About the country
Cocos Island, a small paradise for hammerhead sharks and seabirds. It has to be earned, since it takes 36 hours by boat to get there from Punta Arenas, with sometimes very rough seas.
These waters, on the North Pacific side, are part of the heavily regulated Cocos marine park . The island is uninhabited, a group of rangers, resupplied by the cruise boats, camps there and keeps watch over and protects the park. Every dive from the three cruise boats is scheduled with precision, down to the half hour, no anchors, only mooring buoys. Every dive is a drift dive. This sanctuary remains pristine. Even though visibility can sometimes be temperamental, the show is magical : hammerheads on every single dive !
Cocos Island, worthy of Jurassic Park, is a humid tropical forest. It’s also a sanctuary for frigatebirds, boobies, blue- or red-footed boobies, and white terns called locally “Esperitu Santo”.
Mainland Costa Rica is also full of wonders : plants, insects and tropical animals. Environmentalists ahead of their time, this country has been committed to protecting its natural heritage for a very long time. Pura Vida !
Here’s a description of the dive sites at Cocos, the best of which are : Manuelita Outside, Alcyone and Dirty Rock : .
Our opinion
Difficulty
Visibility
Diversity
Atmosphere
Practical
In September 2019.
Under Sea Hunter : A very comfortable boat, equipped with two rigid-hull motorboats with a covered roof. The skiff captains handle surface safety for the return from dives in rough seas. 4 enthusiastic and attentive dive masters for groups of 7 to 9 divers. Three dives a day, two in the morning, one in the afternoon. Mandatory nitrox is included in the package, and dives are done without deco stops.
In September 2019.
Grano de Oro : A beautiful, luxurious, tastefully decorated hotel in San José, with two jacuzzis and a good French-style restaurant. The rooms are large.
Manatus Hotel : A beautiful hotel in the stunning setting of Tortuguero, quite environmentally conscious. Our rather quiet guide gave us a lot of insight into the park, its flora and fauna. The rooms are very large and the restaurant is decent.
In September 2019.
Tortuguero park to watch turtles nesting and spot herons, vultures, caimans and monkeys along the park’s canals.
In March 2006.
The active Arenal volcano ; the humid forest of Monteverde and its primary forest ; coffee plantations, savanna and baobabs along the road to Rincón de la Vieja ; the secret paradise of Drake Bay with its macaws, sloths, capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys and crocodiles.