We have just returned from a 10 day shark and turtle tagging adventure on the Undersea Hunter in conjunction with PRETOMA and Turtle Island Restoration Network. This was our second such trip. While our first trip focused on hammerhead tagging, white tip sampling and receiver recovery and replacement, this trip also included catching and tagging sea turtles.
The overall visibility was very bad - early on about 30 feet and later in the week possibly 40 feet. There was a very defined thermocline of this dark green low vis water which made it very difficult to see the hammerheads which were just out of view. Water temps averaged 78 degrees.
It is definitely bait ball season in Cocos and so I got to dive my first and second bait balls ever. They included silkies, galapagos, tuna, and dolphins as well as rainbow runners. There were some hammerheads, but not in the numbers you would see during high season (May - Nov). The team was successful in tagging 4 hammerheads. We also caught and satellite tagged 2 sea turtles.
The currents were almost non-existent and the crossings were like driving in a car it was so smooth. I think we had one day of rain for about an hour.
I took some video with my G9 (on standard video setting with red filter). They can be found as Part 1 http://vimeo.com/3949214 and Part 2 http://vimeo.com/3949491.
Here is a link to my still photos. Naomi Kudlak Silver's Photos - Cocos March 2009 | Facebook
As usual, the boat and crew were great. This was the trip where everything that could go wrong did, beginning with showing up at 0430 at the wrong airport. This also included spilling an entire liter bottle of water on my computer and other electronics and having the battery compartment of my backup wrist computer flood. Other than those little glitches, all electronics functioned well. The computer dried out fine with just a few residual white spots.
Overall it was a fantastic, educational trip. We stayed at the Hotel Gran de Oro on our incoming and outgoing nights. Fantastic hotel with great service and excellent restaurant.
PRETOMA and TIRN are already planning another trip, possibly around the first of September.
The overall visibility was very bad - early on about 30 feet and later in the week possibly 40 feet. There was a very defined thermocline of this dark green low vis water which made it very difficult to see the hammerheads which were just out of view. Water temps averaged 78 degrees.
It is definitely bait ball season in Cocos and so I got to dive my first and second bait balls ever. They included silkies, galapagos, tuna, and dolphins as well as rainbow runners. There were some hammerheads, but not in the numbers you would see during high season (May - Nov). The team was successful in tagging 4 hammerheads. We also caught and satellite tagged 2 sea turtles.
The currents were almost non-existent and the crossings were like driving in a car it was so smooth. I think we had one day of rain for about an hour.
I took some video with my G9 (on standard video setting with red filter). They can be found as Part 1 http://vimeo.com/3949214 and Part 2 http://vimeo.com/3949491.
Here is a link to my still photos. Naomi Kudlak Silver's Photos - Cocos March 2009 | Facebook
As usual, the boat and crew were great. This was the trip where everything that could go wrong did, beginning with showing up at 0430 at the wrong airport. This also included spilling an entire liter bottle of water on my computer and other electronics and having the battery compartment of my backup wrist computer flood. Other than those little glitches, all electronics functioned well. The computer dried out fine with just a few residual white spots.
Overall it was a fantastic, educational trip. We stayed at the Hotel Gran de Oro on our incoming and outgoing nights. Fantastic hotel with great service and excellent restaurant.
PRETOMA and TIRN are already planning another trip, possibly around the first of September.
