COSTA RICA DIVING CANO ISLAND

When your Costa Rica diving adventure takes you to Cano Island, you can thank a megaresort for making this fully protected Biological Reserve a reality.

The year was 1973 and ambitious, wealthy investors obtained a permit to build a huge resort on Canos.

They envisioned making a lot of money from folks taking Costa Rica vacations.

Fierce Tico opposition led to the retraction of the permit and the creation of this nearly 7,000 acres marine sanctuary.

Costa Rica vacation tourism brings in a lot of money but money isn't everything.

Sometimes the little guys do win.

You can find Costa Rica scuba diving tours from a number of locations including Dominical and Sierpe and lodges on the Osa Peninsula.

Click to look at a helpful Costa Rica map.

There’s a fee of about $10 for your diving permit (your tour operator will know what to do).

Getting to Cano Island

Costa Rica has many express buses, much like Greyhounds, that are convenient, fast, and very cheap and, if you're on a bit of a budget, I'd recommend them when you travel Costa Rica.

Taking a Costa Rica vacation doesn't have to cost you an arm or leg.

Click here for Costa Rica bus schedules.

If you're on the Gold Coast you'll find dive operators in places like Quepos and Manuel Antonio but the boat trip will be about 60 miles each way.

You'll be a lot closer to your dive destination if you travel to Dominical or Sierpe.

You can also fly to Dominical or Sierpe by Costa Rica air charter companies, click.

Canos Island

They’re called disquis rocks. They come from quarries in the heart of the country far, far away, and no one knows why--or how--they were carved.

There are theories. Oh my, yes, there are theories.

Like, inhabitants of Atlantis wanted telecommunications using Costa Rica disquis balls!

Though the island is deserted, its waters are not.

There's excellent snorkeling close to shore and with five dive platforms along coral, rock formations, and walls ranging from 40 to 130 feet in depth, terrific scuba diving as well.

Whether your taste is for spectacular colored reef dwellers like angels, tiny seahorses, lobsters, and lots of sharks or sometimes huge schools of deep ocean species like jacks, barracudas, snappers, and rays—--or sea turtles and whales---this is a great dive.

Many of the tour operators are PADI certified so, if you haven’t dived before or need a refresher, they’ll get you prepared for Costa Rica diving at its finest.

And, because the waters here teem with life, some of the operators combine great Costa Rica fishing along the way.

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