Cocos Island, Costa Rica -- Sept 6-16

[parabolic]

Wow. Sounds like the same spot, and I do remember that there were two of them. The photo is of the larger one. Wouldn't it be amazing if our photos were of the same animal?? Cocos was magnificent when I started diving there. My first trip was in 1986 (on the Okeanos Aggressor), my next six trips were on the Undersea Hunter. I was going once a year in the late 80s and early 90s. I would love to see it again. From your wonderful photos it looks to me that things haven't changed much but I have sure heard some ominous things. It is truly one of the most magical places on earth and IMHO the best place to see big marine animals. We also fell in love with Costa Rica on those trips and would always spend some topside time there before and after the diving. We loved Tortuguero, Drake Bay, the Guanacaste area in the northwest, and Monteverde. Wonderful country. Thanks Doug, ++Ken++

 

[NTSilver]

Doug - thanks for the photos. I was hoping you would post some as I saw the report on USH website the other day. On 3 trips to Cocos I have never seen the elusive Frog Fish in Manuelita. I understand sometimes they make it over to Chatam as well. Maybe some day...
Did you stay at the Lost Iguana? Looks like the same view we had from our room - only you had MUCH better vis! For the rainy season you sure lucked out. Thanks again - Nonie

 

[parabolic]

PS Doug I am REALLY envious of your redeyed tree frog image. I looked long and hard for one of those on all my trips, never saw one. I did see lots of these however, this was the best I could do:

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

We stayed at the Hotel Paraiso overlooking the Arenal volcano. It was only clear like in the photo for about an hour early in the morning. Otherwise it was cloud-covered. We just got lucky and caught it at the right moment with camera in hand!

 

[matt215]

Great photos!! What camera and settings do you use? I was on the Undersea Hunter in June/July this year, and seeing these pics make me want to hop on a plane and go back right now. What an amazing encounter with the whale shark! Where did you see the tiger? Manuelita? Thanks for posting.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

I shoot a Canon 40D in an Aquatica housing with dual YS-110 strobes (though in Cocos I think the YS250s would have been better). The wide angle shots were with a Tokina 10-17mm and the macro with a Canon 60mm. The tiger shark was at Manuelita outside.