 

[laurendell]

Ugh, that is sad news, szohn. I plan to head down there the first week of December and was hoping to get a bit of both the sharks and the mantas. Blame it on global warming, I guess!!

I'd be interested in hearing how the trip went anyway though... where did you stay? what did you do?

 

[szohn]

We start our trip tomorrow. We are diving with Rich Coast and staying at La Puerta Del Sol. (Same as the previous year, we would recommend both of them) We may go to Arenal for one night and do a kayak/whitewater or some kind of river trip. I'll post details when we get back.

 

[Summer-Salt]

As far as I know, the Bull Sharks are not a seasonal phenomenon but rather a question of sea conditions: hardly anyone will take you to the Bat Islands on a roller-coaster trip through winds and waves during the months of Nov. to March...But if the conditions allow it, you have good chances to see Mantas AND Bull Sharks during the same dive!

 

[szohn]

Summer-Salt may be correct, I was pretty much repeating what the dive shop told me, but my opinion of Rich Coast dropped considerably after a week with the new owners, so it may have been thier way of saying we don't want to go out that far anymore this year. Last year I would have rated them awesome this year they were average at best. As for not making trips in Nov, last year we did 2 trips to the bats during the week of Thanksgiving, and yes we saw both mantas and bulls on the same dive.

They are nice people and were helpful in many ways, but there was a major lack of enthusiasm and seemed a lot more interested in $$ than diving. Their boat was out of the water and we spent most of the week sharing Deep Blue's boat (A fact they didn't bother to mention till we got there), so perhaps that was part of it.

The other divemasters we dove with were average. Very little dive briefing, again not much enthusiasm, but we did have a few longer dives which is always appreciated. We only dove 5 of the supposed 20 local dive sites, repeating one 3 times. I'm not sure if that is because the other aren't really worth going to or the others require more work or travel time.

Deep Blue's boat crew on the other hand was really good, they were very efficient and friendly, always waving and saying hi when we saw them around town.

Our divemaster on our first and last day was a friend of theirs from Holland. He was there on a 2 week holiday and hadn't been diving on the sites before. He was a very nice guy and a dive instructor, but if you are going to make me dive with a guide, he should have local knowledge and point out things we might miss and know where to look for the cool stuff. We ended up doing our last dive on our own, which was a lot more fun.

The town has changed quite a bit in a year. Construction going on everywhere which seems to keep the monkeys out of town. The restaraunt at our hotel is closed until at least Feb which is a shame as it was one of the better restaraunts in the area.

Enough complaining. The local dives were very similar to last year. Viz ranged between 10-50 feet averaging about 30. We saw eagle rays and white tip sharks on almost every dive. Water temp had to be in the upper 70s most of the time, it seemed a bit warmer this year than last. Monkey Head and Verador were 2 of the better sites, with a pretty diverse set of life to explore.

We did get to the Cats on one day, the viz was really good for most of bost dives, ranging 50-70 feet. No mantas this year, but we had an eagle ray swim with us for about 20 minutes, which was pretty spectacular. The dive master said he saw a bull shark, but it swam away before any of us caught on to what he was pointing at. Appearantly the sign for a bull shark is the sign for a lobster followed by the sign for a shark.

The highlight of the trip was acutally during a surface interval. We saw a mom and baby humpback whale pair. The mom doing a full breach for us, a truely awe inspiring site.

Overall we had a pretty good trip. Not quite as mesmerizing as last year but Costa rica is still one of the most beautiful places we've been. We got a car half way through the trip so we could explore, I'd recommend a car to anyone going in the future. It's an easy country to get around and it opens up the opportunities to other adventures.

 

[RallyFord]

Szhon, thanks for the great review and info!

Laurendell, my whole family will be there the first weekend of December as well, staying at Villa Flores. My dad and I will be doing a few days of diving so we might see you around! Just say high to the guys that have Iowa written across their foreheads.

Szhon, who would you recommend for a dive shop if not Rich Coast? Deep Blue, Ocotal, Summer Salt, etc.?

RF

 

[szohn]

RF,

I'm not sure who I'd recommend. Deep Blue had a great boat staff, but I'm not sure I'd choose them next time. I'm not sure if it was dive shop or conditions that caused it, but it seemed Summer Salt and Deep Blue boats were on the same 4 dive sites, usually at the same time. Perhaps I'm spoiled, but the dive shops I consider good would usually go to a different dive site if someone was already there. (keep in mind my experience in CR is limited to 2 different weeks, and these sites may really be the only ones worth diving)

I never saw an Ocotal boat, at least one labeled as that, so I would probably investigate them as a possiblity. I saw the Diving Safari boat quite a bit, it looked a bit big for my tastes (big to me usually means cattle boat), but I talked to someone who dove with them and had a good time.

I doubt you would have a bad time with any of them, including Rich Coast. I've been lucky to dive with some great shops (usually because of feedback from this board) who have gained my loyalty and I try promote them, right now I can't say that about Rich Coast or Deep Blue which are the only 2 I have direct experience with.

If I remember correctly, Villa Flores was just down the street where we stayed. Looked pretty nice. No matter who you dive with, it is still Costa Rica, which is just an awesome place to be.

Have a great trip.

 

[RallyFord]

Thanks for the info Szohn!

My dad, my cousin, a friend, and I dove down in Florida this summer on a 'cattle boat' (15-20 divers per boat - quite roomy on board though) that moored at the same wreck as the company's other boat, then at the same bridge span as the other boat... I thought it was bad policy for both boats to moor in the same two places, but they were both very good dives as long as you could hang neutral and didn't need to hang onto the mooring line for your safety stop with another 15 divers... Even saw a bull shark at the bridge span from the inside of a bait ball! The point being: we've had good dives even on cattle boats, and even when they moored in the same spot and you had 30-40 divers on one bridge span, so we're fairly easy to please

I'll have to ask about the different dive sites near Coco when we decide on an operator, and if we go to the same sites over 3-4 days of diving I'll definitely be asking to visit something different, even if those 2-3 sites are 'the best' around. I always trust the local divers, but variety is good!

I borrowed the below list from Deep Blue's site. Are there any sites on here anybody would recommend we insist on visiting?

1. Virador Virador (30-75ft)
2. Monkey's Head Monkey's Head (30-65ft)
3. Meros Meros (15- 0ft)
4. Narizones Narizones (55-100ft)
5. Sorpresa Sorpresa (45-110ft)
6. Punta Argentina Punta Argentina (25-90ft)
7. Tortuga Tortuga (15-70ft)
8. Punta Gorda Punta Gorda (15-70ft)
9. Tiburones Tiburones (25-95ft)
10. The Point The Point (40-110ft)
11. Northwest Drift Northwest Drift (40-70ft)
12. Bajo Negro Bajo Negro (0-110ft)

RF

 

[szohn]

Of the local dives Virador and Monkey's Head were my 2 favorites. They are right next to each other and have a really wide variety of life between them. We had 6 whites tips around us at one point on Virador, and found an octopus and clown shrimp on Monkey head.

As I understand it, December is the beginning of Manta season so you could be in for a real treat. I'm not sure if they go to the Cats all year long, but even with the boat ride and extra money, it is well worth it. If this is your first trip, take a look ath the photos on the Rich Coast website, with the exception of the whale shark, I've personally saw everything they have a picture of on my trip there last year, the last week of Nov, except for the whale shark. The key to enjoying CR diving, don't expect great viz or colorful coral, they just don't have much of either. It's all about the critters there.

As for cattle boats and large groups, I told you I was spoiled . And even though, I've been on bad boats, bad sites, been paired with bad divers, I've never had a bad dive.

 

[RallyFord]

Thanks for all the info Szohn! You're getting me even more excited about this trip, which I didn't think was possible! I've been looking at the pics on Rich Coast's site for months, and I've been playing a Cat/Bat island video from BillBeards on my second screen at work for a couple of weeks now

Ocotal Diving has a great photo gallery as well - http://www.ocotaldiving.com/photogallery/index.htm

We're used to 15' or less vis locally, so when we get 30' of vis or more we're in hog heaven!

My wife is making fun of me for having all my shorts ready to pack and my suitcase open in the guest bedroom

RF