Costa Rica Scuba Diving

Costa Rica is famous among experienced divers for the big animal action off uninhabited Cocos Island, 300 miles offshore. Here are challenging, high-tension dives among hammerheads, mantas, occasional whale sharks, and other awe-inspiring creatures. Land-based dive operations fi nd a few big animals. However, they're unpredictable and the visibility is often so low you'll miss them, yet many divers like the diving. Costa Rica has great tourist destinations, is exceptionably safe.

Costa Rica Seasonal Dive Planner

Our suggestions for the dive season on the Pacific coast (the only decent diving in Costa Rica) may seem odd. The best time to go is the rainy season (May through November), even though runoff can affect the water visibility. The water clarity may be better during the dry season, but the wind blows up enough to make it almost impossible to get out to the best dive sites, which are small islands or rock outcroppings an hour's boat ride from the mainland. Visibility is a crap-shoot any time of the year, but even more so during the rainy season. However, even during the wet months there is a slight chance that offshore sites can reach almost 100 foot vis, although less than forty is more common. The best scheduling would probably be May, when the wind has died down and the rain hasn't started yet. Water temperatures run between 75° and 85° year-round.

Cocos Island, three hundred miles off Costa Rica's shore, has a rainy season from June through December. Some records show that the sharks are seen more often during this rainy season. Diving is year-round, but some of the boats are pulled out of service from mid-September to October for repairs, indicating that this is probably not the best time to dive Cocos. Also, sharks go deep in El Niño years, so these years are not a good time to see big creatures.

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Costa Rica Feature Articles and Reader Reports

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Editor's Book Picks for Costa Rica
Including the Cocos Islands

The books below are my favorites about diving in this part of the world All books are available at a significant discount from Amazon.com; just follow the links. -- BD

Diving Cozumel ... Cayman Islands ... Belize ... Bahamas ... Bay Islands ... Bonaire ... Bermuda ... British Virgin Islands ... Hawaii ... Micronesia
by Speck, Garoutte, Middleton, Cancelmo, Strohofer, Lewbel, Martin, Douglass, Verdure, Rosenberg, Hanauer...

No matter where you are headed, the Aqua Quest Books covering your destination are the only way to supplement Undercurrent's hardhitting critical information. Each of these books describes specific dive sites, depths and location, shore diving entries, the critters you'll see, local history and customs, places of interests. Take one as you travel or buy one after you return for the memories. Scores of excellent colorful pictures and maps supplement each of these 7x10 paperback 128 page books.

Paul Humann ID Books by Paul Humann, Ned Deloach: The three set fish, creature and coral ID books by Paul Humann are the unparalleled sources for information on Caribbean sea life and identification. This month Paul and his partner Ned deLoach released updated and expanded editions of each, with scores of new critters, even better photos, and information unavailable anywhere else. Why, the Reef Fish Identification book, at more than 500 pages, is 20 percent larger than the previous volume, which came out in 1994. Whenever I travel to the Caribbean, I tote all three books and spend my down hours figuring out what I saw and where to look to find rare creatures. Paul's splendid Reef Creature book (420 pages), covers sponges, nudibranchs, octopus, crustaceans, Christmas tree worms and plenty more. His Coral ID book (276 pages) helps you identify all the hard and soft corals, spawning, and even the growth on top of corals, as well as algae and other plant life. Beginners may want to ID only fish, but I'd recommend that all three books be part of every diver's library. And, if you have an old set, by all means replace it. You'll be delighted at the additions and improvements. Each book normally retails for $40, but are discounted when you order here. And the boxed 3-volume set is available now at a bigger discount, $81.60 (June, 2004). You'll get the best prices Amazon.com has to offer, speedy delivery, and the knowledge that a large hunk of our profit will go to preserve coral reefs. All are spiral bound, 6x9

• Reef Fish Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas ,
• Reef Creature Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas and
• Reef Coral Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas
• The Boxed Set of all three (now listed at $81.60 -- June, 2004)

Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific
by Terrence M. Gosliner, David W. Behrens, Gary C. Williams.

At last -- a just-published, complete guide to help you identify the uncountable variety of weird critters you'll see on any Indo-Pacific dive, complete with full-color photo of 1,100 species. About Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific, Chris Newbert says, "This invaluable new book makes identification easy and enjoyable." There are scores of flatworms, nudibranchs galore, bumblebee shrimp, painted crayfish, pompom crabs, side-gilled sea slugs, and endless corals. Marine biologists Terry Gosliner, David Behrens, and Gary Williams cover the reefs from the Solomons to Sipadan, from the Maldives to Maui, from Palau to Papua New Guinea. They provide good notes to help you find and identify each critter. Indispensable for any Indo-Pacific trip. Paperback, 8x110, 314 pages, $45.00.

Sea of Cortez Marine Animals
by Daniell W. Gotshall, Daniel Gotshal.

It's just the book you'll need to identify critters anywhere along Mexico's Pacific Coast, all the way to Panama. Any other ID book just doesn't cover the creatures here. Dan Gotshall, a marine biologist with 34 years research experience, has more the 250 photos of fish, corals, nudibranchs, lobsters, sea stars and other critters endemic to these waters. For each animal there are tips how to identify and where to spot it. Paper, 110 pages, $20.95.

You might find some other books of interest in our Editor's Book Picks section.