Cheryl Petreman
Registered
We've just recovered from the trip we could have done without... Problems mostly stemmed from 24 hr delays coming & going as well as a flooded camera & lost wallet. Don't trust the Libera airport... apparently it's always in a state of needing repairs, but a couple weeks of torrential rain shut it down, as well as many roads to San Jose.
It's not a bucket list destination, but if you happen to find yourself in Guanacaste, we found Rocket Frog Divers to be a top notch operation, focused on safety. They are also generous with snacks (fresh pineapple,cookies,granola bars). If you got your dive training in Canada or the northern US, then you should be comfortable with the crappy vis (15-40 ft), surge, current, darkness & thermoclines (temps range from 78 to 82 on any given dive). Make sure to pack dive lights & a dry bag. Nothing stays dry on the fast, but crowded inflatables that go to the Catalinas or Bats Islands.
Rocket Frog picks you up from your hotel & takes you to the shop (first day only) & to the beach. A panga (small boar) takes you out to moored dive boats. Your gear is hauled around & set up for you for each dive -- unless you prefer extra work. The largest group I saw with a DM was 5 people travelling together. Given the vis, there's usually a DM for every 2-4 divers. There were lots of eels, octopuses, white tips, & schools of trevally, sargeant majors, snappers, etc. See
FYI: we stayed in the all inclusive "Occidental Papagayo" which was a 15 min drive from town. The grounds were beautiful, the rooms spacious & the shuttles to/from the main building in the pouring rain were excellent. Everything else ranged from odd to ok. It was a 500ft + 3 flights of stairs trip from our room to the restaurants/bar & a similar distance to the pool we didn't use. The room was cleaned occasionally, although often not until mid-afternoon -- the maid had the all important coffee packages. The drinks guy mostly came in the morning, but refused to deviate from the 2 waters, 1 coke, 1 sprite. For some reason, the fresh towel person came around after supper. Every morning we had to tell reception to let the Rocket Frog driver through the front gates, sometimes they remembered (in the 30 min we ate breakfast), other times they wandered around asking for our names. There was ALWAYS a line up at the buffet -- usually just for the hostess to seat you, but also due to lousy layout of the hot breakfasts with respect to the line for eggs made to order.
The best I can say about Playa Hermosa from driving through, is that there were lots of aquatic murals. It didn't look like a great place to hang out.
It's not a bucket list destination, but if you happen to find yourself in Guanacaste, we found Rocket Frog Divers to be a top notch operation, focused on safety. They are also generous with snacks (fresh pineapple,cookies,granola bars). If you got your dive training in Canada or the northern US, then you should be comfortable with the crappy vis (15-40 ft), surge, current, darkness & thermoclines (temps range from 78 to 82 on any given dive). Make sure to pack dive lights & a dry bag. Nothing stays dry on the fast, but crowded inflatables that go to the Catalinas or Bats Islands.
Rocket Frog picks you up from your hotel & takes you to the shop (first day only) & to the beach. A panga (small boar) takes you out to moored dive boats. Your gear is hauled around & set up for you for each dive -- unless you prefer extra work. The largest group I saw with a DM was 5 people travelling together. Given the vis, there's usually a DM for every 2-4 divers. There were lots of eels, octopuses, white tips, & schools of trevally, sargeant majors, snappers, etc. See
FYI: we stayed in the all inclusive "Occidental Papagayo" which was a 15 min drive from town. The grounds were beautiful, the rooms spacious & the shuttles to/from the main building in the pouring rain were excellent. Everything else ranged from odd to ok. It was a 500ft + 3 flights of stairs trip from our room to the restaurants/bar & a similar distance to the pool we didn't use. The room was cleaned occasionally, although often not until mid-afternoon -- the maid had the all important coffee packages. The drinks guy mostly came in the morning, but refused to deviate from the 2 waters, 1 coke, 1 sprite. For some reason, the fresh towel person came around after supper. Every morning we had to tell reception to let the Rocket Frog driver through the front gates, sometimes they remembered (in the 30 min we ate breakfast), other times they wandered around asking for our names. There was ALWAYS a line up at the buffet -- usually just for the hostess to seat you, but also due to lousy layout of the hot breakfasts with respect to the line for eggs made to order.
The best I can say about Playa Hermosa from driving through, is that there were lots of aquatic murals. It didn't look like a great place to hang out.
