Scared Silly
Contributor
Having dived the north part of Costa Rica around Playa del Coco we decided to head south to the Peninsula de Osa and check out Drake Bay and Cano Island which is supposed to have some of the best visibility. We did this trip as a side trip to seeing other parts of the country in conjunction with a friend's wedding.
Getting to Drake Bay can be an adventure as your choices are, via a 1 hour boat ride from Sierpe, via 4x4 during the dry season, or via boat from Serina (Corcovado National Park). We came in from Serina after hiking through the park over three days, our gear came in by 4x4 and we left via boat and Sierpe. While this option worked out, it took a bit of coordination that in the end was a bit of a hassle.
Once at Drake Bay we stayed at Jinetes de Osa which has rooms that are more or less on the beach. The rooms are small but comfortable. You can get them with an without a private bath. The stay includes all meals which are adequate. Some better than others. There is also a bar for drinks. You pay for everything in advance and when leaving only have your bar tab to pay. The staff is very helpful, especially Victor who goes out of his way to make sure your stay is comfortable.
The resort is based on folks doing an activity each day. We were diving while others were doing combinations of hiking and boating. I would highly suggest taking advantage of their offerings over than diving as the area has great forests to explore.
We planned to dive over three days doing three tank dives each day at Cano Island. Overall visibility was not what I hoped as compared to what we had around Playa del Coco. Overall it was no better than 40 feet and most times less. That said we did see some nice critters, Pacific Mantas, Goliath Grouper, Octopus, Frog Fish, Giant Stingray, and some great White Reef Shark mating action.
We did dives at El Bajo Del Diablo (The Devil's Pinnacle) our second dive each day which had the best critters and structures, Cueva Del Tiburon (Shark Cave), our third dive the last day, El Barco Hundido (The Shipwreck), our first dive on two days. All of the sites are about a 45 minute boat ride from Drake Bay.
Coupled with the poor visibility was a lot of surge. Especially at El Bajo Del Diablo which made it difficult to take pictures. We also found some unexpected cold water there as well. Cold as in 73 degrees, with lots of thermoclines which also interfered with the visibility.
Between our second and third dives we would come into a small bay for lunch with all the other island visitors. Some days it was quite busy with well over a dozen boats coming from Drake Bay with snorkelers.
Overall the diving was okay, the poor vis, surge, and colder than expected water put a damper on things. Fortunately, seeing the critters we did made up for some of that.
We also got the feeling that most people coming to Drake Bay dive for one or two days whiling taking in other sites. As such, the same sites are visiting quite frequently. I am glad that we did not plan on anymore than three days of diving.
My recommendation is that the area is certainly worth visiting. However, I would not schlep my dive gear along unless I was bringing it as part of a larger dive trip say to Isla de Cocos or planning on lots of diving in other locations in the country. If visiting (hiking, etc) other parts of the country and only diving for a few days, which is what we did before and after, I would just rent gear and call it good. Which is what most people were doing as we only saw one other person bring personal gear and they were off to Cocos afterwards.
Side bar - flying internally with dive gear is expensive and in some cases the airline will just drive your bags instead. Letting you bring on board only a small carry on. And I do mean small. That almost happened to us as the plane was full but in the end could make the weight limits with everyone's bags. And in fairness, if they can not take everyone's bags, they take nobody's.
Getting to Drake Bay can be an adventure as your choices are, via a 1 hour boat ride from Sierpe, via 4x4 during the dry season, or via boat from Serina (Corcovado National Park). We came in from Serina after hiking through the park over three days, our gear came in by 4x4 and we left via boat and Sierpe. While this option worked out, it took a bit of coordination that in the end was a bit of a hassle.
Once at Drake Bay we stayed at Jinetes de Osa which has rooms that are more or less on the beach. The rooms are small but comfortable. You can get them with an without a private bath. The stay includes all meals which are adequate. Some better than others. There is also a bar for drinks. You pay for everything in advance and when leaving only have your bar tab to pay. The staff is very helpful, especially Victor who goes out of his way to make sure your stay is comfortable.
The resort is based on folks doing an activity each day. We were diving while others were doing combinations of hiking and boating. I would highly suggest taking advantage of their offerings over than diving as the area has great forests to explore.
We planned to dive over three days doing three tank dives each day at Cano Island. Overall visibility was not what I hoped as compared to what we had around Playa del Coco. Overall it was no better than 40 feet and most times less. That said we did see some nice critters, Pacific Mantas, Goliath Grouper, Octopus, Frog Fish, Giant Stingray, and some great White Reef Shark mating action.
We did dives at El Bajo Del Diablo (The Devil's Pinnacle) our second dive each day which had the best critters and structures, Cueva Del Tiburon (Shark Cave), our third dive the last day, El Barco Hundido (The Shipwreck), our first dive on two days. All of the sites are about a 45 minute boat ride from Drake Bay.
Coupled with the poor visibility was a lot of surge. Especially at El Bajo Del Diablo which made it difficult to take pictures. We also found some unexpected cold water there as well. Cold as in 73 degrees, with lots of thermoclines which also interfered with the visibility.
Between our second and third dives we would come into a small bay for lunch with all the other island visitors. Some days it was quite busy with well over a dozen boats coming from Drake Bay with snorkelers.
Overall the diving was okay, the poor vis, surge, and colder than expected water put a damper on things. Fortunately, seeing the critters we did made up for some of that.
We also got the feeling that most people coming to Drake Bay dive for one or two days whiling taking in other sites. As such, the same sites are visiting quite frequently. I am glad that we did not plan on anymore than three days of diving.
My recommendation is that the area is certainly worth visiting. However, I would not schlep my dive gear along unless I was bringing it as part of a larger dive trip say to Isla de Cocos or planning on lots of diving in other locations in the country. If visiting (hiking, etc) other parts of the country and only diving for a few days, which is what we did before and after, I would just rent gear and call it good. Which is what most people were doing as we only saw one other person bring personal gear and they were off to Cocos afterwards.
Side bar - flying internally with dive gear is expensive and in some cases the airline will just drive your bags instead. Letting you bring on board only a small carry on. And I do mean small. That almost happened to us as the plane was full but in the end could make the weight limits with everyone's bags. And in fairness, if they can not take everyone's bags, they take nobody's.
