During the period 2-10 September, 2006, Karen and I took a trip to Costa Rica for both SCUBA-diving and eco-touring. The trip was divided into two phases: The 1st phase (2-7 September) was the SCUBA-diving phase at Ocotal, a resort near the beach town of Cocos on the NW (Pacific side) coast of Costa Rica; the 2nd phase (7-10 September) was to the Arenal Volcano area for touring the sights and activities there. Both are in the Costa Rican Province of Guanacaste and close to the Honduran border. We were able to get there in one long day, first flying from Albuquerque to Houston and then Houston to Liberia. We flew back in one day as well, but we departed from San Jose.

The Ocotal Resort is built on a short, but rather steep hill. The dive center and beach were at the bottom and the reception, rooms and restaurant were at the top. The hill was manageable for non-smoking, slim people, but a huffer and puffer for those who weren't. The resort ran a shuttle, which came in handy when dive gear had to be transported up and down. The resort is quite comfortable and fairly isolated - a taxi ride is required to get into Coco, which in my humble opinion, is not worth the fare. There is a restaurant to supplement the hotel restaurant a short walk down the beach. There were no bugs to be concerned about.

The Ocotal dive operation was run by young, nice people and was fairly efficient. Strangely, the dive shop closed at 4pm, which pretty much precluded, or at least complicated, any afternoon dive activities. They ran a two-tank morning dive to: local sites, Catalina Islands or Bat Islands. The latter two sites cost more and were available only with sufficient people signed up. For us, at the time we were there, the Catalina Islands were far and away the best dives. The local sites had poor visability and nothing really startling in sea life. The Bat Island dives also suffered from poor visability, the absence of interesting sea life and huge wave surge concern that dominated the conduct of the dives. Although the Catalina Islands also had some wave surge to contend with, the water clarity was outstanding and there was an abundance of sea life. Plus we saw a humpback whale and her calf on the boat ride out and back. That was a real treat! Shore diving was possible, but, if you choose to do it in the afternoon, the dive shop might be closed on your return, forcing you to carry your gear up to your room. NITROX was available, but cost ($15/tank). It is really not necessary as there are no deep dives and you get nowhere near any saturation diving levels.

A 2-3 hour bus ride on 7 September got us to the Arenal Observatory Lodge, right next to the Arenal Volcano, which, after a major erutpion in 1968, has remained active. The Observatory Lodge is closest lodging to the volcano, which is visible from every room. The rooms were nice and the food good. There There were no other facilities in the area; everything was a shuttle/taxi ride away. We were not there long and our days were jam-packed with activities. Although we were in the mountain jungle and it was during the rainy season, there was not a bug problem. In fact, we we really not rained on very often. Not only that, the volcano was mostly free of cloud cover and quite visible all the time. We did a lot of hiking in the jungle; strangely,I found it to be almost devoid of any wild life. There were plants everywhere but not a lot of birds and animals. We did see a few toucans and Howler Monkeys, but not much beyond that. Two activities stand out in my mind: 1. the Hanging Bridge tour, and 2. the Sky Tram/Canopy tour. The Hanging Bridge tour was a 2-mile, self-guided tour along a path that included many suspension bridges built high over the jungle canopy. The second tour was a tram ride up to the top of a mountain and many zip lines down. Some of the zip lines were over half a mile long and rocketed us through the treetops. Karen and I had been on several canopy tours in Honduras, but they pale in comparison to this one. This was exhilerating and well worth the money!

On the 9th it was another long bus ride to a nice resort near the San Jose Airport, where we rested up for the long flight back on the 10th.

All-in-all Costa Rica was a good, but not great, trip. The accommodations were quite good, but the food was a bit expensive. The diving was different, but the sea life was not what we expected. Had the big pelagics been there - mantas, sharks, etc. - it would have been a fabulous dive trip. The eco-touring was fun, although I could never shake the feeling that there was an eerie absence of wild life.

Here are the photos. Rather than split them up into Ocotal and Arenal sections, they will be presented in one display. The photo title should indicate location. The only way to get from the photos back to the Costa Rica page is via your browser's BACK button.

Photos of Ocotal and Arenal, Costa Rica