Come and explore some of the best diving locations in Costa Rica!
With year-round warm waters and a plethora of marine life, snorkeling and diving are popular activities in Costa Rica. Some of the best snorkeling in Costa Rican can be found at Cano Island and in the Golfo Dulce in the south Pacific. Diving is also a popular attraction where the visibility is usually good to excellent and can range from 45-90 feet making it the best in mainland Costa Rica (average is 40’+).
All boat dives are guided by a certified PADI instructor or dive master. All dive staff are Medic First Aid and Oxygen Provider certified. All our custom built boats are small and fast: 21ft. for 5 divers and 30ft. boat for 10 divers. The average dive time: 45 minutes – 1 hour and the average dive depth is 60 – 100ft.
If you are not certified but still want to explore the underwater world, don’t worry! We have you covered with classes that will have you swimming with the fishes in no time. OR, if you are certified, we can take you to the next level with a variety of advanced and specialty certifications:
Diving Educational Services:
We offer a wide range of professional underwater services for the recreational scuba diver. With a full time PADI Instructor on staff, we offer a variety of educational services from:
Discover Scuba (Non-certification one day experience) – Perfect for those who have no experience but who would like to try this exciting sport. A half day class to have you in the water and diving in a jiffy…with a PADI certified dive instructor. This course will allow you to dive with Jinetes de Osa for up to 10 days and includes: class materials, instruction, equipment and one open water dive. **Includes: instruction, all equipment, 1 tank Drake Bay & 1 dive at Caño Island Open Water Certification – Your ticket to the diving world. This basic certification allows you to dive anywhere in the world. It lasts a minimum of 4 days and requires at least 2 students. Includes: Class materials, instruction, equipment and four open water dives. We offer private certification classes too. Open Water Referral – If you already took your classroom and pool sections of the open water course with any other dive shop, you can complete your certification making your final open water dives with us. Includes: Class materials, instruction, equipment and four open water dives. Advanced Open Water Course – The next level in the PADI certification system, the advanced course teaches skills like underwater navigation, deep diving and various naturalist skills. Includes: Class materials, instruction, equipment and five open water dives. We also offer Rescue Diving and Dive Master Certification courses
Non-divers can enjoy the beautiful wonders of Caño Island and the Golfo Dulce too. Many of the same species of marine life seen diving can also be seen while snorkeling, including sharks.
Caño Island has recently moved into the spotlight as one of the world’s best diving locations. The island is surrounded by volcanic formations and coral reefs, varying in size from 2 to 10 acres. The reefs around Cano Island have been classified as one of the most important marine environments in Costa Rica.
The water surrounding the island is extremely pristine and teeming with life. Schools of mobula rays (devil rays), turtles, and white tip reef sharks can be seen on many dives. On almost every dive, large schools of fish swimming around and overhead can be observed. Although not common, the elusive whale shark and the giant bull shark are sometimes spotted in the area.
Cano Island has seven popular dive sites:
· Bajo del Diablo (The Devil’s Pinnacles)
Depth: 5-30m (15-90f) The best site in the area, and one of the best in all of Costa Rica. It consists of volcanic mounds and canyons with towering rock pinnacles that rise from 150′ to just under 20′ forming a maze of peaks and valleys. This site has the best visibility and is a great place to see the giant manta rays. Groupers, snappers and amberjack reaching 70lbs swim alongside giant schools of bigeye jacks, barracuda, reef sharks and many other tropical fishes such as puffers, king angel fish and damsels. At least four species of eels can be found, and with any luck, you may encounter a large school of mobula manta rays numbering 25 or more. Sometimes divers experience a fairly strong current at this site.
A small cave that is home to, YEP, you guessed it.. Sharks! Other inhabitants include angels, butterfly, damsel and parrotfish. Moorish idols, puffers, surgeonfish, and occasionally mantas and stingrays are also seen. It’s also a great location to see zebra, green & tiger-snake eels.
Depth: 20 m (60 feet) Unique rock formations in the shape of arches. Swim near these towering underwater arches and see fish similar to the Shark’s Cave’s inhabitants.
Depth: 15-20m (50-70 feet) No sunken ship here… (at one point someone thought there was) only a variety of rock formations with the areas most plentiful array of hard corals. Marine life is abundant and this is a calm dive where you generally find white-tip reef sharks, sting rays, the occasional sea turtle, moorish idols and other smaller fish but also some good-sized schools pass through. This is a wonderful spot for underwater photography.
Depth: 10-20m (35-60 feet) Good for divers with little experience or who haven’t been diving recently. It is an easy, shallow dive over rock formations and is good for seeing lobsters, eels and rays. And YES, there is an old anchor at this site.
Depth: 18-20m (50-60 feet) Officially outside of the Reserve’s boundaries, this is a fairly flat site with a couple of ridges and a few rock outcroppings and strong currents. Fish life abounds here as do white tip reef sharks. Huge schools of jacks, blue stripped snapper and hundreds of circling barracuda can be found along with grunts, puffers, lobsters and eels, and occasionally octopus, sting rays and mobile rays.
Named for its vicinity to the lighthouse (which no longer exists), it has a few small pinnacles. The tops of the pinnacles start around 40 feet and end at a depth of 80 feet. It is a beautiful site with large schools of fish. It often has a mild to strong currents bringing in an array of large fish. This is a site for experienced divers only!
Round-trip transportation (from Manuel Antonio*, Dominical, Sierpe or Drake Bay)
Entrance fees
All diving gear necessary for two dives
Bilingual guide
Picnic Lunch
Along the way, it is likely that we will encounter playful spotted, spinner, or bottlenose dolphins swimming along side or in front of the boat, and we might see some whales too.
We will stop for our first dive (or snorkel) once we are in the calm, warm waters of Caño Island at one of several dive sites.
Then we will make our way to the sandy shores of Caño Island where we will enjoy a relaxing afternoon on the beach and have a delicious picnic lunch. You may choose to snorkel some more or take a short hike up to the archaeological site where pre-Colombian spheres and burial grounds may be observed.
In the early afternoon, we will make our second dive (or snorkel) of the day at a different Caño Island dive spot, and then return to where we collected you from.
Contact us to arrange a great diving experience from Quepos & Manuel Antonio, Dominical, Uvita, Ojochal, Sierpe or Drake Bay.
Although not as famous for its diving, the Golfo Dulce by the Osa Peninsula boasts over 20 dive sites suitable for all levels, year round. From ship wrecks to coral reefs, shark dives to exploring the deeper parts of the tropical fjord…. The sweet Gulf really does have it all!
Contact us to arrange a great diving experience from Golfito or Puerto Jimenez.