Scuba Diving In Costa Rica

Fabulous Scuba Diving in Costa Rica

Scuba diving in Costa Rica is like entering the most amazing new world of flashing colors, teeming fish, and exotic creatures. Most dives are around the volcanic rock formations that surround the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. These nooks and crannies harbor innumerable tiny critters and larger kinds of fish, manta rays, and eels.

The entire Pacific coastline of Costa Rica is a haven for all manner of ocean-going bodies, such as spotted eagle rays, turtles, octopus, angel fish, sea horses, stingrays, orcas, and cow-nosed rays. In northern Pacific waters, off Guanacaste and El Ocotal, visibility may be obscured by plankton and other marine organisms at the lower end of the food chain. However, this rich environment is what nurtures the tremendous variety and number of sea life, and makes scuba diving in Costa Rica such an adventure.

Where the Creatures Are

Those new to Costa Rica diving might want to start with snorkeling from shore. Plenty of beautiful spots beckon the novice to learn about the fascinating underwater world of star fish, moray eels, parrot fish, and octopus. For those adults and families who want to become certified divers, excellent, professional diving schools can be found in Guanacaste, the Gulf of Papagayo, and Drake Bay on the Osa Peninsula.

With visibility up to 80 feet, there are plenty of chances to sight manta rays with wingspans of up to 24 feet. Maybe you, too, can have an amiable encounter with 200-300 jewfish! Think you would be thrilled to find yourself swimming among a school of 20- to 80-pound amberjacks? You can hope for that rare, unforgettable experience that other divers have had: a pod of pilot whales that seemed amused by the divers; a whale shark that remained settled on the floor at 40 feet while divers got up close and personal; a black marlin weighing hundreds of pounds swimming around rock formations, apparently oblivious to awe-struck divers.