During our 2 week trip in Costa Rica we spent a day doing some scuba diving out of Playa Del Coco (aka Del Coco Beach).
Del Coco Beach is a popular beach town in the province of Guanacaste. It’s located on the North Pacific side of Costa Rica, about an hour drive from Liberia.
We dove with Rich Coast Diving, a reputable PADI 5 star shop. They’ve been around for 30 years and offer a variety of diving and snorkelling trips.
An octopus sculpture on the main strip in Playa del Coco
We brought all of our own scuba gear (minus tanks and weights), but they do offer rentals if you’re looking to travel a bit lighter. Since we’re advanced divers we often prefer to dive with as much of our own gear as possible. Plus, it’s nice to get into our own wetsuits since we don’t use them diving in Canada!
We did a one day, 3 tank dive to Isla Catalinas also known as Catalina Island. It’s an archipelago of rocky islets that offers multiple dive sites.
When we first arrived into town, we took a visit to the shop to say hello and sign some paperwork. They gave us an overview and told us when we should arrive for our day of scuba diving. The next morning we checked in and once everyone was sorted and ready we all walked about 10 minutes to the beach where they boat was being loaded with tanks.
We headed out on the boat ride which took about an hour to reach Isla Catalinas. Excited for the day ahead we geared up and jumped in.
Straydog boat gets it's name for a reason!
All three of our dives were great, despite having some pretty strong swells. I had never experienced the push and pull of swells that strong, so it made filming with a GoPro a challenge. At some points we were trying to hold on to not get pulled too far a direction we didn’t want to go, so I ended up with a small cut on my finger. I may invest in some tropical gloves at some point, like these gloves from Scubapro, to protect in situations like this.
During our dives we saw:
- schools of fish
- stingrays
- eels
- octopus
- white tip sharks
- a seahorse
Check out our YouTube video here to come underwater with us!
We had pretty good visibility considering the conditions (the swells), and it was easy to keep an eye on the whole group even if we were spread out. Our guides were great at redirecting the group and adjusting the plans when the conditions were not working in our favour.
Overall, we had a great experience and would highly recommend Rich Coast Diving. They were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable - everything you want in a local shop when you’re travelling. The staff even offered up tips on local places to check out and their favourite spots where locals eat.
Thanks to one of their tips we ended up at Cafe de Playa for multiple sunset evenings. It’s about a 15-20 minute walk on the beach heading North. Check out this gorgeous view from one evening - a great way to end a day of diving!
