Famous among experienced divers for voyages to uninhabited Cocos Island, which is three hundred miles offshore and one of the most predictable places on earth for thrilling big-animal diving. Not for the faint-of-heart, coral lovers, or those out-of-tune with their skills. Exclusively high-tension, challenging dives among hammerheads, mantas, and occasional whale sharks, and other awe-inspiring creatures of the Pacific deep. . . . Year-round water temperatures run 75 to 85 degrees (about the same for air temperatures), visibility and water conditions are unpredictable; in the rainy season, May through November, visibility is down, but so is the wind. . . . Northwestern Costa Rica's land-based diving is a smaller-scale version of Cocos Island. Plenty of sharks (although no massing hammerheads), a big-ocean feeling, with rigorous conditions and an awesome amount of fish life, including good odds of seeing a whale shark. . . . Bat Island, offshore, is the place to go, so insist on it before booking. . . .Beaches vary from not-so-good to decent. Double yes on nature side trips. . . . Shopping is mainly in San Jose, a pleasant city for overnighting. You can get by on English, though Spanish is the national language. . . .

Bill Beard's Diving Safaris/La Costa July 1996, Brent M. Myers, Fort Myers, FL. "Diving just fair because of poor visibility: 10-25 ft.. water: 78-80 degrees. Dives near resort were mediocre. Snorkeled with a whale shark on way to Catalina Island. Mating green sea turtles on the surface. Numerous whitetip and bull sharks at Bat Islands. A six foot long sailfish swam by during safety stop at the Bat Islands. Land tour to the cloud rain forest in Rincon National Park incredible with beautiful birds, gorgeous waterfalls and howler monkeys. Skip the local dives, dive Catalina Island and the Bat Islands and spend a more days doing land excursions.

Bill Beard's Diving Safaris/Sol Playa Hermosa, July 1996, Norman Ross, Abilene, TX. "Sol Playa Hermosa 300 feet above the beach; great view. Rooms neatly decorated, clean. Air conditioner not up to par, but fan kept the room comfortable. Breakfast buffet OK if you were really hungry. Evening buffet bad; easy walk down the beach are several good restaurants $15-$20/person. Playa Coco 5 minutes away; round trip taxi $12. . . . Water 82-85 F; dive for an hour in a tee shirt and not get cold. Visibility 20-30 feet/1/3 of Cozumel. Large variety and number of fish. Couple of sharks, manta ray, bunch of eagle rays, mating turtles, eels, dolphins, sea horses. Some current, some surge, but not enough to cause problems. . . . Bat Island; lot of surge and strong currents. Wear gloves to hold onto rocks. You and your buddy could follow the divemaster or find your own goodies. Tell divemaster when you have 1000 psi (3000 psi fills), work your way back to the anchor line and do 3 minute safety stop. Averaged 71 feet and 41 minutes on the first dive; 57 feet and 53 minutes on the second. People at Diving Safaris provided first class service and a lot of fun. The practice of sending snorkelers out with the divers may affect dive site selection."

Bill Beard's Diving Safaris/El Vellero, March 1997, Dan Brimhall, E. Helena, MT. "One of the best run operations anywhere. After check in you don't have to touch your gear (except to be helped putting it on in the boat) until you leave. Very safety conscious, but not overly restrictive. Good boats, head, good equipment. Don't go if you need 150 ft. vis. vis: 15­ 35 ft. temp: 72­76 degrees. Low visibility took getting used to, but fantastic large schools of fish. Lots of eel, white tip sharks up to 8 ft. and 13 mantas on one dive, up to 16 ft across. Windy in March."

Bill Beard's Diving Safari/Villa Del Sueno. April 1997, Bruce Shafer, Rochester, NY. "Water 80 degrees, depth and time restrictions. Few divers and varied dive sites. Bad: visibility and tipping. I would like to see the tips go to the crew that serviced us the best, not divided among everyone."

Bill Beard's Diving Safaris, April 1997, David Guccione & Lisa Caswell, Canton, NY. "First-class operation in Playa del Hermosa. Treated extremely well. Laid on a special afternoon dive at the regular price for us two despite policy requiring 6 divers. Never have to touch gear or lift a tank. Staff is hard working, safety conscious, knowledgeable and experienced, expert boat handlers. Every dive is guided and most of need to be since moderate to strong current and surge on most. They tailor the sites to divers' experience; some dives are definitely advanced, especially around Monkey Face and the Bat Islands. Computers or Wheel a must since nearly all dives are multilevel and would exceed PADI Tables rectangular assumption. Diving: $60 for a 2 tank dive; $80 for trip to Catalina Islands and $110 for the Bat Islands (includes lunch). Vis 35 ft. on best day, 20 on the worst. Not good for photography. Diving disappointing; hoped to encounter large creatures for which region is renown and went to considerable expense to get there. Saw one manta during a surface interval. Dolphins played around the boat on the way out to one sites saw a sailfish attacking baitfish from the boat deck. No large life during the dives. . . . Most sites small rocky islands; anchor on the lee, dive and circumnavigate underwater around the base and hopefully have enough air to make it around to the boat. Building up for sharks, mantas, occasional whale sharks, left us looking off into the gloom expectantly instead of studying the smaller stuff occupying the rocks. If you love eels and stonefish, this is a place for you; saw exquisite seahorse."

Bill Beard's Dive Safaris/Melia Sol Hermosa, July 1997, Jeanie & Martin Raffauf, San Carlos, CA. "The diving off Playa Hermosa in NW Costa Rica is excellent. Some off shore sites as good as any: Bat Islands and Santa Catalina. Vis varies dependent on currents, winds, weather. Inshore 20-50 ft., offshore 50-90 ft. Fish life prolific. The inshore sites are calmer and more appropriate for beginners, offshore tend to be more advanced due to currents, surge etc. Water 82-84 degrees. Dive restrictions enforced were varied by site, time/depth. We saw Bull Sharks, Manta ray (out of season), many cow nose rays, eagle rays. Also turtles, dolphins, eels, octopus, many tropicals. Many pelagics are at the offshore sites. "Big Scare" in the Bat Islands is especially recommended. It's a chore to get to, but well worth the trip. The underwater terrain is mostly volcanic rock and boulders. No soft corals, some hard corals on the rocks. . . . Bill Beard's is a well run operation. Service excellent. Divemasters friendly, know the sites, point out the good stuff. The staff is very efficient and helpful. They carry the gear to the boats every day, and set up all tanks, rinse and hang gear to dry everyday. Bill and Nadine Beard do all they can to make sure you have an enjoyable stay, help with other activities, such as jungle tours, volcano trips. . . . nice hotel. Full service with 2 swimming pools, restaurant, and convenience store. Right on the beach. Playa Hermosa is a small community with not much going on. The food at the resort is good, but expensive. We ate most meals at the next town, Playa del Coco. Good local restaurants that are real cheap. . . . Drive from San Jose to Playa Hermosa: scenery is nice and varied, however, lots of potholes and construction delays. It takes 4+ hours to drive 125 miles. We rented a 4 wheel drive vehicle as opposed to a shuttle van to have transport for the rest of the week to go out for meals and sightseeing. Cheaper food, more than paid for the rental car. Supposedly new service to Liberia airport from Miami and Houston; check that out if the driving puts you off. You can also fly from San Jose to Liberia, but connections are difficult. Great diving, nice resort, and a good dive shop, with enjoyable people."

El Ocotal, August 1996, Sonie Wood, Houston, TX. "Dive staff accommodating and willing to help and change spots if not up to standards. Never rushed and always smiling; kept dive groups the same. Keep heavy breathers together and those that like longer stays and computer divers together. Vis poor but always has been. Great fish life/out of 10 dives we only had two throwaways. The resort was exceptional. Second visit."

El Ocotal, August 1996, Campbell Wood, Houston, TX. "Water: 78 to 82 Degrees, Vis: 5 to 50 Feet. With the exception of one dive guide this is an excellent operation. Lot of white tips (up to 8 to 10 feet) turtles, etc. Huge schools of Mid sized fish.

El Ocotal, September 1996, Jain & Eliot Sekuler, Los Angeles, CA. "Well run dive operation. Accommodating, knowledgeable. Staff took excellent care of our equipment and dive masters Rambo and Jaimer knew every nook and cranny of the sites. Visibility mediocre, but large pelagics. Dives at the Catalinas Islands were thrilling: large numbers of white tips and enormous school of rays."

El Ocotal, October 1996, Karen Becker, Oxnard, CA. "We had mostly done tropical diving, only some Pacific diving, but knew what to expect. Major storm off Mexico created terrible weather. We did have a great dive guide. He kept the four of us well in sight and pointed out tons of huge stuff we would have missed due to the bad vis. vis: 15­20 ft. water: 72­75 degrees. Dive restrictions; stay with the guide due to visibility."

El Ocotal, June 1997, Leanne Wells, Mineral Wells, TX. "Water 78-82 degrees, 60-80 feet visibility. Must surface with 500 psi. Fished for tuna during surface intervals; hotel prepared sashimi for us. Huge schools of fish: rainbow runners, horse eye jacks, spadefish. They blocked the sun and followed us on safety stops. Close encounters with eagle rays; allowed divers to swim with them. Food and snacks on dive boats poor and meager. Take your own food. Divemaster Eric the best - watchful but never obtrusive. . . . Allow time for land excursions. Canopy tour at Rencox de la Vieja was a blast. Volcan Arenel and Central Cloud Forests are not to be missed, nor is white water rafting.

El Ocotal, June 1997, Robert and Lisa Birchmeier, West Deptford, NJ. "Six full days of diving. Staff at El Ocotal were great. Mariano and Jose' (aka Rambo) were the best. Never more than 5 divers on the boat. Dives included night dives when it was just 2 divemasters and myself. Sharks on 10 out of 15 dives, most were white tips, but 4 ten foot bull sharks I saw at the Bat Island made my trip unforgettable. Dives were spent looking at schools of Jacks and grunts (many schools had 100's of fish, turtles (up to 4 on one dive), spotted eagle rays, morays (20 per dive was common) and large snappers and groupers. Encounter with a marlin in 70 ft. of water. vis: 10-40 ft. water: 83 degrees. Dive restrictions enforced were dive with divemaster first few dives, then computer limits (avg. depth 70 ft.). 40ft. vis not uncommon. Down side to El Ocotal; hill to restaurant. The climb is the worst, but the food and view are great."

Playa Tambor Resort, March 1997, Harriet Denison, Portland, OR. "PADI facility. Divemaster, Miguel, said diving was poor, but I took the chance. The wind had been blowing for a week. A rough crossing took us to a sheltered dive site, but the visibility was awful. Both dives to about 50 ft vis: 3­8 ft. water: 80­85 degrees. Was a challenge to keep the divemaster and my buddy in sight. The surge was strong, and a less experienced diver could have had real problems. I was not impressed with the divemaster, who swam listlessly; he seemed either bored or depressed. I found more animals than he did. I think there were many fish, but I wouldn't swear by it. He should not have taken the boat out. . . . Resort is the Spanish equivalent of a Club Med. The purchase of a ranch for this resort was controversial, and the owners are planting the acreage not part of the resort back to jungle. Very nice rooms and lots to do. An excellent jungle next to the rooms­paths cut into a mangrove area. Great bird watching. Staff accommodating and anxious to please."

Resort Divers/Malinche Real, July 1997, Russell Schroeder, Grand Prairie, TX. "Malinche Real soon to be renamed "Blue Bay Papagoyo", is an all-inclusive resort with semi-private villas built with marble and pine which overlook the bay. A beautiful 5 star resort with excellent food. Resort Divers sets a new standard in customer service, they do it your way! Just ask for what you want. Day trip to Bat Island or overnight on 68 ft. schooner. vis: 30-50 ft. on black volcanic rock pinnacles, life in every crack and crevice. water: 85 degrees. Clouds of fish and herds of rays. Best time for calm water May-Aug the Green (Rainy) season. Dry, brown and windy with reduced vis in winter."

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