Dive Review of Pacific Coast Diving Center, Playa Flamingo/Massai Apartments, Playa Flamingo in
Costa Rica/Catalina Islands

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Pacific Coast Diving Center, Playa Flamingo/Massai Apartments, Playa Flamingo: "Costa Rica--Catalina Island dives--Overall a good experience", May, 2016, by John A Thich, CO, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 8947.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	All the dives were at the Catalina Islands, a 40 minute boat ride from Playa Flamingo. Experience with Pacific Coast Diving Center(located in Playa Flamingo) was excellent. They arranged for pickup of divers staying at resorts up and down the coast (30-60 min drive?). The transport from the dive center to the the boat was 10 minutes. The crew were all very focused on safety and service. The boat was comfortable and large enough for up to 30 people. Rental equipment was in good shape and cleaned after every dive day and set up on the boat in preassigned spots for the next dive day. All the dive masters were very knowledgeable and experienced and all spoke excellent English. Visibility was poor to average and the undercurrents were quite strong at certain dive sites. We experienced sudden very cold currents (we used 3 mil wet suits). Of course, no corals but lots of life around the rock outcroppings. We did not know what to expect but were pleasantly surprised by the large number of sharks, manta rays, sting rays, and eels. We saw a few rock fish and an octopus along with schools of fish. We booked an apartment (Apartemento Massai--8 units total--modestly priced with basic cooking facilities) that was 2 blocks from the dive center and adjacent to a well stocked grocery store. A bank/ATM was located next to the dive center making money changing very convenient. The apartments are located down an alley adjacent to the grocery store in a lovely botanical garden setting with a very well maintained pool and a cage with two huge parrots. Great place to stay if you plan on diving in Playa Flamingo. Our second week was spent exploring the parks on the west side of Costa Rica...that experience was not nearly as fun as the diving given the extreme and unexpected heat in late May.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Red Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Okinawa, Sipadan(x2) Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Belize, Sechelles, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Vietnam
Closest Airport	Liberia, Costa Rica	Getting There	Direct flight from Houston, TX
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	50-70°F / 10-21°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	5-15 Ft/ 2-5 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Each group had a dive master or two depending on the size of the group. The DM's were primarily focused on safety but took time to point out interesting fish. Max dive depths were around 60ft.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The boat did not have a location to wash and store cameras between dives. During our 10 dives, most people were using GoPro cameras so they did not need much in the way of camera facilities.

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Dive Review of Pacific Coast Diving Center, Playa Flamingo/Massai Apartments, Playa Flamingo in Costa Rica/Catalina Islands

Pacific Coast Diving Center, Playa Flamingo/Massai Apartments, Playa Flamingo: "Costa Rica--Catalina Island dives--Overall a good experience", May, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Pacific Coast Diving Center, Playa Flamingo/Massai Apartments, Playa Flamingo in
Costa Rica/Catalina Islands