Scuba diving in Costa Rica

The underwater wonders which offer a perfect scuba diving vacation in Costa Rica are unlimited. The waters of Costa Rica contain diverse and rich marine life, including giant manta rays, sea turtles, colorful angel fish, coral formations, sea slugs, puffer fish, sea fans, dolphins, and sometimes whales.
Costa Rica is a great place not just for experienced divers but is also an excellent place to learn how to dive, since most dive centers offer inexpensive certification courses in English that can be completed in less than a week!

Caribbean coast & Cocos Island

Along the southern Caribbean coast are several excellent diving and snorkeling resorts. The country's largest coastal reef is protected within Cahuita National Park, located south of the town with the same name, where you can rent snorkeling and diving equipment and hire people to take you out in boats. Puerto Viejo, south from Cahuita, has also an excellent coral reef that offers great diving opportunities. Punta Cocles and Punta Uva are other two locations settled at the south of town and have rich coral formations with plenty of fish around them.
Manzanillo, a small fishing village a few miles further south, has also some diving off shore. A few good dive spots are located near city Limon and on Uvita Island. The best underwater visibility in the Caribbean is from March to early May and from mid August to mid November.
Cocos Island, a national park located 330 miles southwest of Costa Rica's mainland, is by far the best dive resort from Costa Rica. While the island is covered with virgin forest, the ocean that surrounds it contains abundant marine life. Divers at Cocos Island regularly see impressive animals such as manta rays, dolphins and hammerhead sharks.
It takes about a day and half to reach Cocos Island and some companies have ships that run regular cruises there. This cruises last ten days and include three dives per day.

Resorts on the Pacific Coast

The Pacific coast has the country's best diving places, with less coral, but with plenty of big fish. Vacation resorts in Playa del Coco, Ocotal and Hermosa offer trips to several spots in Culebra Bay and on Bat Islands, where divers often can see sharks and manta rays. The dive center from Flamingo usually takes people to Santa Catalina Island, about five miles off shore, which is a another good place to see sharks and other big fish.
However, the best diving sites on the Pacific coast are several underwater reefs near Cano Island.