 LOCAL DIVE SITES
Argentine Point - You never know what you will see at this dive site. Amazing numbers of southern stingrays in the US winter months, Eagle Rays throughout the year, great array of schooling fish and occasionally white-tip sharks. The top of the rock is only 10-12 feet so there can be quite a bit of surge, but incredible life and colorful juveniles hanging out there as well as Pacific tarpon, spadefish, grunts and horse-eye jacks.
Monkey Head - This huge exposed rock pinnacle looks just like King Kong when you are beside it. Huge growths of cacti on the top of the rock make it look like Kong is sporting rasta hair. We have seen everything from large schools of eagle rays and jacks, small critters like seahorses or harlequin clown shrimp and even whale sharks and manta rays. Big school of Pacific tarpon (sabalo or milk fish) always hangs out on the south end of the rock.
Punta Gorda - A great spot for macro photography. 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 many golden cow-nosed rays on the site as well as sea-horses and occasional eagle rays. This is 15 - 20 feet deep on one side of the pinnacle and drops to 75-80 feet 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. You can also see southern sting rays here. There are some crevices that house white-tips as well as squirrel fish. The top of the rock is at 20 - 30 feet, making the safety stop interesting. We have sighted 200 mobulas on many occasions on this site. There are 3 basic rock formations with sand channels in between.
Aquarium - This could not be a more aptly names site. Every fish that is available in our area has been seen here as well as turltes, tiger sharks and jew fish. The spiraling schools of grunts and yellow-tails are gigantic numbering 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 measuring 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. We have also seen the harlequin/clown shrimp here and several varieties of starfish. You may see white-tip sharks, jew fish and turtles too. When you are back on the boat, keep your eyes open as there are usually mobula rays jumping for joy or to rid parasites, we can't be sure which!
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 any larger schools of grunts on any other site we have. There also eel, octopi and nudibranchs. If you want to go deeper then 40 feet, you will have to bring a shovel.
There are far too many sites to name them all, but this will give you an idea of some of our local sites. The sites are all volcanic rock formations and rock pinnacles. Visibility is 20 -80 feet 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 we encounter whale sharks from time to time, along with manta rays which are seen seasonally.
Night Dives - Night dives are made on one of the local dive sites, preferably on that the divers have been to during daylight hours. Costa Rica diving is to see the animals and at night an entirely new assortment of marine life is active. Colors are brighter due to the dive lights and many of the daytime fish are sleeping. Perhaps you'll see a Parrotfish in it's cocoon! A minimum of 4 divers is required. It is a one tank dive after watching the sun set over the Pacific. Snacks, juice and water are included. The boat leaves Playa Hermosa at 5:15pm and return at approximately 7:30pm.
Bat Islands - The murcielegos, "The Bats," are dive sites famous for high voltage adventure diving. They are a chain of small islands that extend far out into the Pacific waters. The result is larger schools of fish, more pelagic species and often better visibility. A popular dive site is "Big Scare" where divers often find themselves surrounded by six to a dozen large Bull Sharks! The boat leaves Playa Hermosa at 8:00am and returns around 4:00pm. Lunch is provided in addition to snacks, fruit, water and juice. It takes about 2 hours to get to "The Bats."This not a dive for beginning divers. It must prepaid by 4:00pm the day before the dive. And there is no refund policy. Available May - November Upgrade $65 pp for a 2 tank dive (minimum of 6 pax needed to pre book this long range trip.)
Catalina Island - Catalina Island is similar to "The Bats" in that it sits further out into the open ocean than the local dive sites. It is also a cleaning station for many pelagics such as mantas, sharks, schooling fish and large schools of cow-nose rays. The boat leaves Playa Hermosa at 8:00am and returns around 2:00pm. Snacks, fruit, juice and water are provided. It takes a little over 1 hour to reach Catalina Island. This is not a dive for beginning divers. It must be prepaid by 4:00pm the day before the dive. And there is a no refund policy.
Upgrade $45 pp for a 2 tank dive (minimum of 6 pax needed to pre book this long range trip.)
Bill Beard's Costa Rica
Toll free: 877 853-0538
Local: 954-453-5044
Fax: 954-351-9740
www.billbeardcostarica.com
EMail CostaRica@DiveRes.com |
