Junior OW Diver going to Costa Rica

[Aysha Haines]

My 11 year old and I are thinking of heading down to CR (Pacific side) for a few weeks in March. He is a solid little diver but only has about 10 dives and his age limits him to 40 feet.

Are there dives worth doing around Catalina Islands or Cano?

 

[JohnnyC]

Both Catalinas and Caño for sure. I happen to like the southern part of Costa Rica more than the northern part. Rocket Frog and Rich Coast are in Playas del Coco in Guanacaste, and Oceans Unlimited is down south in Quepos. Oceans Unlimited works with a shop down in Uvita for their Caño dives.

The Manuel Antonio area is great, and there's lots of stuff to do when you're not diving.

 

[dmaziuk]

The 40 feet thing may be a bit limiting on Catalinas at least. I think most of our dives around Guanacaste were more like double that.

 

[dolesorchard]

The Catalinas are more like 80-100 ft. Unless you are looking for lots of people, I would avoid Quepos. Manuel Antonio is a very small park surrounded by development, if you go a little further south the area around Uvita is much less busy and there is a good dive operation, Mad About Diving. All of their dives are at Isla Del Cano. The diving is usually quite good there, but sometimes there is a very strong thermocline with very poor visibility below. There is a lot of life, massive schools of fish of all sizes, turtles, large rays, sharks on every dive and depths of around 50’. We have done many dives at Cano and have been happy with most of them.

 

[Aysha Haines]

Thanks for the feedback, I will look into Cano for some shallower dives and see what pops up.

 

[dmaziuk]

Rocket Frogs dive a couple of shallow sites, but most of their local ones are 70-80 feet as well. You can always dive the left and right sides of their Playa (Ocotal): you're looking at 20 feet depths and AL80 will last you the whole day, but I think you'll cover all of their shallow sites in 2 days max.

 

[webbah]

Did two local dives (not to the Cats) with Rich Coast in Playa Coco and saw mantas both dives and a whale shark!!!!!! Not deep either - max depth was only 55 feet. Somewhat strong currents though.

 

[outofofficebrb]

You may be able to see giant pacific mantas in Catalina. Another place for that is Bat Islands - it's either those or bull sharks. You might even see schooling rays!

As for the diving - it was not easy diving. In Cat we had a blue water safety stop, a lot of surge, big swells, strong current....all at the same time. It may have just been that day. I'm in the low 130's for dives and I think that one still stands out as the most difficult dive I've done. In Bats it was slightly easier but like Cats, no mooring lines so for descent or ascents. I don't think I would have enjoyed it or managed it with so few dives under my belt but it may be different for your son. Only the two of you can make that assessment.

I dove with Rocket Frog Divers. The owner, Michael, is amazing and their boats are extremely clean and very fast so you can get there and back in minimal time compared to slower boats. It's quite a distance to cover!

 

[Aysha Haines]

Thanks, he is fine with currents and descents/ascents without a line. The issue is as an 11 year old he has a max 40 foot depth limit so it sounds like those sites would not be appropriate

You may be able to see giant pacific mantas in Catalina. Another place for that is Bat Islands - it's either those or bull sharks. You might even see schooling rays!

As for the diving - it was not easy diving. In Cat we had a blue water safety stop, a lot of surge, big swells, strong current....all at the same time. It may have just been that day. I'm in the low 130's for dives and I think that one still stands out as the most difficult dive I've done. In Bats it was slightly easier but like Cats, no mooring lines so for descent or ascents. I don't think I would have enjoyed it or managed it with so few dives under my belt but it may be different for your son. Only the two of you can make that assessment.

I dove with Rocket Frog Divers. The owner, Michael, is amazing and their boats are extremely clean and very fast so you can get there and back in minimal time compared to slower boats. It's quite a distance to cover!