Costa Rica Diving

Here, topside temptations like rainforest hikes, canopy tours and whitewater rafting excursions compete for your attention, right alongside some of the Eastern Pacific's best diving, but if you play your cards right, you can have the best of both worlds.

One way is flying into San Jose, then getting whisked away to Puntarenas, where you'll get on a live-aboard vessel for a 300-mile ride south to Cocos Island. Cocos is lush, volcanic and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bajo Alcyone, with its hammerheads, mantas, whale sharks, sailfish and eagle rays, is perhaps the island's centerpiece dive site. Divers can also witness firsthand the "bait ball" phenomenon of hundreds of green jacks contorting themselves into a tight mass to protect themselves against pelagic predators. At Shark Fin Rock, you can observe marbled rays during mating season, and on Cocos, hike to waterfalls after alighting at Chatham Bay.

But if live-aboard isn't your thing, Costa Rica also offers land-based diving on the Golfo de Papagayo in the northwest and the Osa Peninsula in the southwest. Fly into Liberia and the beachfront towns of Playa Hermosa and Playa del Coco are just a short drive away. Boat rides to sites like Virador, Catalina Point and Catalina Wall are often less than 30 minutes from shore.

Virador has big animals like manta rays, humpback whales, whitetips and whale sharks. At the Catalina Islands, school is in session for hundreds of mantas between December and May. At other sites, watch for small creatures such as seahorses and harlequin cleaner shrimp. Topside, don't miss the hot springs and volcanic mud baths of the still-active Mt. Arenal volcano.

Rustic jungle lodges are the accommodations of choice in the Osa Peninsula, the jumping-off point for the rocky reefs of Cano Island and surrounding pinnacles like El Bajo del Diablo. Expect to see it all, from big schools of snapper to napping nurse sharks to passing pods of dolphins. Topside, don't miss the waterfall hikes in the nearby rainforest preserve.