ConnectOcean Scuba Diving
The Guanacaste coast is one of the most popular places to scuba dive in Costa Rica. With manta rays, sharks, whales, dolphins, and countless different fish species, there is an endless amount of diverse wildlife to see. On our dive with ConnectOcean, we could hear whales echoing to each other from miles away! Even before we got in the water, we saw dozens of devil rays jumping up to three feet out of the water and belly flopping back into the ocean! On the dive we saw several different species of fish. My favorite was seeing a small white-tip reef shark! The two days before we dove, a fellow diver told us that they swam with giant manta rays! So you never know what you might get to see on a dive in Guanacaste!Â
But maybe even cooler than the dive is the company that we went with. Ernst Van der Poll, the founder of ConnectOcean and our divemaster for the day, is passionate about preserving the Costa Rican Coast. He has performed over 10,000 dives, but his primary focus is researching and introducing new sustainable fishing and preservation practices in Costa Rica. A project that he is currently working on is to create a digital market for local fishermen to help reduce overfishing. Instead of selling their fish for the bare minimum, ConnectOcean is working on an app that will allow the fishermen to take a picture of the fish from their boat and have it sold by the time they reach the shore! He is working with the local restaurants and hotels to buy the fish from the local fishermen. This would be a mutual benefit to the fishermen and the restaurants and help preserve the local ecosystem. It’s incredible to hear Ernst’s passion and progress in helping preserve the Costa Rican oceans!
~ Read our 16 Best Things To Do in Costa Rica post for more ideas on what to experience in this beautiful country!
