After more than a decade guiding dives in Costa Rica, I have returned to the Windward and Leeward Islands. Years ago, I guided dives throughout these island nations rising out of the far side of the Caribbean from a big sailboat. Now, I am back to help completely refit and sea-trial a big sailboat to bring her back to Costa Rica, where she will become one of the premier marine-adventure, education, and scientific platforms in the country. It’s been a massive job, and we are in our sixth month of startup as I write this from Antigua, in the British West Indies.
I’ve had the chance to dive some of the sites where I used to guide trips years ago. Despite the national park status, very few fish are left in the waters around these islands. Dropping down beautiful coral walls full of sea fans and sponges, I am struck by the lack of fish. Even in the national parks, there are basically no old fish – you know, the ones that make all the little fish. I believe a diver would see more fish in one dive in Costa Rica than in 50 dives around any of these islands.
It seems small protected areas really don’t do much to keep real wildlife around. I guess it’s too easy for fish to swim out and poachers to swim in to little parks and refuges. Over time, the ecosystem breaks down into a simpler, less magnificent system. The old fish disappear, and with them the dolphins, the birds, and the little fish. Then, the tourists start to look elsewhere. Soon, the fishermen head to other waters. What’s left, even in a national marine park, is like a forest with no birds or animals.
Many tourists here in the islands are looking for wilder places. Costa Rica is often mentioned as a favorite destination or one high on the soon-to-visit list because of the perception that it offers rawer, healthier, more accessible nature. I hope it will stay that way. I hope it won’t vanish before our eyes like it did here, in the Windward and Leeward Islands of the eastern Caribbean.
Right now, Costa Rica still has some of the world’s hottest diving, as evidenced by some of the reports coming in over the past few weeks. It seems the diving is pretty much going off all over the country, and it looks poised to continue strong on both coasts for at least a month or so. Coco and Caño Islands, protected areas 300 and 12 nautical miles, respectively, out into Costa Rica’s Pacific, show the usual excellent conditions. The northern Pacific coast in Guanacaste and the southern Caribbean region of Talamanca are also reporting great diving.
Coral reefs, complete with fish, can be found right now in the southern Caribbean, with diving as good as the old-time memories of famous Caribbean islands. Many of the best sights of the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge and Cahuita National Park can be found right off your own private, jungle-clad beach. Here, the mysteries of the jungle and the sea combine like few other places in the Caribbean – a tiny piece of what many islands might have been and perhaps once were.
Those with the chance will want to contrast Caribbean reefs and roots with Pacific big beasts in huge numbers. Guanacaste’s waters are again living up to what they are famous for: big stuff. Viviane Beckers of Resort Divers de Costa Rica described what’s thrilling guests these days – things like bull sharks, cow-nosed rays, giant manta rays, orcas at sunset, eels, harlequin shrimp, and a lot of fish
