Diving Vacation In Costa Rica - Cocos Island, Pacific Ocean

The wonders of the aquatic world enjoyed during a scuba diving vacation in Costa Rica are without limit. The waters bathing the shores of this country feature 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 even whales. As a consequence, diving in Costa Rica is very rewarding and creates unique memories.

Costa Rica is popular on the international travel scene for the convenient all inclusive vacation packages offered by luxury resorts and high-class hotels. In the same time, Costa Rica is a fantastic holiday destination for experienced divers, but also an excellent place where can be learnt the basic skills to dive - most aquatic centers offer inexpensive certification courses in English that can be completed in less than a week. For this reason, to Costa Rica go many tourists eager to learn this amazing activity.

Along the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica are several excellent snorkeling and diving resorts. The largest coastal reef in Costa Rica is protected by the Cahuita National Park, situated south of the town with the same name where tourists can rent snorkeling or diving equipment and hire boats. Puerto Viejo, located south to Cahuita, hosts offshore another stunning coral reef, and as result there are great scuba dive and snorkeling opportunities. Punta Cocles and Punta Uva are other two spots settled south to the town where can be seen rich coral formations with plenty of fish swimming around them.

Close to Manzanillo, a small fishing village, are also some good offshore diving places. A few other good dive sites are located near city of Limon and on Uvita Island. The best visibility in Caribbean waters is from March to early May and from mid-August to mid-November. Therefore, tourists interested in scuba diving are advised to pick deals and vacation packages to Costa Rica in these periods.

Cocos Island, a national park located 330 miles southwest off the mainland, is considered by many experienced divers the best dive resort in Costa Rica. While the island is covered with virgin rainforests, the ocean that surrounds it contains abundant plant and marine life. Divers can see around Cocos Island impressive marine species 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 to this destination. There are also available cruises specialized for scuba diving around this island in Costa Rica that last usually ten days and include three dives per day.

The Pacific side in Costa Rica has some of the country's best diving sites, with less coral reefs than the Caribbean region, but with plenty of big fish. During scuba diving vacations in Costa Rica spent in beach resorts in Playa del Coco, Ocotal and Hermosa can be practiced various holiday activities and taken trips to several dive spots in Culebra Bay and Bat Islands, where divers see often sharks and manta rays. The dive center in Flamingo takes usually people to Santa Catalina Island, about five miles offshore, where is another good place to see sharks and other big fish. All these places on the Pacific side are great for aquatic adventures, still many tourists think that the best scuba diving sites in Costa Rica are several reefs located near Cano Island.