Energy for the soul...Costa Rica. This is a place to immerse yourself in the environment. A place of incredible natural beauty, both above and below the surface. Costa Rica is known today as a unique dive destination, not only for her marine life, but because of her many other attractions. Divers have the opportunity to visit national parks, go white water river rafting, horseback riding, climb active volcanoes, and swim from secluded beaches.

Diving Highlights: There is no telling what the diver will see...clouds of schooling barracuda, cow-nosed rays, whale sharks, jewfish, sea horses, hawkfish, turtles, reef sharks, mantas, pilot whales, sailfish, black marlin...the list goes on. The abundance of plankton limits the visibility from 20 to 80 feet, but all that food is what attracts the big critters!

Average Air Temp: Day: 86° F Night: 70° F

Water Temp: 75° - 85° F

Located ten degrees North of the Equator in the isthmus of Central America, the country is bound to the north by Nicaragua, south by Panama, the east by the Caribbean Sea, and the west by the Pacific Ocean. Few places in the world have such an intense concentration of pelagics: green sea turtles, whales, manta rays, sharks, tuna, snapper and jacks. Combine an exciting land-based or liveaboard experience along with the country’s natural beauty and her warm and friendly people, and you have a most exciting alternative to traditional dive travel destinations.

There are two distinctly different prime diving regions in Costa Rica. The North Pacific Coast is the diving world’s newest discovery. Guanacaste Province offers the most beautiful beaches and consistently entertaining land-based diving in the entire country. Most of the dive sites encompass open ocean pinnacles, canyons, swim-throughs, tunnels and shear perpendicular dropoffs. The land-based accessible dive sites feature extremely prolific schooling marine life, giant mantas, whale sharks, dolphins, and a wide variety of sharks. Well known in this region are the fantastic Bat and Catalina Islands and their assortment of dive sites certain to impress the most experienced of dive travelers.

The other prime diving region is the world-renowned Cocos Island, situated 350 miles off the Pacific Coast. Accessible only via liveaboard, this is truly high-voltage territory. Manta rays, pilot whales, Galapagos sharks, dolphins, white tips, and the well-known schooling hammerheads. Although there is also an impressive variety of smaller fish, this is not the reason why divers come here. The incredible Cocos experience is for the diver seeking the optimum in big marine life with loads of shark activity.

Topside Extensions
While in this diverse and culturally rich country, take time to experience the topside attractions. Get your adrenaline pumping by white water rafting the exhilarating Pacuare River.

Commune with Costa Rica’s wild creatures in their natural habitat of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. See the rainforest from a bird’seye view while on the Canopy Tour; where you will make your way between three plat- forms built high above the ground in the Kapok trees. Or spend the evening witnessing the glowing lava flow from Arenal Volcano including a stop to bathe in the Tabacon Hot Mineral Springs.

Cocos Island
Located approximately 290 miles southwest of the port of Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Cocos stands as a remote, isolated spire surrounded on all sides by the deep blue waters of the Pacific. At only 15 square miles, the island is but a tiny dot on a world map. Underwater, though, this relatively small reef system is nothing short of spectacular. Cocos is known for its commonly sighted schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks, manta rays, Mobula rays, marble stingrays, whitetip reef sharks, silky sharks and turtles. Whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, are encountered with regularity. Divers often see bottlenose dolphins, billfish, tuna, and schools of jacks so dense they literally obscure the sun.

Topside, most of the coastline is very steep with numerous waterfalls, some of them 200 feet high. In the southwest of the island, Mount Iglesias marks the highest point at 575 feet high.The climate is hot and very humid; it rains almost every day for a couple of hours between March and December, for an average rainfall of 24 feet a year! Runoff from the island is not a big problem because the surrounding clear water tends to wash away any particles and debris.

Much of the diving is between 50 and 100 feet, with an occasional dive to 110 to 130 foot. There’s current, and that’s good–current brings in the big guys. Of course, Cocos isn’t just about big animals. Divers commonly encounter schools of four-line snapper groupers, guineafowl pufferfish, moray eels, trumpet fish, frogfish, lobsters, jawfish, crown-of-thorn sea stars, octopi, and occasional red-lip batfish. But the real attraction is the big critters of Cocos. Without a doubt, this is one of the most high-voltage dive destinations on earth.

Diving and Watersports
Diving is on the Pacific Ocean side, and whatever you see there, it promises to be BIG! Large pelagic fish, including huge schools of hammerheads, is what diving out of Costa Rica is famous fore. It’s also very popular with surfers, and offers great deep-sea fishing.

Adventure and Sightseeing
White water rafting, mountain biking and hiking through the rainforest are popular. And you won’t want to miss the amazing canopy rainforest tours, where you see the forest from a bird’s eye view.

Shopping and Nightlife
In San Jose and throughout the country, locally made handicrafts abound. When the lights go down, choose from discos, cultural events, theater, movies, restaurants, and casinos.