COSTA RICA WHALE SHARK DIVING

Ancient creatures, they go back some 60 million years.
They have the distinction of not only being the world's largest shark but also the planet's biggest fish---by far.

To give you some perspective, the great white shark can grow to 20 feet in length and weigh 5,000 pounds.

Enormous, of course, but a minnow compared to its mammal cousins: whale sharks have been measured at over 40 feet and nearly 40 tons!

You've probably seen a TV show or two where scuba divers hop into a cage to view great whites up close. Considering that the great white shark is the preeminent mammal-eating carnivore on the globe, the cage sounds like a pretty good idea.

That said, you won't need a cage to swim alongside---or play with---a whale shark. Their enormous mouths are built for eating plankton, microscopic animals and planets, and sometimes small schools of fish.

Unfortunately, this languorous, slow moving creature is seriously overfished, particularly in Asia, and it's considered vulnerable these days.

Of particular concern to many is the sordid practice of shark finning these enormous creatures: catching them, cutting off their fins while the animal is alive, and discarding the "worthless" animal to drown. The fins from one unfortunate animal can fetch $10,000-$30,000 in asian markets so that people can make shark fin soup.

Overfishing, world-wide lack of adequate protection measures, and the fact that females need to be about 30 years old (an age fewer and fewer are achieving) to breed bode ill for these gentle giants, though more and more places are beginning to realize that whale shark diving offers increasingly lucrative and sustainable niche tourism.

Which brings us to whale shark diving in Costa Rica, perhaps the country most committed to sustainable growth on the planet.

Here are some places to dive on your Costa Rica vacation.

Whale Shark Diving Along Costa Rica's Gold Coast

And, a few miles north, you can dive in the Bat Islands. Whale sharks are quite common along this coast and, fortunately for divers, tend to swim very close to the surface during the day (though they have been known to dive to depths of 2000 feet or more).

Visibility is often excellent in this region of the country (20-60 feet), water temperatures are warm (70°-80°), and you might easily run into enormous schools of red snapper.

Plan on viewing barracudas, sea turtles and huge schools of manta or eagle rays (best months for rays are typically November and May though there are always some in the waters).

And, of course, there are whales.

Several species migrate to Costa Rica, so you may find yourself diving with humpbacks, pilot whales, even Orcas, as a playful whale shark lets you share some time with it!

Cano Island Scuba Diving

Cano Island lies in a Biological Reserve and only ten divers a day are allowed to dive five sites. You'll find 15' reefs and 80' walls and typical visibility of 50' or more.

If you are lucky enough to scuba dive around Cano, you'll be greeted with large schools of white tipped sharks, rays, moray eels, huge snappers and groupers, and sometimes pods of porpoises, not to mention jacks and many species of reef dwellers.

Cocos Island Whale Shark Diving

Located halfway between Costa Rica's western Pacific coast and the Galapagos Islands, Cocos has so many sharks that many actually call it "Shark Island."

This scuba diving adventure will take you across 330 miles of open water to Cocos Island, a place the acclaimed Jacque Cousteau famously dubbed "the most beautiful island in the world" --- a reference to its underwater treasures.

Plan on about a ten day Costa Rica vacation aboard a boat because there is water provides the only access to Cocos.

I've devoted several pages to Cocos (you can use the search box below to see more) so I'll leave you with 10 reasons to scuba dive Cocos Island.

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