Scuba Options in Central America

[RyanNM]

+1! The local dives would be really good to do for the OP. Bats and Cats are really good and worth the trek out there; however, Catalinas and Bat Islands are not easy dives. I don't think it would be a huge issue for @Geo85 but for someone like his girlfriend who will just be newly certified, it isn't ideal. When I was out at Cats, it was pretty rough - the swells were really large. It was negative entry and quick descent with some surge in areas and pretty strong current and swells in the middle and the top of the water column, respectively. I had one swell take me up about 15 feet in one go and my dive computer was freaking out on me. We also had to do a blue water safety stop so good buoyancy was needed. With all of that action, I almost fed the fish on my safety stop but thankfully, kept it together.

The sharks were great to see and the gigantic manta rays at Bats were jaw-dropping incredible. We had 15-20 ft manta rays around us. It was amazing! Some other things that you might see are schools of rays, bull sharks, etc.

If you do go, I highly recommend Rocket Frog Divers. Michael, the owner, is awesome and it's a well run dive shop. They have very well taken care of boats in excellent condition and they're fast boats so you spend less time to and from and more time relaxing and in the water sooner.

Hey, thanks for this info. I'm not familiar with the diving in CR, so I'm hoping to pick your brain for your experiences there. I'm traveling with family to CR this June; we haven't nailed down where yet. It looks like the Guanacaste coast might be what we are looking for: the islands sound good for me, but our boys are newly certified and not ready for the challenges you describe. So I'm wondering are there plenty of good dive sites closer to the mainland (not out at the islands) where they and my wife would be comfortable? What towns are good base locations for diving these? The boys also wanted a place with waves where they could try surfing, so that's in the equation as where to stay.
Thanks very much.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hey, thanks for this info. I'm not familiar with the diving in CR, so I'm hoping to pick your brain for your experiences there. I'm traveling with family to CR this June; we haven't nailed down where yet. It looks like the Guanacaste coast might be what we are looking for: the islands sound good for me, but our boys are newly certified and not ready for the challenges you describe. So I'm wondering are there plenty of good dive sites closer to the mainland (not out at the islands) where they and my wife would be comfortable? What towns are good base locations for diving these? The boys also wanted a place with waves where they could try surfing, so that's in the equation as where to stay.
Thanks very much.

I also responded via PM but will paste this here as well for others doing a board search or who are interested in this as well.


CR is so family friendly for kids...You will love it! The food and water is tastier in my opinion, and much safer and less questionable than Mexico as far as not having to spend time in the bathroom behind a locked door. Don't forget to hit up the rainforests and to get a guide to help you critter spot and then also do one for night time!

I think Rocket Frog's setup and the Playa Ocotal/Playas del Coco area would be perfect for you. There are some good family friendly accommodations, a large and clean grocery store that is convenient, and good diving for newly certified divers.

Additionally, not too far away (about an hour and a half drive) is Tamarindo - the surf town. It has cute shops and restaurants and there are a lot of surf schools out here, perfect for the beginner. It's where I tried surfing for the first time! (I stood, I surfed, I conquered once......once is enough lol). There is a cute boutique beach front hotel we really loved - Hotel Villa Amarilla. You have direct to beach access out the back gate and it's a short walk to the surf school shops, etc. If shell collecting is for your family, there are excellent and uniquely shaped shells to collect here.

We rented a car and drove ourselves around there and Arenal, the rainforests, and all the way to Rio Celeste (beautiful, not to be missed!). I recommend a 4x4/AWD car. Some roads are a little sketchy and we didn't have a problem. Bring a paper map and if you have a Garmin GPS, also try loading the Costa Rica map. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[dmaziuk]

Rocket Frogs' local sites are fine but I haven't seen surfable waves in their little playa. You can explore the left and right sides of the playa, too: it's very shallow and 63s or even 50s will last you long enough.

We didn't have such rough time on either island trips with them. but we struck out on sharks and mantas too. The good news is they have 2 fast RIBs so the trips don't take the whole day, the bad news is there's a minimum number of divers that pays for the gas etc. so if you sign up and change your mind later, you may be screwing over other divers.

My impression of the dives in general is they are deeper and colder than Caribbean reefs, with fewer colourful fishes, but with larger schools of fish and critters that are less diver-shy.

 

[RyanNM]

Thanks, dmaziuk

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Besides all the diving you can do in Belize (and get your Rescue Certification) you can leave Placencia in the morning to zipline, river tube, visit a Maya ruin and be back on the beach with a drink in your hand before dark.

Regards
Ralph

 

[diversteve]

You don't mention time frames but one option might be Anthony's Key on Roatan since they may still be offering the buy one/get one this year.

Besides the boat dives - they go weekly to two of the bigger wrecks nearby one of which is broken in two but fairly intact. Wreck Dives | Anthony's Key | Roatan | Honduras | Bay Islands
You could also take a cab over to Fantasy Island one day on the south side and dive "Cocoview's" wreck - the Prince Albert.

If you did later move over to Utila - it's fairly easy via the ferry on weekends - there's the Halliburton. Also a small sailboat not worth the dive. You can go deep off the north side in places also - thousands of years ago a piece of the seafloor separated so you;re actually diving sedimentary rock deposited millenia ago in one area.

Another option to look into is that one of the local airlines in Belize - Tropic Air offers flights to Roatan. Maybe you could make that work. Destinations – Tropic Air Belize

If you;re not married to your choices,there's a lot of wreck diving off the south coast of St. Thomas and a lot to do there non-dive. The east side has some really shallow known dives also for your g/f. Cow/Calf Rocks can't be 40' deep and many sites off the Cays are shallow also. Plus Coki Beach is a decent shore dive - the intro dives go there. Blue Island Divers Dive SItes

Also you can access St. John by ferry 30mins. away.

And move over via the fast ferries to the BVI's for good wreck diving - besides the famous RMS Rhone - a rec diver penetrable wreck - there's also the recently put down Kodiak Queen and a small wreck alley. There's also a really big commercial wreck - the Chikuizen they can go out to if conditions are good - we couldn't get out there. BVI Scuba Diving Sites | Dive BVI Some of the better dives we did there were well under 60' so your g/f will have opportunites. The front of the Rhone is even a deep snorkel.

Two concerns - they took a direct hit in last years hurricanes so a lot of Virgin Gorda was damaged. Also DiveBVI is an SSI shop - not PADI All the shops in the area are at bviscuba.org,