Costa Rica is often known for its national parks, with their lush, exotic scenery, but the country is also a top destination for scuba diving! The coral reef on the Caribbean coast offers diving from Cahuita, while the Pacific offers diving from north to south: from Cuajiniquil in northern Guanacaste province to Caño Island near Corcovado National Park. Diving in Costa Rica is year-round, but the best period is from May to October on the Pacific side, and from March to April and August to November on the Caribbean side.
Whether you're an experienced diver or want to try your hand at diving for the first time, the diversity of offers makes this an enjoyable destination for all levels! In Costa Rica, as in most countries on the American continent, the PADI diving federation has the lion's share of the market. So, for a first dive, you'll be offered a DSD (Discover Scuba Diving), for a level 1Open Water and level 2 theAdvanced Open Water. If you are certified by another federation, no problem, you can dive without worry. If you're already certified, don't forget to pack your license!
The island of Caño, (Isla del Caño), is about an hour from the Drake coast and an hour and a half from Uvita. We take the boat early in the morning, arriving at the dive site around eight o'clock. The best-known spot is Bajo del Diablo A cleaning station for giant manta rays, the largest in the world, averaging between six and nine meters in length. These rays have a reputation for being quite curious and playful, each with a different personality; in fact, their brains are proportionally the largest of all fish, and they have an average life expectancy of twenty years. Manta rays have to be constantly on the move, because if they ever stopped, they'd sink!
Throughout the country, it's easy to find schools of fish such as jacks, different species of rays, octopus, lobsters, turtles, king angelfish, barber fish, sergeant majors, parrots, triggerfish, trumpetfish, epic pigs, scorpions and many more. In the North Pacific, near Playas del Coco in Bat Island (Isla Murcielago) between May and September, bull sharks can be observed by Level 2 divers. This unique experience allows you to get up close and personal with this species. Its bad reputation (wrongly so) and its impressive size (between ninety-five and one hundred and thirty kilos on average) make diving with this species a real pleasure. Bat Island a magical, timeless moment. After about an hour by boat (depending on the swell) you arrive at the dive site The Big Scare (The Great Fear), part of the Santa Rosa National Park Reserve:
"If the sea is rough, there's no time to lose and we jump straight in, completely deflating our stabilizing vest so as not to stay on the surface of the water to avoid the current. As we start our descent, it gets darker and darker, giving us an air of mystery, but there's enough light to spot the first fish. No sharks on the horizon yet, but you can almost feel their presence... And then a shadow passes. It's furtive, but we can see and feel it. We continue watching at three hundred and sixty degrees when we finally come face to face with it. There it is, motionless, quietly staring at us with its mouth wide open, revealing its jaw and impressive teeth. To breathe, sharks absorb water through their mouths. which passes over the gills and then exits through the gill slits. As it passes through, the oxygen dissolved in the water attaches itself to the blood capillaries of the gills. That's why they have their mouths open - it's very impressive, but it's not at all a sign of attack, they're simply breathing. This first encounter is very emotional, our heart rate accelerates in those few seconds, and finally the shark goes on its way. We continue our dive and see more of them, sometimes finding it difficult to observe them all at the same time as they swim in different directions. They may pass very close to us, so we remain calm, keeping our arms crossed so as not to attract too much attention. After forty-five minutes of diving between twenty and thirty meters, we quietly return to the surface. We do our surface interval and off we go again! "
Photo credit: Izasvision & Clara Malbos
Whether you're an experienced diver or want to try your hand at diving for the first time, the diversity of offers makes this an enjoyable destination for all levels! In Costa Rica, as in most countries on the American continent, the PADI diving federation has the lion's share of the market. So, for a first dive, you'll be offered a DSD (Discover Scuba Diving), for a level 1Open Water and level 2 theAdvanced Open Water. If you are certified by another federation, no problem, you can dive without worry. If you're already certified, don't forget to pack your license!
The island of Caño, (Isla del Caño), is about an hour from the Drake coast and an hour and a half from Uvita. We take the boat early in the morning, arriving at the dive site around eight o'clock. The best-known spot is Bajo del Diablo A cleaning station for giant manta rays, the largest in the world, averaging between six and nine meters in length. These rays have a reputation for being quite curious and playful, each with a different personality; in fact, their brains are proportionally the largest of all fish, and they have an average life expectancy of twenty years. Manta rays have to be constantly on the move, because if they ever stopped, they'd sink!
Throughout the country, it's easy to find schools of fish such as jacks, different species of rays, octopus, lobsters, turtles, king angelfish, barber fish, sergeant majors, parrots, triggerfish, trumpetfish, epic pigs, scorpions and many more. In the North Pacific, near Playas del Coco in Bat Island (Isla Murcielago) between May and September, bull sharks can be observed by Level 2 divers. This unique experience allows you to get up close and personal with this species. Its bad reputation (wrongly so) and its impressive size (between ninety-five and one hundred and thirty kilos on average) make diving with this species a real pleasure. Bat Island a magical, timeless moment. After about an hour by boat (depending on the swell) you arrive at the dive site The Big Scare (The Great Fear), part of the Santa Rosa National Park Reserve:
"If the sea is rough, there's no time to lose and we jump straight in, completely deflating our stabilizing vest so as not to stay on the surface of the water to avoid the current. As we start our descent, it gets darker and darker, giving us an air of mystery, but there's enough light to spot the first fish. No sharks on the horizon yet, but you can almost feel their presence... And then a shadow passes. It's furtive, but we can see and feel it. We continue watching at three hundred and sixty degrees when we finally come face to face with it. There it is, motionless, quietly staring at us with its mouth wide open, revealing its jaw and impressive teeth. To breathe, sharks absorb water through their mouths. which passes over the gills and then exits through the gill slits. As it passes through, the oxygen dissolved in the water attaches itself to the blood capillaries of the gills. That's why they have their mouths open - it's very impressive, but it's not at all a sign of attack, they're simply breathing. This first encounter is very emotional, our heart rate accelerates in those few seconds, and finally the shark goes on its way. We continue our dive and see more of them, sometimes finding it difficult to observe them all at the same time as they swim in different directions. They may pass very close to us, so we remain calm, keeping our arms crossed so as not to attract too much attention. After forty-five minutes of diving between twenty and thirty meters, we quietly return to the surface. We do our surface interval and off we go again! "
