kwonger81
Registered
Trip Report - Diving in Costa Rica with Deep Blue Diving Adventures, Playas del Coco
Just got back last night from CR. Had an awesome trip, 4 places over 12 days: San Jose-Monteverde-Coco-Arenal-SJ (March 1-12). People were super-friendly, food was great, and land activities were awesome (but roads were terrible). Don't miss the canopy tour if you're in Monteverde (we went with Selvatura), and Tabacon hot springs in Arenal was awesome (1 night splurge at Tabacon Resort but well worth the money).
Now, the diving. We had initially planned to dive for 3 days, and had booked with Ocotal Diving because of their excellent reputation and the fact that my wife and I are beginners (only 4 logged dives). We were going with another couple who had just a little more experience (~10 dives). Ocotal was fine in responding to emails before we got there, but they asked for payment up front, and I didn't want to pay for all 3 days up front because I wasn't sure that we were going to like the diving and they didn't respond to my question about getting a refund if we didn't do the 3 days of diving, so I told them that I would pay when we got there. When I got to San Jose, I got an email from Ocotal (the Resort, not the dive shop) that they got a large group of 20 people book with them and so they no longer had room for us. Despite their apologies, I was obviously a little disappointed by this experience.
I wasn't too worried because I knew that there were other options in Coco (where we were staying anyway). We checked out Deep Blue and Rich Coast (Summer Salt was closed for the whole time, not sure why) and chose Deep Blue (see my other post on why we didn't go with Rich Coast).
I only have good things to say about Deep Blue. The owners, Americans Billy and Terri (sp?), are super-nice. Their instructors and dive masters (Claudia, Vinicio, Paul, Danny) are all extremely professional. They adhere strictly to a 4 divers to 1 instructor/DM ratio. The crew provide very efficient and friendly service. You get quite spoiled here: all your equipment is transported to the boat for you, you just have to get on the taxi from the beach, and get your gear (all prepared for you) on in the boat, and after the diving they clean and store your gear for the next day. Between dives, there is delicious fruit, drinks, and chips provided. Deep Blue had the cheapest prices at $55 for 2-tank diving, plus $5 for equipment rental (normally $10, but they had a special last week, and Billy knocked it to $0 for us because there were 4 of us doing multiple days of diving). Rich Coast charges $55 + $15.
So the dive op was great. The diving, however, was another story. I had heard that the water can be quite cold in the Pacific, but I wasn't quite prepared for it until I hit the water. Despite being born and raised in Canada and wearing a 3mm full and a 3mm shorty, I was cold! For the first dive, we went to Punta Tortuga to a depth of 65ft. The water temp was only 64F (18C) and the viz was about 20-25 ft. We saw various fish, eels, seahorse, stingrays, and a small shipwreck. However, when I surfaced, I was barfing my brains out (seasick?), so I did not do the second dive (which was a shallower dive at Estudiantes - lots of fish according to my companions). I felt much better after taking a gravol (dimenhydrinate), but it took about 30 minutes to kick in.
On the second day, we went to Punta Argentina for the first dive (went to 80ft). I wore a 3mm half-body hood (borrowed from Deep Blue), a 3mm full, and a 3mm short, and the water temp was warmer at 72F (22C), so I was less cold, but the viz that day was only maybe 5ft (10ft at best). I saw some rays (one had a span of almost 6ft!) and another group saw white-tipped reef sharks. My wife got seasick while putting her wetsuits on, it worsened when she got into the water, and wisely decided not to go down, while I got a bit seasick as soon as I hit the water but was fine once I descended. After the dive, I had a strange spastic reaction - my hands and arms cramped up and I couldn't move them - about 40 min after surfacing that resolved spontaneously after 5 minutes or so and taking some O2. I'm still not sure what that was all about - we speculate that I was hyperventilating a bit once the boat started moving back to shore, and I blew off too much CO2, leading to hypocarbia (my friend and I are doctors, so we were curious about it). Anyway, I didn't do the second dive to accompany my wife back to shore. I'm not sure why we were both so seasick. For our OW certification, we did a boat dive in the Philippines and had no problems at all. We speculated that difficulties with thermoregulation may have contributed - the air temp was around 30C (86F) so it was easy to overheat while getting your wetsuits and gear on, and then you freeze when you get into the water. It didn't help that we're both smaller people (I'm 145 lb and my wife is 85 lb). Or maybe we're just wimps.
In summary, the dive op was great (I would highly recommend), the water was cold, and the viz was bad for the 2 days that we went. However, as others have posted here, water temp and viz fluctuate greatly from day-to-day, so the diving may be fine for others who go around this time. I've heard that conditions are much better during the rainy season (May-Nov), when the water is warmer and the viz is better - according to Puravida02 - a native Costa Rican from San Jose. Apparently, the dry season (the rest of the time) is associated with winds that screw up the viz (not sure if the water is colder because of the winds). If you do decide to dive around this time, I would strongly recommend bringing a hood (or asking nicely to borrow one) if you are cold-intolerant, and consider taking some motion-sickness meds if you're prone to getting seasick. There are other dive ops at other beaches (Ocotal, Tamarindo, Panama, Hermosa), but they all go to the same dive sites. I can't comment on the other dive ops (other than Rich Coast, which scared me).
My wife and I are looking for warmer places to dive for next time (Honduras and Bonaire are currently at the top of the list), and if we go back to CR (loved the country but there are so many other places in this world to visit!) we'll definitely go back during rainy season!
I'd be happy to answer any other questions.
Jeff.
Just got back last night from CR. Had an awesome trip, 4 places over 12 days: San Jose-Monteverde-Coco-Arenal-SJ (March 1-12). People were super-friendly, food was great, and land activities were awesome (but roads were terrible). Don't miss the canopy tour if you're in Monteverde (we went with Selvatura), and Tabacon hot springs in Arenal was awesome (1 night splurge at Tabacon Resort but well worth the money).
Now, the diving. We had initially planned to dive for 3 days, and had booked with Ocotal Diving because of their excellent reputation and the fact that my wife and I are beginners (only 4 logged dives). We were going with another couple who had just a little more experience (~10 dives). Ocotal was fine in responding to emails before we got there, but they asked for payment up front, and I didn't want to pay for all 3 days up front because I wasn't sure that we were going to like the diving and they didn't respond to my question about getting a refund if we didn't do the 3 days of diving, so I told them that I would pay when we got there. When I got to San Jose, I got an email from Ocotal (the Resort, not the dive shop) that they got a large group of 20 people book with them and so they no longer had room for us. Despite their apologies, I was obviously a little disappointed by this experience.
I wasn't too worried because I knew that there were other options in Coco (where we were staying anyway). We checked out Deep Blue and Rich Coast (Summer Salt was closed for the whole time, not sure why) and chose Deep Blue (see my other post on why we didn't go with Rich Coast).
I only have good things to say about Deep Blue. The owners, Americans Billy and Terri (sp?), are super-nice. Their instructors and dive masters (Claudia, Vinicio, Paul, Danny) are all extremely professional. They adhere strictly to a 4 divers to 1 instructor/DM ratio. The crew provide very efficient and friendly service. You get quite spoiled here: all your equipment is transported to the boat for you, you just have to get on the taxi from the beach, and get your gear (all prepared for you) on in the boat, and after the diving they clean and store your gear for the next day. Between dives, there is delicious fruit, drinks, and chips provided. Deep Blue had the cheapest prices at $55 for 2-tank diving, plus $5 for equipment rental (normally $10, but they had a special last week, and Billy knocked it to $0 for us because there were 4 of us doing multiple days of diving). Rich Coast charges $55 + $15.
So the dive op was great. The diving, however, was another story. I had heard that the water can be quite cold in the Pacific, but I wasn't quite prepared for it until I hit the water. Despite being born and raised in Canada and wearing a 3mm full and a 3mm shorty, I was cold! For the first dive, we went to Punta Tortuga to a depth of 65ft. The water temp was only 64F (18C) and the viz was about 20-25 ft. We saw various fish, eels, seahorse, stingrays, and a small shipwreck. However, when I surfaced, I was barfing my brains out (seasick?), so I did not do the second dive (which was a shallower dive at Estudiantes - lots of fish according to my companions). I felt much better after taking a gravol (dimenhydrinate), but it took about 30 minutes to kick in.
On the second day, we went to Punta Argentina for the first dive (went to 80ft). I wore a 3mm half-body hood (borrowed from Deep Blue), a 3mm full, and a 3mm short, and the water temp was warmer at 72F (22C), so I was less cold, but the viz that day was only maybe 5ft (10ft at best). I saw some rays (one had a span of almost 6ft!) and another group saw white-tipped reef sharks. My wife got seasick while putting her wetsuits on, it worsened when she got into the water, and wisely decided not to go down, while I got a bit seasick as soon as I hit the water but was fine once I descended. After the dive, I had a strange spastic reaction - my hands and arms cramped up and I couldn't move them - about 40 min after surfacing that resolved spontaneously after 5 minutes or so and taking some O2. I'm still not sure what that was all about - we speculate that I was hyperventilating a bit once the boat started moving back to shore, and I blew off too much CO2, leading to hypocarbia (my friend and I are doctors, so we were curious about it). Anyway, I didn't do the second dive to accompany my wife back to shore. I'm not sure why we were both so seasick. For our OW certification, we did a boat dive in the Philippines and had no problems at all. We speculated that difficulties with thermoregulation may have contributed - the air temp was around 30C (86F) so it was easy to overheat while getting your wetsuits and gear on, and then you freeze when you get into the water. It didn't help that we're both smaller people (I'm 145 lb and my wife is 85 lb). Or maybe we're just wimps.
In summary, the dive op was great (I would highly recommend), the water was cold, and the viz was bad for the 2 days that we went. However, as others have posted here, water temp and viz fluctuate greatly from day-to-day, so the diving may be fine for others who go around this time. I've heard that conditions are much better during the rainy season (May-Nov), when the water is warmer and the viz is better - according to Puravida02 - a native Costa Rican from San Jose. Apparently, the dry season (the rest of the time) is associated with winds that screw up the viz (not sure if the water is colder because of the winds). If you do decide to dive around this time, I would strongly recommend bringing a hood (or asking nicely to borrow one) if you are cold-intolerant, and consider taking some motion-sickness meds if you're prone to getting seasick. There are other dive ops at other beaches (Ocotal, Tamarindo, Panama, Hermosa), but they all go to the same dive sites. I can't comment on the other dive ops (other than Rich Coast, which scared me).
My wife and I are looking for warmer places to dive for next time (Honduras and Bonaire are currently at the top of the list), and if we go back to CR (loved the country but there are so many other places in this world to visit!) we'll definitely go back during rainy season!
I'd be happy to answer any other questions.
Jeff.
