Kevster
Contributor
Trip Report Cocos Feb 09
Flights Baku-Dubai-Houston-San Jose
Hotels- Best Western Iruz was ok. Nice pool and free Wi-fi.
2 Nights at Arenal Paradise Hotel. Nice hotel set in huge gardens with natural springs and great view of the volcano. I did not see volcano upper half due to clouds.
I did the canopy tour that was great fun, zip-lining through the trees.
1 night in Puntarena. Checked into hotel only to find a carnival passing my balcony below. Was great fun.
Trip
22/02/09 to 04/03/09 on board the Undersea hunter
We had an extremely calm crossing to Cocos, spotting a few Humpbacks and lots of dolphins. Most other guest were European. 14 Guests on board.
The boat is nice in a functional way. On the crossing there was not much space on the decks as the skiffs were on the upper & lower deck. There was also less common areas/lounges compared to other live boards I have been on. The skiffs were excellent. Very easy to get into after dive. Crossing on way back was bumpy/unpleasant.
Crew/Service was excellent. The food was very good throughout the trip. Lots of nice snacks after the dives. Some of the guides were new but all done a great job. Manuel and the others were very funny.
The Diving
I targeted a summer trip as I knew the crossing would be better and took a chance on the diving. I must say that the diving was a slight disappointment. I think everyone who travels so far on such an expensive trip always have high expectations.
At Cocos the topside conditions were great. Sunny & calm seas. The water temp varied from 31 C at the surface to 24 C at 30 m with the thermocline. I would say the average temperature was 27-28 C. Most dived in a 5/7mm combo wetsuit. The viss varied a lot over the week and on each dive. Unfortunately it was not great at 30 m when we were looking for the hammerheads. Not much current at any of the sites. A little current at Alycone at 30 m. Lots of surge at most sites. Sometimes a little uncomfortable.
The highlights were definitely the amount of White tips on every dive. It was amazing to see them so often and get so close. Also saw some amazing groups of Jacks, largest I have ever seen.
My favourite dive was Manuelita Out. Just for the variety. White tips, rays and the underwater landscape were excellent. Perhaps the best dive of the week was Dirty rock for the quantity of fish. Thousands of Jacks.
The 1st half of the week was disappointing. There was no action at any of the cleaning stations at the sites we dived. We dived Alycone and did not seen any Hammers. Later in the week we had more success and saw a few individuals, 5 to 10, reasonably close, perhaps more further away. On the very last dive we saw a big group of maybe 40-50 but deep and out in blue water.
For me the disappointment was not seeing many other shark species. I saw White tips, Hammers and 1 Silky, (& Perhaps 1 black tip in the distance). After visiting the Galapagos I was expecting to see more at Cocos.
The major talking point was the night dives. The Undersea Hunter did not offer any Night dives at Manuelita garden the very famous night dive to see the masses of whitetips hunting at night. Over the last few months both the Aggressor and Hunter boats have reported that the now resident Tiger sharks (did not see any but was told they are now at Cocos) have become aggressive towards divers at night. There was an incident with one of our guides who said a tiger had bitten a white tip then displayed some aggression towards a diver several weeks ago. Since then the night dives have been at sites with little shark hunting action (as not to attract the Tigers). I did not see any of the white sharks hunting at night after 5 night dives. .
Summary
The Undersea Hunter was a first class operation. I would highly recommend them to anyone considering a trip to Cocos. The diving was great but I was a little disappointed, especially as my last trip was to the Galapagos in Oct which was amazing. I think the main reason was the water temps. I have read about La Nina conditions that have increased the water temps. The best dives were always the colder ones. Perhaps I will return to Cocos one day but would probably return closer to the winter season for the cooler water. I have seen just a small sample of the potential that Cocos can offer. I have no doubt that if you get lucky at Cocos you will probably see some of the worlds best diving.
Flights Baku-Dubai-Houston-San Jose
Hotels- Best Western Iruz was ok. Nice pool and free Wi-fi.
2 Nights at Arenal Paradise Hotel. Nice hotel set in huge gardens with natural springs and great view of the volcano. I did not see volcano upper half due to clouds.
I did the canopy tour that was great fun, zip-lining through the trees.
1 night in Puntarena. Checked into hotel only to find a carnival passing my balcony below. Was great fun.
Trip
22/02/09 to 04/03/09 on board the Undersea hunter
We had an extremely calm crossing to Cocos, spotting a few Humpbacks and lots of dolphins. Most other guest were European. 14 Guests on board.
The boat is nice in a functional way. On the crossing there was not much space on the decks as the skiffs were on the upper & lower deck. There was also less common areas/lounges compared to other live boards I have been on. The skiffs were excellent. Very easy to get into after dive. Crossing on way back was bumpy/unpleasant.
Crew/Service was excellent. The food was very good throughout the trip. Lots of nice snacks after the dives. Some of the guides were new but all done a great job. Manuel and the others were very funny.
The Diving
I targeted a summer trip as I knew the crossing would be better and took a chance on the diving. I must say that the diving was a slight disappointment. I think everyone who travels so far on such an expensive trip always have high expectations.
At Cocos the topside conditions were great. Sunny & calm seas. The water temp varied from 31 C at the surface to 24 C at 30 m with the thermocline. I would say the average temperature was 27-28 C. Most dived in a 5/7mm combo wetsuit. The viss varied a lot over the week and on each dive. Unfortunately it was not great at 30 m when we were looking for the hammerheads. Not much current at any of the sites. A little current at Alycone at 30 m. Lots of surge at most sites. Sometimes a little uncomfortable.
The highlights were definitely the amount of White tips on every dive. It was amazing to see them so often and get so close. Also saw some amazing groups of Jacks, largest I have ever seen.
My favourite dive was Manuelita Out. Just for the variety. White tips, rays and the underwater landscape were excellent. Perhaps the best dive of the week was Dirty rock for the quantity of fish. Thousands of Jacks.
The 1st half of the week was disappointing. There was no action at any of the cleaning stations at the sites we dived. We dived Alycone and did not seen any Hammers. Later in the week we had more success and saw a few individuals, 5 to 10, reasonably close, perhaps more further away. On the very last dive we saw a big group of maybe 40-50 but deep and out in blue water.
For me the disappointment was not seeing many other shark species. I saw White tips, Hammers and 1 Silky, (& Perhaps 1 black tip in the distance). After visiting the Galapagos I was expecting to see more at Cocos.
The major talking point was the night dives. The Undersea Hunter did not offer any Night dives at Manuelita garden the very famous night dive to see the masses of whitetips hunting at night. Over the last few months both the Aggressor and Hunter boats have reported that the now resident Tiger sharks (did not see any but was told they are now at Cocos) have become aggressive towards divers at night. There was an incident with one of our guides who said a tiger had bitten a white tip then displayed some aggression towards a diver several weeks ago. Since then the night dives have been at sites with little shark hunting action (as not to attract the Tigers). I did not see any of the white sharks hunting at night after 5 night dives. .
Summary
The Undersea Hunter was a first class operation. I would highly recommend them to anyone considering a trip to Cocos. The diving was great but I was a little disappointed, especially as my last trip was to the Galapagos in Oct which was amazing. I think the main reason was the water temps. I have read about La Nina conditions that have increased the water temps. The best dives were always the colder ones. Perhaps I will return to Cocos one day but would probably return closer to the winter season for the cooler water. I have seen just a small sample of the potential that Cocos can offer. I have no doubt that if you get lucky at Cocos you will probably see some of the worlds best diving.
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