Cocos (Costa Rica) or bahamas for December/January - considering it is El Niño

[Rie Tamaru]

Hello,
this December/January I am looking for the last best dive before I start trying for a baby. I have to choose wisely as I don't think I can do a long distance diving for the next few years after I have a baby.

Unfortunately after much research I have found out that El Niño is approaching and it really is a bad time to be diving this year.

I would like like to get help on trying to find the best liveaboard diving that December January of El Niño can possibly offer.

I live in Australia and would like to go to Central America/carribean and have been attracted to the dolphin liveaboard dives in the bahamas or cocos island from Costa Rica.


I have dived in many exotic locations around the world (Galapagos, Palau, Great Barrier Reef, similan Islands, Sipadan, Egypt, Belize, Mexico, Bali to name a few).
The remaining on my list is the bahamas. Cocos, Sth Africa, Maldives and chuuck/yap.

i am not looking for anything near Australia as I feel that I could do this easier so am looking for a place I need to travel a little distance from.

With BIG ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS, and schools of fish being the main thing I am looking for, could you please suggest where and who I can go with for this December/January considering it is El Niño.

Paying around $6500 for cocos with a chance of not seeing many schools of fish and animals due to El Niño feels like a big risk.
I wonder if the wild dolphins leave the bahamas in El Niño??


Thanking you in advance for your help!!

 

[diversteve]

I'm going to suggest one more. December/January is high season in the Socorros. The issue though is that those trips sell out a year or more in advance. This close availability is going to be really tight.

I excerpted the quote from: Socorro Islands Revillagigedos Archipelago diving with giant pacific mantas, hammerheads, humpback whales, whalesharks - they however have no availability in 2014/15. Both Nautilus boats seem to be sold out also https://www.nautilusbookings.com/index.php?destination=socorro&year=2015

Rocio Del Mar is the third option - nice boat my buddy has been on it twice. They have 4 spaces left: 2 in Dec. and 2 in January. Rocio Del Mar Liveaboard - Socorro Islands Schedule - Rates If it's of interest, I wouldn't wait very long.

The Revillagigedos Archipelago, more commonly called Socorro is located in the eastern Pacific Ocean approximately 250 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – at the tip of the Baja peninsula. These islands have been compared to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador or Cocos Island in Costa Rica because of the big animal encounters they provide.

The Revillagigedos Islands consist of 4 islands – San Benedicto Island, Socorro Island, Roca Partida and Clarion. We simply call them Socorro. They are wild, remote and unpredictable and have been called the Mexican Galapagos. This area is famous for up close and personal encounters with the Giant Pacific manta ray, which can grow to 22 feet from wingtip to wingtip. We’ve been interacting with these gentle giants since 1992 and as a result of having worked with several manta researchers over the years, we have extensive ID’s on most of them and special relationships with many of them. We absolutely do not chase or ride the mantas, and we allow our interaction with them to be initiated by the mantas themselves. We believe that their continued willingness to interact with divers is due to the respect we have shown for them over the years. San Benedicto is by far the best location in the world to experience and photograph these gentle giants. The feeling of a wild animal this large deliberately interacting with you is something you will never forget.

There are lots of sharks in the Revillagigedos Islands - hammerhead schools, white tips, silver tips, silkies, duskies, Galapagos and occasionally tigers.

We have encountered up to 7 species of sharks on a single dive! There are several hammerhead cleaning stations that we visit each trip, weather permitting. Whale sharks are a special treat at the islands, they find us in November/December and late April/May.

We also encounter pods of wild bottlenose dolphin on a regular basis and from January through March, these islands are home to a large population of humpback whales, that come here to breed and calve. We have observed several newborn humpbacks in the years we’ve been fortunate enough to visit these remote and pristine islands. In the last few years the frequency of underwater encounters with humpbacks has increased dramatically.

Solmar produces Youtube videos of what they see on each trip. So you might review the past couple of years for your timeframe since some of the encounters are seasonal.

What Bahamas Dolphin liveaboard are you looking at? Because I've never heard of any sold as that. Except JASA or Dolphin Dream and they're out of Florida. JASA is not offering any dolphin trips till 2016 - their focus is hammerheads and Tigers for the next year. They're snorkel only also. Dolphin Dream only does their trips in the spring. Snorkel only also. Neither Aquacat or Carib Dancer even mention dolphins. I'm pretty familiar with all the better liveaboads in the Caribbean and I can't think of any others in the Bahamas that do - except some of the smaller sailboats.

Anything that says encounter is usually not diving with wild dolphins. Afaik all the Bimini based trips are snorkel only also.

The only 100% guaranteed Dolphin Dive is with Unexso and they're not wild - Dolphins, Sharks, Wrecks & Reefs

I can't speak to the impact of El Nino on any of these activities. If you contact Rocio - I know the owner slightly and wouldn't expect her to downplay weather factors to sell a trip.

 

[jonnierowe]

It is pretty close to your diving time, and there has been great action at Cocos Island of late. I dont know whether you saw or not but they were able to catch video of a few orcas killing a tiger shark recently! If you need any help with booking a trip, I run ScubaDiveDestinations.com and book trips for a few liveaboard ops to the Cocos.

The bigger problem than El Nino that you might run into at this point may be availability. If you want, you can PM and I can look into a bunch of different options for you.

---------- Post added October 2nd, 2014 at 08:11 PM ----------

Just checked and there is a liveaboard trip going out onboard the Argo of the Undersea Hunter Group with 3 spots still available. It is a 10 day trip and is a turtle and shark research trip.
December 21st to 31st there is another 10 day trip aboard the Argo going with 3 spots open.
Jan 7-17th is another option.

 

[jake11]

Cocos is an amazing trip!