Costa Rica. Where the waters are warm and the fish abundant. Nutrient rich waters feed the incredible marine life. Visibility in the 30 to 120 foot range and thick schools of fish makes this one of the world's most remarkable dive destinations. From near shore sites to the offshore islands, there is something for everyone!

Dive the North Pacific Coast, Osa Peninsula, or Coco Island.

As well as being one of the few places in the world where the viewing of whale sharks is relatively common, the North Pacific Coast of Costa Rica offers one of the most exciting alternatives to traditional dive sites. In addition to its underwater treasures, the area offers numerous alternative attractions such as National Parks, white water rafting, horseback riding and an unsurpassed natural beauty.

Accommodations and dive packages can be customized to fit your requirements. We recommend El Ocotal Beach Resort. Ideal for diving, fishing, and honeymooners! This resort is a small luxurious hideaway with spectacular views and a sandy calm beach. El Ocotal has Costa Rica's most renowned professional Scuba Diving operation. With a complete dive shop to meet all divers needs for equipment rental, instruction and specialty dive courses. Nitrox available. Ocotal's 32 ft dive boats depart every morning at 830am. Afternoon and night dives, Catalina and Bat Island dives are available.

There are too many sites to name them all, but this should give you an idea of the local and long range sites. They are all volcanic rock formations and rock pinnacles. Visibility is 20-80 percent, with the average being 40-50 feet. There is an abundance of plankton and other nutrients which greatly affect the visibility, however, this is one of the reasons encounters with whale sharks and manta rays happen from time to time.

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 15-20 feet 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 feet, making the safety top interesting. We have sighted 500 to 1,000 mobulas on many occasions lately on this site. There are 3 basic rock formations with sand channels between.

Aquarium
This could not be a more aptly named site. Everything that is available in our area has been seen here, as well as turtles, tiger sharks and Jew fish. The spiraling schools of grunts and yellow-tails are gigantic with numbers easily in the thousands. Although we generally limit ourselves to around 80 feet, there are spots as deep as 130.

Virador
This is a singular rock pinnacle, 20 feet on the front side and 90 feet 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 that 40 feet, you will have to bring a shovel.

Long Range Sites

Catalina Islands
These are located approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour from Playa Hermosa. 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. They are most times non anchored dives with surge and some current. During the months of January-April, you will be delighted to find manta rays with 14 to 24 foot wingspans. We have seen as many as one and as many as 50 on one dive!

Bat Islands
These are located approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours from Playa Hermosa. Here we go looking for the BIG Bull Sharks. They range from 9 to 15 feet in length, with some of them weighing around 2,000 pounds!! The site is called the 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.

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Aguila de Osa Inn, located on Drake Bay, adjacent to the Corcovado National Park, offers privacy and seclusion in a setting where divers can experience the Osa in its entirety.

Located 10 miles off the coast is the Caño Island Biological Reserve. Caño is a fully protected natural paradise with an exceptionally beautiful reef bordering its shores. With depths ranging from 15 to 70 feet, these reefs offer an incredible diversity of fish life and marine creatures, including Mantas, Whitetip Reef Sharks, Whale Sharks, schools of jacks and sea snakes.

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