We flew Southwest direct from Houston to Liberia, landing on a Sunday just after noon. We had arranged a shuttle though hotel for $50 and he was there waiting with my name on a sign. We checked in at Hotel Puerta Del Sol, were shown our room, then went to the Garden Bar for lunch and beers. Everyone at the front desk and bar was super friendly all week.
After lunch, we went down to Deep Blue dive shop just a few hundred yards away. We hadn't prepaid anything but said we wanted to do a few local trips and a few Catalinas trips. We filled out forms and they said they would pick up our gear next morning at 7:30am at our hotel. Divers generally meet at their shop or the beach at 8am for local trips or 7:30am for Cat trips.
Most of our experience has been warm clear Caribbean but we wanted a bit of a change and knew we would like the cooler, less clear waters teeming with marine life. Viz was typically 30-40'. Temps were low to mid 70's and 3mm was fine. The local boat was a big boat with a dozen divers on it, too crowded for our tastes but they split into 3 groups. We saw three small eagle rays within minutes and continued to see some thoughout the dive. Massive schools of spot-tail grunt, sargeant majors, jacks, razor surgeonfish, black-nosed butterfly, and king angelfish. There are so many puffers of various types that it looks like an infestation. Guinea fowl puffers, burrfish, balloonfish and porcupinefish. We also saw plenty of cornetfish, southern stingrays, eels, and various seastars on every dive. Second dive day was also a local trip.
Third day was Catalina and the boat was slightly smaller but only 5 of us. It's about a 30 minute trip and can get bumpy coming back when the winds pick up. At the Cats it ran cooler, about the same high temps but pockets of colder water in upper 60's. This day was two tanks and started off looking like the local dives (very good, but was wondering if worth the extra cost and time). About a dozen big stingrays came around just as we had to exit to dive 1. We saw more stingrays and a few manta on next dive along with a few unconcerned eagle rays that foraged on the bottom near us. And quite a few white-tipped sharks which like to rest on the sand like nurse sharks but will swim off if you get too close.
We took an off day Thursday to sleep in, walk the town, arrange an excursion, and relax. Then Friday it was back to the Cats for three tanks. This day we saw lots of giant mantas, white-tips, octopus. Obviously, we saw lots of other kinds of fish throughout the week. Brown chromis, trevaly, tuna, moorish idol, porkfish, wrasses, etc.
Hotel Puerta del Sol - we paid $110/nt which was a very good value. The hotel is a long block from the main street so close enough to walk to the action and far enough to get away from it. Wifi worked well. Hot water was hot. Grounds and room were clean. Staff were friendly. We would typically return from diving and enjoy beers by pool or walk to a beach bar. Most nights we hung around the hotel because they had a decent menu at reasonable prices and it's so easy to just put it all on your room. They had some event going on every night. Turns out the Garden Bar is a popular place among the ex-pats. The Wednesday Wok and Trivia was fun, the performers on Thursday and Friday were good. We went to Coconuts for dinner one night and that was excellent. I also enjoyed their local beer and onsite brewery, Angry Goats Brewery. Saturday we went on a private tour to take a river boat ride in Palo Verde national park to see crocs and birds and monkeys, see the countryside, drive though Liberia, and swim in the lagoon under waterfalls. I would stay here again.
Deep Blue Diving - they were much busier than I had expected. You just don't see as many reviews or posts about Costa Rica as you do for many other places. They are well run. They will take care of your gear and have it set up on the boat each morning. Despite the crowded local boats, once we hit the water with 4 of us and our guide, we seldom saw anyone until we surfaced. I did pass on a couple bits of advice. One, the DMs should go slower. As a videographer, I like to mill about an area for an extended time not follow a route on a mission from point A to point B. There was one dive where my buddy and I surfaced and called it a Nascar Dive. That's just our preference and others may prefer to keep moving. Two, at the Cats the seas were choppy, the wind was strong, and it was a battle to get to the boat and keep up with the boat while others were getting out. It would be so helpful if they just threw out a rope to hold onto while waiting and pull yourself to the boat when your turn. But overall, I would dive with them again.
Pura Vida!
After lunch, we went down to Deep Blue dive shop just a few hundred yards away. We hadn't prepaid anything but said we wanted to do a few local trips and a few Catalinas trips. We filled out forms and they said they would pick up our gear next morning at 7:30am at our hotel. Divers generally meet at their shop or the beach at 8am for local trips or 7:30am for Cat trips.
Most of our experience has been warm clear Caribbean but we wanted a bit of a change and knew we would like the cooler, less clear waters teeming with marine life. Viz was typically 30-40'. Temps were low to mid 70's and 3mm was fine. The local boat was a big boat with a dozen divers on it, too crowded for our tastes but they split into 3 groups. We saw three small eagle rays within minutes and continued to see some thoughout the dive. Massive schools of spot-tail grunt, sargeant majors, jacks, razor surgeonfish, black-nosed butterfly, and king angelfish. There are so many puffers of various types that it looks like an infestation. Guinea fowl puffers, burrfish, balloonfish and porcupinefish. We also saw plenty of cornetfish, southern stingrays, eels, and various seastars on every dive. Second dive day was also a local trip.
Third day was Catalina and the boat was slightly smaller but only 5 of us. It's about a 30 minute trip and can get bumpy coming back when the winds pick up. At the Cats it ran cooler, about the same high temps but pockets of colder water in upper 60's. This day was two tanks and started off looking like the local dives (very good, but was wondering if worth the extra cost and time). About a dozen big stingrays came around just as we had to exit to dive 1. We saw more stingrays and a few manta on next dive along with a few unconcerned eagle rays that foraged on the bottom near us. And quite a few white-tipped sharks which like to rest on the sand like nurse sharks but will swim off if you get too close.
We took an off day Thursday to sleep in, walk the town, arrange an excursion, and relax. Then Friday it was back to the Cats for three tanks. This day we saw lots of giant mantas, white-tips, octopus. Obviously, we saw lots of other kinds of fish throughout the week. Brown chromis, trevaly, tuna, moorish idol, porkfish, wrasses, etc.
Hotel Puerta del Sol - we paid $110/nt which was a very good value. The hotel is a long block from the main street so close enough to walk to the action and far enough to get away from it. Wifi worked well. Hot water was hot. Grounds and room were clean. Staff were friendly. We would typically return from diving and enjoy beers by pool or walk to a beach bar. Most nights we hung around the hotel because they had a decent menu at reasonable prices and it's so easy to just put it all on your room. They had some event going on every night. Turns out the Garden Bar is a popular place among the ex-pats. The Wednesday Wok and Trivia was fun, the performers on Thursday and Friday were good. We went to Coconuts for dinner one night and that was excellent. I also enjoyed their local beer and onsite brewery, Angry Goats Brewery. Saturday we went on a private tour to take a river boat ride in Palo Verde national park to see crocs and birds and monkeys, see the countryside, drive though Liberia, and swim in the lagoon under waterfalls. I would stay here again.
Deep Blue Diving - they were much busier than I had expected. You just don't see as many reviews or posts about Costa Rica as you do for many other places. They are well run. They will take care of your gear and have it set up on the boat each morning. Despite the crowded local boats, once we hit the water with 4 of us and our guide, we seldom saw anyone until we surfaced. I did pass on a couple bits of advice. One, the DMs should go slower. As a videographer, I like to mill about an area for an extended time not follow a route on a mission from point A to point B. There was one dive where my buddy and I surfaced and called it a Nascar Dive. That's just our preference and others may prefer to keep moving. Two, at the Cats the seas were choppy, the wind was strong, and it was a battle to get to the boat and keep up with the boat while others were getting out. It would be so helpful if they just threw out a rope to hold onto while waiting and pull yourself to the boat when your turn. But overall, I would dive with them again.
Pura Vida!
