Anyone been snorkeling in Costa rica

I am going snorkeling in costa rica soon and want to know what to expect. will it be a coral reef or just fish? the exact location is near manuel antonio.

 

I went a ways north of there. Fish and coral. Thought, the day we went it was pretty rough, which made it a bit harder. I don't remember it well other than I remember I was more impressed with the snorkling in Hawaii (once again, I think this had to do with the roughness of where we were and the fact we just kinda went someplace instead of researching for a "good" place to go).

Hopefully you have a better experiance

 

Pacific side for me. Not spectacular, some nice sponges, gorgonians, a couple larger angels. Not great diving but better than no diving at all.

Gulf of Mexico side much better.

 

I've been to Costa Rica every year for the past 5 years. If you're on the Pacific side you will be underwhelmed. The water is rough and murky for the most part. Don't expect to be able to see further than 3-5 feet in front of you at best, and watch for rip tides. I would assume that the Caribbean is much better but the East coast of Costa Rica is much more "third world" than the West coast. Manuel Antonio has a great beach with good surfing. If it were me, I would stick to that. It's a great country and you'll have a good time regardless of what you decide to do.

 

I've been snorkling off of Isla de Cano which is a preserve off the southwest coast. Teeny little island that takes an hour+ boat ride to get to. It's touted as one of the world's best diving spots, though, while I liked it A LOT, I've been to a number of better locations. Visibility can be hit or miss. When it's on it's on. When it's off, it's off.There is something very cool about being next to, and later on, a little deserted island.

The boat trip is fantastic, by the way. You start in this sleepy little town along a coastal mangrove river (with a number of crocodile warning signs, which is kind of cool) and boat out through the almost deserted waterway. On the way back we took a couple detours and saw some monkeys, snakes, etc. in the trees by the river. Very cool and potentially worth the drive from Manuel Antonio (though it would be a haul).

 

Agreed. Surf was great. It's what we ended up spending all our time on.

 

Not sure if you are referring to Cocos island? But see below:

Surrounded by deep waters with counter-currents, Cocos Island is admired by scuba divers for its populations of Hammerhead sharks, rays, dolphins and other large marine species. (Wikipedia)

If I'm not mistaken it's a rather long boat ride out there possibly overnight. Check it out.