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Costa Rica, 2006: Isla del Caño |
(Click on any photo to open a larger version in a new window, or, go here for even more photos.) | ||
 Caño Island |
Ten miles west of Drake Bay (about 45 minutes by boat) lies the Caño Island Biological Reserve. The island itself is heavily forested, and holds some pre-Columbian relics deep within. The real treasure here, however, is underwater. The depths around Caño Island are home to some spectacular diving. I did four dives at three different sites around Caño; Frederick took a resort course and did five dives, his first diving experience ever. (I got a headache and sat out the fifth dive.) All of our dives were made in 40 to 60 feet of water; visibility was probably 30 to 60 feet, and temperatures were in the 80s above the thermocline and about 70°F below. We saw whitetip reef sharks (Triaenodon obesus) and various rays on every dive, including a couple of big southern stingrays (Dasyatis americana). I averaged one eel spotting on each dive: one green moray (Gymnothorax funebris), one jewel moray (Muraena lentiginosa), and two zebra morays (Gymnomuraena zebra). There were quite a number of fish here; many more than I saw while diving in Belize. I was very pleasantly surprised by the number and variety of puffer fish about. I even saw two Moorish Idols (Zanclus cornutus) and a small octopus. However, the highlight of my diving was spotting a shovelnose guitarfish (Rhinobatos productus) as I accidentally startled it from its sandy hiding spot. What's surprising is the shovelnose guitarfish isn't known to range that far south, but it was unmistakable - I haven't found another animal that looks similar to it. That was pretty exciting. Even our boat rides were full of sealife. We saw Pacific spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata) on each trip to and from the island - once they rode our bow, and another time they were jumping several body lengths through the air, apparently for the fun of it. Once or twice mobula rays (Mobula thurstoni) were seen jumping from the water, and magnificent frigate birds (Fregata magnificens) and brown boobies (Sula leucogaster) were our constant overhead companions. |
 Our first dolphin spotting |
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 Approaching the beach |
 Dolphins riding the bow | ||
 After our first day diving together |
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