Trip Report Cocos Diving Trip Report, 17 -27 September, 2018

[Dan]

Amazing - some large nurse sharks too. Any explanation for the schooling behaviour exhibited there?

My guess is the local resort has been feeding them. Perhaps @CWK knows better about this.

 

[CWK]

My guess is the local resort has been feeding them. Perhaps @CWK knows better about this.

I was told that the resort had been feeding the sharks for years.

 

[Joneill]

I was told that the resort had been feeding the sharks for years.

Makes sense - thx. Impressive sight, even if not natural behaviour.

 

[Dan]

I’m sorry for a bit off detour from Cocos, but I just can’t resist to mention about another impressive site in Maldives. It is Mayaa Lagoon in North Ari Atoll. I’ll post more about the trip next week. In the meantime, here is a teaser:

 

[JamesBon92007]

I’m sorry for a bit off detour from Cocos, but I just can’t resist to mention about another impressive site in Maldives. It is Mayaa Lagoon in North Ari Atoll. I’ll post more about the trip next week. In the meantime, here is a teaser:

That's a LOT of plankton! Nice to see Kona, HI isn't the only place with a manta night dive

 

[jonhall]

Great trip report and pics!

 

[Dan]

That's a LOT of plankton! Nice to see Kona, HI isn't the only place with a manta night dive

Indeed! I was pleasantly surprised by the scene. My Weefine Solar m-Flare 5000-lumen video light collected lots of planktons drawing the mantas to start scooping & looping in front of it. A few times I had to duck to avoid being sucked in by the mantas.

 

[JamesBon92007]

The first time I did it (Kona) I was very surprised that the mantas get so close--I've seen them make contact with diver's heads a few times. I was using my imitation GoPro with two little video lights and I think I was attracting more mantas than other folks. Yes, when you are looking right down the throat of a 16 foot manta you know you are getting up-close-and-personal

 

[Dan]

Waiting for those reports.

Finally I finished writing the report: Maldives 9 - 16 December 2018 TripReport

Socorro trip report is next.

 

[Dan]

Here is what I have put together for Socorro, so far. We also saw the giant oceanic manta in Cocos (see post #2 on page 1), so it’s still on topic. We just saw 1 in Cocos, not as many as in Socorro (1-4 of them in just about every dives):