Jeff chats to… Bill Beard and Vanessa Willing about diving in Costa Rica (Watch Video)

Published 5 years agoon March 22, 2021

In this exclusive Zoom interview, Jeff Goodman, Scubaverse Editor-at-Large, chats to Bill Beard and Vanessa Willing about scuba diving in Costa Rica.

Bill Beard is the true pioneer of scuba diving and combining adventure tours in Costa Rica. He started diving in Costa Rica from dug out canoes in 1970. He was the first working instructor and had the first professional dive shop in Costa Rica located in San Jose. In 1974, Bill Beard branched out by opening a beach location in Playas del Coco on the Pacific Ocean and operated daily scuba diving trips from there and Playa Hermosa. Bill has many firsts to his credit, including bringing scuba diving and adventure tours to Guanacaste. Bill’s wife Nadine joined him in 1988 and they formed an association to combine scuba diving and adventure tour packages, the first in the country to do so. Bill Beard’s Costa Rica reservation office is located in La Fortuna and all of their agents are scuba divers and adventurers.

Vanessa Willing was born and raised in Oregon and California. She moved to Costa Rica in 2001 and founded Wave Rafting Adventure Company and Find My Costa Rica Travel Agency with the motivation to create personalized trips throughout Costa Rica. In 2013 she also joined Bill and Nadine Beard in managing operations for Bill Beard Costa Rica. Her love for diving, rafting and all things adventure combined with her expertise in Costa Rica allows her to take over all the complexities and logistics of planning a Costa Rica vacation, so her guests can simply enjoy their trip! She is constantly travelling throughout Costa Rica to source every activity, operator and experience featured within their products. One of her favorite locations in Costa Rica is Bajos de Toro waterfall region with mountain landscapes, crystal clear rivers and waterfalls and a natural landscape like no other in Costa Rica.

Visit www.billbeardcostarica.com to find out more!

Rather listen to a podcast? Listen to the audio HERE on the new Scubaverse podcast channel at Anchor FM.

Jeff Goodman

Jeff is a multiple award winning, freelance TV cameraman/film maker and author. Having made both terrestrial and marine films, it is the world's oceans and their conservation that hold his passion with over 10.000 dives in his career. Having filmed for international television companies around the world and author of two books on underwater filming, Jeff is Author/Programme Specialist for the 'Underwater Action Camera' course for the RAID training agency. Jeff has experienced the rapid advances in technology for diving as well as camera equipment and has also experienced much of our planet’s marine life, witnessing, first hand, many of the changes that have occurred to the wildlife and environment during that time. Jeff runs bespoke underwater video and editing workshops for the complete beginner up to the budding professional.