Scuba Diving Fishing Land Rafting Xtreme Adventures Things 2DO

RODALES ARTICLES ARTICLES FROM RODALE´S SCUBA MAGAZINE Date: 2005-06-01

by dentaldiver
Date: 2005-06-01
Location: Costa Rica

Immediately after our return from the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, we made plans for a return visit to sample the diving around Cano Island and to explore the Sierpe River region of this beautiful country.

Upon return from our November visit to Costa Rica in which we totally fell in love with the country and its people, (see Rodale’s trip report COSTA RICA IN NOVEMBER ,my wife and I decided to return to the “Rich Coast” to sample some more of the diving the Pacific coast has to offer and possibly look into buying some property for a retirement home/business. Over 65,000 Americans now live and retire in Costa Rica and we decided to see if this would be something for us to look into. Having been in the Guanacaste region in the northwest, we decided to head south to try out Cano Island after hearing many good things about the area from other divers. We contacted our good friend Rolando Arburola at COSTARICADIVE and he carefully arranged the trip to our specifications. Our plan was to split time between touring the beautiful countryside and mountains and looking at the real estate options primarily in the Sierpe River area that would provide direct access to Cano Island. Three days of diving, one day of rafting, and four days of open time were scheduled. Rolando sensed our keen interest in exploring the opportunities the area affords for a dive operation, and agreed to come along to act as adviser, interpreter, and good will ambassador for us in our dealings in the region. Having spent a few days with Rolando on our November trip, I quickly gained a trust in his fine character and insight into the business climate in Costa Rica and gratefully accepted his offer. Having him along as a friend would only add enjoyment to the trip.

Cano Island is located about 10 miles directly west of the mouth of the Sierpe River and is quickly becoming recognized as the prime dive spot on the west coast. Although not considered by many to be on par with Cocos Island, the diving at Cano Island is regarded as excellent and is much easier to access and does not require a liveaboard. Reports are constantly coming back from Cano about massive schools of cownose and mobula rays, as well as manta sightings, whale sharks, hammerheads, white tips, and various species of whales. Few places exist that are readily accessible that afford the opportunity to see big animals on a regular basis. This was the allure that brought us to Cano Island.

There are two principle ways to access Cano Island. A charter flight from San Jose into Drake Bay and a short boat ride will get you there as will a trip down the mangrove lined Sierpe River and out into the Pacific for a ten mile boat ride. We chose the latter, deciding to stay in the quaint little village of Sierpe near Palmar Sur and Palmar Norte. This quiet little town sits on the river bank about a 35 minute boat ride to the ocean and is nestled in one of the rainiest parts of the country. The lush countryside attests to the copious amount of rainfall they receive each year. The main road into Sierpe is paved and winds effortlessly through vast banana plantations that have since been abandoned by the large fruit companies. Our arrangements were made for lodging at the Oleaje Sereno hotel which costs roughly $45 USD/night. Although not luxurious by anyone’s measure, the hotel was clean and the open air restaurant at the hotel seemed to be the meeting place for all “comers” and “goers” in the town. The big screen TV in the restaurant quickly became the center of the town’s attention each night as my wife and I shared digital images and video of the days activities on the river and at Cano Island.

Rolando had pre-arranged the diving with a local, who was a friend of his, was a divemaster, had a compressor, and had access to a boat and captain. Although not a bonafide diving operation by American standards, the arrangement served us well as we had a private boat to explore anywhere we wanted for the entire day. The divemaster, Lin, seemed very eager to share his favorite sites around the island with us. He struggled somewhat with the English names for the various creatures we found, but did a superb job finding and guiding us to the various dive sites that Cano Island has to offer. Capt. Mario spoke very little English, but his warm and constant smile told us everything was going to be just fine every day we left the dock for the journey through the mangroves to the open sea. Lin seemed very interested in exploring the possibility of getting a more organized diving operation going in the area and gave us as much help as possible in understanding the area.

THE TRIP THROUGH THE MANGROVES

Our search for property on the Pacific coast got off to a bad start when we traveled across the country from San Jose to the Guanacaste region to meet with a local farmer who had some “oceanview” property for sale. The six hour trip put us in the region too late to look at the property so we made arrangements to meet with him the next morning. As morning dawned, a torrential downpour made the road to the property almost impassable in our rented Toyota Rav 4 and we were picked up by the son of the property owner for what later became a 50 minute ride through some of the wildest and most rugged terrain I have ever seen. About 15 minutes after the final harrowing river crossing in which I was sure we would be swept away by the current, we arrived at the property that was for sale perched high atop a mountain. The owner’s son, recently graduated from the university and firm in his belief that Americans are “dipped in gold” calmly explained to us that although there was no access to electricity, water, or telephone, and no reasonable expectation of a passable road in my lifetime, the asking price for one acre plots plowed into the side of the hill was “somewhere between 250 and 700 (he was talking thousands in US dollars!). When asked where the oceanview was, he pointed to a small opening in the trees where you could see the ocean only if equipped with a very good telescope! I explained to the young entrepreneur that a dive operation would need ocean access that would not involve an hour long ride through practically impassable roads and he calmly informed me that he was aware of a property that would fit the bill. We explained to him that we were going to need roughly 2-4 acres of property so that we could also build a small guest lodging facility to compliment the dive shop. Again he assured us that he would show us a property that would fit the bill and was “right on the ocean”. Another 20 minutes of jaw rattling roads brought us to a 70 x120 lot about 400 yds from the ocean that was very tightly fenced in and surrounded by tin roofed shacks that appeared to be constructed sometime around the “Last Supper”. Again, we told the now increasingly annoying young lad that 70 x120 was no where near the size of the 2-4 acres that we had just talked to him about. He told us that the adjacent properties were also for sale, but he did not know the owners of the properties or the asking price. We firmly requested a ride back to civilization so that we could continue our journey south. The only good thing to come out of the wasted two day trip was that I helped Rolando expand his understanding of English slang. He now has a firm understanding of the term “wild goose chase”.

We made the trip from the Guanacaste area along the coast through Jaco, Quepos, and Dominical in a little over 7 hours and arrived in Sierpe in time to meet with Lin, our divemaster, for a quick briefing and strategy meeting for the next three day’s diving. Unknown to us, hurricane Adrian was now firmly battering the coast of Guatemala with high winds and torrential rains which we would see in the morning. As morning broke, we decided that wetsuits would be the most prudent apparel to weather the rains that would soak us throughout the day. Our initial trip down the river was rather uneventful until we hit the mouth of the river where 6-10 ft. waves crashed along the beach at the entrance to the Pacific. Capt.Mario seemed unfazed as he skillfully and gingerly negotiated the breaks in the waves until we hit the open water of the Pacific where the 2-3 foot swells seemed more manageable to the small 21 foot open bowed “panga”. We joked on the way out to the island that panga must be a Tico word meaning “small boat designed primarily to inflict pain on one’s ass”. Although we could not visually see the island due to the heavy rainfall, quick and periodic checks of the handheld GPS unit confirmed that Capt. Mario indeed know which way he was going.

About a mile out from the island, Lin explained the first dive site would be an unnamed area that he knew would likely contain a very large gathering of white tipped sharks. Our first decent into the waters off Cano Island would be in search of the sharks and then proceed along a rocky ridge where other inhabitants of the reef could be seen. I was pleasantly surprised by the extremely warm water temperature (about 85F) compared to the rapidly changing and cold temperatures we experienced in November in Catalina and Bat Islands. The visibility was a little less than expected (around 50 ft.) but I think most of the reduced visibility was due to the near total lack of sunlight from the torrential rainfall and cloud cover. We almost immediately spotted several whitetips lazily lying on the bottom. We sighted several more a few minutes later and saw a total of over 20 on the first dive alone.

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