First post on this topic is here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/central-america/265562-live-ocotal-beach-resort-costa-rica.html
Good morning:
We dove yesterday on two spots ... Punta Gorda (Fat Rock) and Argentine Rock. We limited depth to 40 feet because there were 3 jr. open water divers in our group of seven ... my family of 3 plus another family of 4. Two other boats went out from the shop at the same time to different locations.
I'll get to the diving in a minute but I first want to tell you about the humpback whales we encountered during the transit to second site. Our captain spotted them at about 1,000 yards. 3 whales. They were broaching the surface expelling air from their blowholes. The air blasts from the blowholes were easiest to see from a distance. We closed to a point where we had a great view without being too much of a disturbance. The whales often showed their tails as they submerged. There were no spectacular jumps. We never saw their heads. Click following link for example of a tail view:
Humpback whales in Clayoquot Sound - ClayqoutWhales.ca
At on point the whales seemed to disappear then suddenly they appeared about 50 yards from our boat! Several broaches and tail displays followed before they departed. This time for good so we went on our way to the 2nd dive spot.
Back to diving .... Punta Gorda was a nice first dive of the trip. Vis was typical CR ... about 20-30 feet, but plenty to see in the way of eels, schools of fish and the occasional nurse shark. CR diving is more challenging than places in the Caribbean where I have visited. We had 2'-3' swells and 10-15 knot winds which meant a little mal du mer for some. (Not so during summer. Seas very calm, almost no wind). A little current under the water, but easy to handle. Water temp comfy at about 80 degrees. I wore a 3mm wetsuit that was more than adequate. One DM dove only in a tee shirt and swim trunks .. 2 dives.
Dive 2 took place at Argentine Rock. Again depth limited to 40' because of jr. divers. Viz poorer here, at best 20', perhaps due to overcast sky. The sun was out for dive 1. This dive a bit more difficult for the jr. divers because of a slight surge felt mostly between formations. The dive was fun. This time we came upon a spotted ray and a large brownish ray. A few nurse sharks were tucked away in caves.
There have been a few personnel changes at the dive op. Heiner has taken over a manager because Mariana moved to a dive op at one the very high-end resorts recently built to the north of Ocotal. I remembered Heiner from this summer. He is a good manager and the place is just as squared-away. The lead DM, Philipe, also took another job so Jean-Paul replaced him. Jean-Paul is a good guy, too. Very patient in the water with my 13 y/o daughter when she was having difficulty with clearing her ears during descent. The remainder of the crew at the shop are the same guys we meet this summer. Two have moved from DM to boat captain, tho.
The resort sits on a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean. We are staying in a very basic ground-floor room in the 300 building .. room numbers begin at 300. Although our room is basic we have an excellent view of the ocean from our little patio. Last summer we stayed in a Jr. Bungalow Suite, which was much roomier. I love this place! The only prob is that dinners in the restaurant are a bit bland and pricey. Other meals are very good. We have decided to take all of our dinners in Coco, which is a $6 cab ride. My general opinion of resorts in CR is that the facilities and people are very nice, but the food is just so-so. Better to take a cab to a local restaurant where the dishes are less complicated, but very good!
All for now!
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/central-america/265562-live-ocotal-beach-resort-costa-rica.html
Good morning:
We dove yesterday on two spots ... Punta Gorda (Fat Rock) and Argentine Rock. We limited depth to 40 feet because there were 3 jr. open water divers in our group of seven ... my family of 3 plus another family of 4. Two other boats went out from the shop at the same time to different locations.
I'll get to the diving in a minute but I first want to tell you about the humpback whales we encountered during the transit to second site. Our captain spotted them at about 1,000 yards. 3 whales. They were broaching the surface expelling air from their blowholes. The air blasts from the blowholes were easiest to see from a distance. We closed to a point where we had a great view without being too much of a disturbance. The whales often showed their tails as they submerged. There were no spectacular jumps. We never saw their heads. Click following link for example of a tail view:
Humpback whales in Clayoquot Sound - ClayqoutWhales.ca
At on point the whales seemed to disappear then suddenly they appeared about 50 yards from our boat! Several broaches and tail displays followed before they departed. This time for good so we went on our way to the 2nd dive spot.
Back to diving .... Punta Gorda was a nice first dive of the trip. Vis was typical CR ... about 20-30 feet, but plenty to see in the way of eels, schools of fish and the occasional nurse shark. CR diving is more challenging than places in the Caribbean where I have visited. We had 2'-3' swells and 10-15 knot winds which meant a little mal du mer for some. (Not so during summer. Seas very calm, almost no wind). A little current under the water, but easy to handle. Water temp comfy at about 80 degrees. I wore a 3mm wetsuit that was more than adequate. One DM dove only in a tee shirt and swim trunks .. 2 dives.
Dive 2 took place at Argentine Rock. Again depth limited to 40' because of jr. divers. Viz poorer here, at best 20', perhaps due to overcast sky. The sun was out for dive 1. This dive a bit more difficult for the jr. divers because of a slight surge felt mostly between formations. The dive was fun. This time we came upon a spotted ray and a large brownish ray. A few nurse sharks were tucked away in caves.
There have been a few personnel changes at the dive op. Heiner has taken over a manager because Mariana moved to a dive op at one the very high-end resorts recently built to the north of Ocotal. I remembered Heiner from this summer. He is a good manager and the place is just as squared-away. The lead DM, Philipe, also took another job so Jean-Paul replaced him. Jean-Paul is a good guy, too. Very patient in the water with my 13 y/o daughter when she was having difficulty with clearing her ears during descent. The remainder of the crew at the shop are the same guys we meet this summer. Two have moved from DM to boat captain, tho.
The resort sits on a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean. We are staying in a very basic ground-floor room in the 300 building .. room numbers begin at 300. Although our room is basic we have an excellent view of the ocean from our little patio. Last summer we stayed in a Jr. Bungalow Suite, which was much roomier. I love this place! The only prob is that dinners in the restaurant are a bit bland and pricey. Other meals are very good. We have decided to take all of our dinners in Coco, which is a $6 cab ride. My general opinion of resorts in CR is that the facilities and people are very nice, but the food is just so-so. Better to take a cab to a local restaurant where the dishes are less complicated, but very good!
All for now!
