kent_1848
September 2nd, 2005, 11:43 PM
Well, we didn't think we could afford the trip to St. Lucia, so we started looking for another trip. I found super cheap flights to Costa Rica, so I thought what the heck, it sure beats the money we would have had to put out for St. Lucia, even though it wouldn't be first class and 5 star (little did we know...). Found 5 other people crazy enough to trust that I would provide them with a good trip and, I booked the flights. Found a dive shop by asking around on Scubaboard, and a little internet research. Rich Coast Diving, ( www.richcoastdiving.com (http://www.richcoastdiving.com) ) and man did they take care of us! We dropped our stuff off the day we got there, and didn't have to worry about it until the day we left. We had fresh pinapple on our surface intervals that was delicious. Found a place to stay from the dive shops web site, and I made sure that it had air conditioning. Man was that worth it. I wouldn't have been able to sleep. Jessica at the dive shop, and the owners of Villa Flores would set up all kinds of things for us to do and arrange it all. This was a totally relaxing vacation.
The diving was anywhere from so-so to amazing. There was one day of diving that was like diving in Beaver Lake, and the next day @ the Catalina Islands, the vis was amazing, and it was my best day of diving ever. On 1 dive we saw 9 sharks! Our dive master pointed out sea horses on just about every dive, lobster and octopus during the day, schools of eagle rays, schools of barracuda, 5 different kinds of morays, scorpionfish and more pufferfish than Kansas has cattle! On our off gas day we took a trip to the Arenal Volcano area where we rapelled down waterfalls. On the way home, we got to see the volcano spew lava down the side, I figure a once in a lifetime thing.
All in all, this was one place that I did not want to leave. The beach wasn't anything to write home about, but then again, it was a beach, and it was sand. I think we will probably go back, in fact we even discussed moving there...that is if my wife being kind enough to listen is discussing, I mean, I am still in Kansas!
The diving was anywhere from so-so to amazing. There was one day of diving that was like diving in Beaver Lake, and the next day @ the Catalina Islands, the vis was amazing, and it was my best day of diving ever. On 1 dive we saw 9 sharks! Our dive master pointed out sea horses on just about every dive, lobster and octopus during the day, schools of eagle rays, schools of barracuda, 5 different kinds of morays, scorpionfish and more pufferfish than Kansas has cattle! On our off gas day we took a trip to the Arenal Volcano area where we rapelled down waterfalls. On the way home, we got to see the volcano spew lava down the side, I figure a once in a lifetime thing.
All in all, this was one place that I did not want to leave. The beach wasn't anything to write home about, but then again, it was a beach, and it was sand. I think we will probably go back, in fact we even discussed moving there...that is if my wife being kind enough to listen is discussing, I mean, I am still in Kansas!