Sirenas Diving in Playas del Cocos Costa Rica

Under the Sea with Sirenas Diving in Playas del Coco

In Activities, Costa Rica, Diving & Snorkeling by Erik @ DIY Travel HQ12 Comments

Sirenas Diving has a winning combination on land & in the water. You can either visit Playas del Coco in Costa Rica yourself, or get a taste of what to expect by reading our post. What are you waiting for?

Contents

About Sirenas Diving & Bobbie Jo

Bobbie Jo is a longtime resident of Playas del Coco & Sirenas Diving is her second dive operation in Costa Rica.

The first company grew to be too big & instead of relishing her success she decided it was time to downsize.

The shift in focus was to leave a lot of the paperwork behind & start diving again.

That was the inspiration for creating Sirenas Diving & to us here at DIY Travel HQ it seems to be working so far!

Sirenas Diving Owner Bobbie Jo

Bobbie Jo is once again doing what she loves regularly…diving!

Dive groups tend to be small & personal with 4-6 divers per dive master, typically Bobbie Jo.

A second assistant will tail larger groups or during poor conditions.

Everyone is extremely friendly & professional from Bobbie Jo to her dedicated boat crew.

Sirenas Dive Boat Mireina Grace

You are virtually guaranteed a good time when diving with Sirenas!

Sirenas Diving Location

Sirenas Diving is located in Playas del Coco, one of the premier diving destinations in Costa Rica.

It is unlike any other company we have dived with before – they have fully embraced the digital revolution & no longer have a physical dive shop.

All inquiries are handled via email or by phone with a lot of repeat snowbird customers.

Meeting the Other Sirenas Diving Divers on Playas del Cocos Beach

You know where to go each morning if you see a group of people standing on the beach at 7:45 am.

After arranging a dive trip using the methods above, first time divers will meet Bobbie Jo on the Playas del Coco promenade in front of the police stand.

Repeat customers typically wait 100 meters down the beach on the right where the water taxi departs.

Sirenas Diving Meeting Point by Police Station Stand on Playas del Cocos

It’s easy to find Bobbie Jo from Sirenas Diving near the police stand on the beach.

Sirenas Diving Gear Rental

Sirenas Diving charges $25 for a complete set of diving equipment for the day.

If you are like us, you are used to trying things on in a dive shop before heading out to sea.

For Sirenas Diving, all the equipment sizes are arranged ahead of time.

Bobbie Jo takes your wet suit, BCD, & fin sizes if you know them, & can also match the correct gear for you based on height & weight information.

Sorry ladies, but you might have to divulge that secret along with your birth date for certification validation. 🙂

Prepping for 2nd Dive with Sirenas Diving

All the rental dive equipment sizes are arranged in advance & already loaded on the boat in the morning.

Playas del Coco Dive Locations & Pricing

There are three main dive locations around Playas del Coco.

The easiest to reach with conditions suitable for all divers are the local dives.

These can be reached within 15-30 minutes by boat & are a great way to begin to experience the waters near Playas del Coco.

A full day of diving here is required before being able to venture to Catalina Island or the Bat Islands.

Star Fish & Puffer Fish Playas del Cocos

There are so many puffer fish swimming around the local dive sites!

Catalina Island takes 30-60 minutes to reach & is for experienced divers.

The big draw are manta rays.

The Bat Islands are located 60-90 minutes in the other direction & are also for experienced divers only. Their main draw are bull sharks.

Sirenas Diving charges the following for each location:

  • Local Dives: $100 for 2 Tanks
  • Catalina Island: $135 for 2 Tanks (minimum 4 people)
  • Bat Islands: $185 for 2 Tanks (minimum 4 people)

Playas del Coco Dive Sites Conditions & Expectations

For both Sheena & I, our experience for diving has been limited to Southeast Asia & the Caribbean where a large portion of the focus is on coral.

Playas del Coco has virtually no coral, but you will not be disappointed.

There are a wide assortment of underwater creatures to keep you distracted & having no coral allows you to focus on the marine life swimming around you.

Virador Dive Site Swimming with the Fish

There is so much sea life at Virador that you would think it was an underwater mirador.

A lot of the larger fish, rays, sharks, & whales frequent the waters off Playas del Coco to take advantage of the abundant plankton.

The plankton also creates huge visibility swings each day. You never know what to expect until you jump into the water.

The temperature ranges anywhere from 65 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sirenas Dive Briefing

Bobbie Jo with Sirenas Diving giving a dive briefing & letting us know what to expect.

Sirenas Diving Format

Every day under the water may not be typical, but Sirenas Diving has a winning formula on land & in the boat.

After meeting Bobbie Jo & our fellow divers on the beach we soon hopped in our water taxi that would shuttle us to Sirenas Diving’s boat.

All the dive gear was preloaded onto Mireina Grace, which made boarding & disembarking the water taxi simple.

Getting in the Water Taxi to Reach Sirenas Diving Dive Boat

You need to take a water taxi to reach the dive boat since Playas del Coco doesn’t have a pier.

Once on the dive boat we enjoyed the ride out to our first dive site, Virador The Playas del Coco bay is filled with several large rock islands that make the boat excursion memorable.

One of the more interesting formations was Monkey Head Island, which resembles the head of King Kong.

Monkey Head Island Playas del Cocos

It took me awhile, but I finally got the correct angle to see the reason behind naming Monkey Head Island. (Photo Courtesy of Catamaran Tours in Costa Rica)

Along the way, we enjoyed dark chocolate that apparently helps with decompression

. Even if it doesn’t work we are never ones to turn down chocolate as evident by our Chocolate Workshop in Granada. Sirenas Diving also provides cold drinking water on board.

After each dive the richest butter cookies & sweetest pineapple slices are passed around to regain some of the calories burned underwater.

Sheena Eating Chocolate Before Diving to Help with Decompression with Sirenas Diving

Who says you can’t have chocolate for breakfast?

All the gear is assembled by the staff so you only need to manage putting on the wet suit(s) & fins before being fitted with the BCD & tank.

The water was unseasonably cold during our dives at 65 degrees Fahrenheit so Sirenas Diving provided us with two 3 mm wet suits to stay warm.

After suiting up & doing an equipment check we back-rolled into the water before grouping up & descending.

Testing Sirenas Diving Dive Equipment

Always make sure your air is on & equipment is working correctly before jumping into the water.

Traditionally, Sirenas Diving stays at sea during the surface interval.

However, two clients with their own equipment ran into a problem that needed to be fixed before the 2nd dive.

Their dive computer was supplying the same air level to both of their dive watches so someone did not know how much air they had remaining.

During the surface interval we went back to the beach to pick-up two traditional gauges to replace the electronic sensors.

This may be the future of diving, but we prefer the tried-&-true gauges for the time being.

Sheena Holding on During Sirenas Diving Fast Boat Ride to Dive Site

Hold on tight! This dive boat is cruising after an equipment resupply.

After finishing the 2nd dive we handed all our gear back to the boat crew of Sirenas Diving & enjoyed another round of snacks.

A short ride later & we were back on firm ground following the water taxi shuttle.

Sheena Coming Up After 1st Dive with Sirenas Diving

Getting back on the boat definitely takes more effort than off it.

Virador Dive Site

Our first dive site in Playas del Coco was called Virador.

It is a rock pinnacle that slopes out underwater as you make a loop around it. It really felt like we were in an aquarium with so many schools of fish swimming by.

There are also several difference species of rays & puffer fish that hang out there as well.

This is a great site if you want to experience a lot of action.

Ray at Virador Dive Site

This is one of the ray species you can see at Virador dive site.

Los Meros Dive Site

Our second dive site was Los Meros & also absolutely amazing with many smaller critters being found.

Bobbie Jo helped us spot a lobster, harlequin shrimp, octopus, star fish, vibrant sea urchin besides a ton of black ones, flounder, eels, sea snake, & stargazer.

Our picture didn’t turn out well, but you really need to Google stargazer to see how strange of a fish they are.

Playas del Cocos Eel

I can’t help but to think of The Little Mermaid when I see eels.

The dive itself starts out in a shallow area before crossing a sandy patch to a small boat sunk to create an artificial reef.

It was originally sunk in shallow water, but the currents have pushed it into a deeper section of the bay.

Los Meros Wreck in Playas del Cocos

Turtles tend to like the wreck at Los Meros, but the cold water must have scared them off during our dive.

Know Before You Go

Sirenas Diving Location: Playas del Coco, Costa Rica

Prices: $100 for 2 local dives, $135 for 2 Catarina Island dives, $185 for 2 Bat Islands dives, $25 for equipment

Contact Information:

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Sirenas Diving has a winning combination on land & in the water. You can either visit Playas del Cocos in Costa Rica yourself, or get a taste of what to expect by reading our post. What are you waiting for? You can see rays, lobster, shrimp, flounder, sea snakes, moray eels, starfish, sea urchins, stargazers, puffer fish & more. There are local sites or you can visit Catalina Island or the Bat Islands.

***The Final Word – Playas del Coco is a great place to catch a wide range of sea life due to a plethora of plankton & Sirenas Diving really goes out of their way to make sure you have an enjoyable experience!***

What’s the strangest fish you have seen while diving/snorkeling, or what do you want to see most?

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Not recommended DIY travel; take a tour instead

* We enjoyed complimentary dives with Sirenas Diving – thank you to Bobbie Jo for hosting us. We only recommend great value diving & activities that we would choose to do regardless! As always, all opinions are our own.

Visited in January 2017

Comments

  1. This looks like a great place to go diving and very reasonable prices too!! You have some great underwater photos!

    1. Thanks, Tarah. We really enjoyed the variety & abundance of the sea life while diving at Playas del Coco. Sirenas was a great company to go with for a personal experience instead of feeling like just another number on a boat.

    1. Definitely! Playas del Coco has an abundance of sea life due to rich plankton waters & Bobbie Jo with Sirenas Diving was very good at spotting everything we had hoped for & more.

  2. What a fun trip!! I love how it was small groups. Looks like you saw some amazing sights!

    1. Who would have guessed you could see that much sea life in only two dives! Bobbie Jo has hawk eyes & her years of diving at Playas del Coco really pay off for her guests.

  3. Those are some unique fish! I have never seen some of the creatures you saw there. Hopefully I get the chance to explore the waters of costa rico soon!

    1. We were as shocked as you sound to find so many. The weirdest & rare was the stargazer. We didn’t get a good pic, but you really should google them. They look like skeleton faces with scary teeth. When you do, enjoy!

  4. Diving must make you feel more accepted in the local fish clans then by using a touristic submarine. I haven’t been down there yet, but I wish to see a sea cucumber!

    1. Where can you do that? We have done diving, snorkeling, & glass bottom boats. We have seen helmet diving, but not the touristic submarine come across our radar. I’m guessing that is a better version of glass bottom boats?

      Diving definitely gets you very close to the fish. Most just go about their normal routine & only a few don’t like the bubbles. The most sea cucumbers I have seen were in Fiji. They would literally fill barrels with them & export them to China for consumption.

    1. We wish we could! We have been stuck on land for too long, but currently traveling around the USA so Costa Rica will have to wait for now. There is so much sea life hiding just off shore!

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