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COSTA RICA - GUANACASTE (Resort Divers)
Diving in Guanacaste area is spectacular and when I say this I'm referring to the marine life less to the water visibility
which is around 30ft - 45ft.
I've seen humpback whales, dolphins, white tip sharks, several varieties of eels, hard and
soft corals, starfish, jewfish, turtles, octopus, hundreds of rays of all types.
Water temperature was most of the time
around 78-84F with few thermoclines here and there specially in deep water. Dive Masters are ok, they sometimes go fast on
the safety part of the briefing, and sometimes go for the deeper dive after the shallower one but overall they're pretty good
and knowledgeable.
Bottom is mostly dark sand spotted with rocks or coral, sometimes rock formations with channels in
between give divers the option to do a drift dive.
You'll need a shortly for protection mostly, jelly fish tentacles are
abundant in the water. I've seen some rented equipment and it looked pretty good for a resort diveshop. Once you're in the
boat your gear is assembled and ready for you.
I went with Resort Divers (www.resortdivers-cr.com) across the bay from
us; the personnel is very friendly and they know how to make you enjoy the day.
I arranged everything through
email days before arriving in Costa Rica. Once we've got to the hotel, I called Resort Divers and the
next morning they picked me up, I paid for the package deal and that was it. Every morning at 8:15 the boat was waiting
for me at the beach to go diving.
There are few pinnacles in the water, rock formation corridors, monkey heads so you'll
not have the chance to go twice in the same place. About two hours by boat from the Gulf of Papagayo you can find Catalina
Island and Bat Island -popular places for diving where you can spot giant mantas, sharks of all types (bull, tiger sharks,
and sometimes whale shark), moorish idols, nudibranchs.
LOCAL SITES:
Punta Gorda
A great spot for macro. Everything from white-tips to frog fish. Several varieties of
eels in rocks. One of the few sites with hard coral. Usually grunts, sergeant majors, and stone fish everywhere. We have seen
as many as 10.000 golden/cow-nosed rays on the site as well as sea-horses and occasional eagle rays. This site is 15-20ft
deep on one side of the pinnacle and drops to 75-80 on the outside, with most of the life at the top of the rocks.
Bajo Tiburone
This is a great site for white-tip sharks. We also see southern sting rays here. There
are some crevices that house white-tips and squirrel fish. The top of the rock is at 20-30 ft, making the safety stop interesting.
We have sighted 500 to 1.000 mobulas on many occacions lately on this site. There are 3 basic rock formations with sand channels
between.
Virador
This is a singular rock pinnacle, 20 ft on the front side and 90 ft or so on the back side.
There are horse-eye jacks, butterfly fish, grunts, sergeant majors and many other varieties of schooling fish to see here.
We have also seen the harlequin/clown shrimp here as there are several varieties of starfish. You may see white-tip shark,
jew fish and turtles too.
Los Meros
This is a perfect place for a check-out or refresher dive as well as a great local dive.
You will not see larger schools of grunts on any other site we have. There are also eel, octopi and nudibranchs. If you want
to go deeper then 40 ft, you will have to bring a shovel.
Catalina Islands
These are located approximately 50 min. to 1 hour from our dive shop. We have seen
white-tip sharks, bull sharks, tiger sharks and huge schools of horse-eye jacks, along with moorish idols, tangs, and many
other varieties of eels and starfish. There most times non anchored dives with surge and some current. During the months of
Jan-April, you will be delighted to find Manta Rays with 14 to 24 ft wingspans. We have seen as few as one and as many as
50 on one dive!!
Bat Islands
These are located approximately 1:45 to 2 hours from our dive shop. Here we go looking
for the BIG Bull Sharks. They range from 9 to 15 ft in length, with some of them weighing around 2.000 lbs!! The site is called
Big Scare. The large schooling fish-snapper, jacks, rainbow, runners and gafftop-sail pompanos are unbelievable. Our other
sites at Bat Islands also have these and more. We have sighted the giant Manta Rays here many times as well as eagle rays,
and occasionally schools of thousands, yes thousands of golden, cow-nosed rays. There are non-anchored and very challenging
dives. We make a day of it and stop in a wonderful area called the Refuge for snorkeling on the surface interval. This trip
is a must for everyone who wants to see the best the area has to offer.
Info was collected with help from Resort Divers. Thank you!
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