Costa Rica: Underwater 4-17 Jan 2023

A very different adventure for me on this trip. I met Mary Ann in 2015 diving in Roatan, Honduras and we have talked about getting together again to go diving. Finally this was the year. She invited 2 other friends, who are both seasoned travelers, Julie and Sylvia. Initially the goal was to dive with the Manta Rays who cruise through Costa Rica this time of the year. She arranged the entire trip. I knew it was to be a trip unlike any I have ever taken. Diving, yes, but also other fun ‘touristy’ things that I rarely do.

I’ve never been to Costa Rica, so I was very excited.

I decided to travel a day early since it was January, and I knew travel could be unpredictable. I didn’t want them leave without me. Luckily I did, because it turned out to be another terrible couple of days for air travel. Storms on the West Coast, and fog down the East Coast to Miami, cancelled many many flights; mine in and out of Miami included. The lines at the airports to rebook flights were a 3.5hr wait. I’ll spare you the details, but I did arrive a day late; and everyone had trouble getting there.

Mary Ann, our Leader and organizer. She has her own business, CostaRoa, if anyone wants to schedule a trip somewhere... contact her at:www.costaroa.com

Because there were 4 of us to split the cost, she was able to hire drivers that would have been expensive if traveling on my own. The next morning our driver picked us up for a 4 hour drive north and west through the mountains to Playa del Cocoa.

We spent 3 days diving; …the Mantas were a ‘no-show’. The diving was not ideal: the visibility was poor, and the currents and surges were strong. We were able to hone our diving skills in a difficult environment…..good experience.

Photography was frustrating and disappointing; but it was interesting to see different species that were abundant there and almost non-existent in other locations. This is a volcanic region, so there were no colorful corals. This is what it looked like without corals.

But, we enjoyed ourselves and getting to know each other. We did see several White Tipped Sharks … and no, i was not scared :) ….they are not aggressive and basically ignored us as we tried to photograph them.

The BalloonFish or PorcupineFish were the most abundant. I've always loved their sweet little faces, with large puppy dog eyes.

At a wreck site we saw these colorful Pork Fish, ... not a nice name, i know :(

Mexican HogFish were there too ... maybe their GPS was off course :)

A lot of these GuineaFoul Puffers

YellowTail Surgeon Fish...those 'spines' on their tails can be used as a defense weapon.

Several different AngelFish ButterFly Fish

Masked BannerFish, Moorish Idol, & Grey TriggerFish

Many Spotted PufferFish

Wrasse

There were Leopard StingRays ... everywhere. Here is one with a pretty Sea Star

There were other Sea Stars along the way also, and a bejeweled Sea Urchin.

Many schools of fish. The fact that the sea is 'never' crystal clear is because of all the nutrients in the water ... which accounts for lots of fish ... big fish ... like Mantas .... sometimes ...