Trip Report Diving in Cocos Dec. 2020 Trip Report

[drrich2]

I used SeaSoft Ti PRO 5 mm KEVLAR™ Gloves size 2XL. Worked fine for me in the Galapagos.

 

[Dan]

What brand of gloves do you recommend and thickness? Thank you so much for sharing!

Any Kevlar or leather gloves would do.

 

[Dan]

I’m still in the IAH airport. My plane to SJD got 2 hour delay, first it’s due to bad weather, then a mechanical problem. The plane A320 had only 11 passengers in it. Now they asked us to deplane & switching to another airplane. Bazaar!

 

[Dan]

What are your dates in Nov for Galapagos? Are they full?

Nov. 20-27 & Nov. 27-Dec. 4 back-to-back on Galapagos Master 2, which was used to be French Polynesia Master (my original destination back in May 2019) until it went aground there, repaired & moved to Galapagos. So, I’m not sure the status with the change location. You may want to check with the Master liveaboard or contact my agent, Tim Yeo of Bluewater Travel. It would sure be great if you can join me in one of those trips.

 

[Dan]

Finally made it to Cabo San Lucas with 3 hours delay.

Tomorrow I’ll be boarding on Nautilus Belle Amie sailing to Socorro.

 

[Meggie]

Finally made it to Cabo San Lucas with 3 hours delay.

Tomorrow I’ll be boarding on Nautilus Belle Amie sailing to Socorro.

Have a wonderful time!

 

[Dan]

Have a wonderful time!

Thanks!

@Cert1967 & his wife will be there on the same boat too.

 

[gwklein]

Not sure if it is appropriate to tag on to someone else's trip report, but the OP did a great job of reviewing the Aggressor Okeanos I Cocos trip which is also applicable to the Okeanos II Cocos. The following is some additional information that I didn't see covered by the OP. My trip dates: January 17-28, 2021. Aggressor recommends two hotels for pickup in San Jose, both Holiday Inns. I booked at the Holiday Inn Forum, which is owned by the same people as the Holiday Inn Escusa. The Forum is temporary closed so I was moved to the Escusa. Only learned about this the day before I left from Aggressor and not Holiday Inn. Taxi ride to Escusa was about US$30.00. Picked up at noon the next day by a shuttle to Puntarenas. Pickup time changes for each trip and is based upon high tide in Puntarenas since boat can only leave the port at that time.

Although a COVID test is not required to travel to Costa Rica, a COVID test is required to board the Okeanos. A paper copy of the test was required. This was checked by the transfer driver before boarding the shuttle. One person had not gotten a COVID test so arrangements were made for her to get a test and separate travel arrangements were made for her to get to the boat..

Boat trip to Cocos was relatively smooth but took longer than normal because of a forward current. Upon arrival the boat was joined by 15 or more dolphins that stayed with us until docking in Chatham Bay. They put on a great show jumping out of the water, possibly to rid themselves of remoras. Although the crossing had been calm, the nightly moorings in Chatham and Wafer Bays were rougher. I fell out of my bed more than once during the first two nights. The wind and current then changed and things became much calmer. The park authorities only allowed for morning in the two different bays so we were often joined at night by the Argos and another private research boat.

Dives were very similar to those posted by OP. The vis for my trip was not great for the first couple of days. Although we saw lots of sharks, they were mostly shadows. Things got better throughout the week, but could vary from hour to hour. My first trip to Alcyone was cancelled when the other panga reported that they had to abort. Two days later, Alcyone was one of my favorite dives, but the other panga had to abort their dive again just a few hours later. Temperatures on a single dive could vary from 80 degrees to 65 degrees. Divers had to stay with DMs. There were two DMs on each panga. If someone needed to go up early, they were sent with the one DM while the other DM stayed down with the rest of the group. No night dives. These last two rules were implemented after the tiger shark attack on a diver a couple of years ago. We saw numerous white-tip reef sharks, hammerheads, and Galapagos sharks on every dive. Only saw silkies, silvertips, and tigers a few times.

There is phone service for some companies (T-Mobile being one) while moored in the two bays; however, no data, internet, or texts were available. The internet service supposedly available during the trip to the ranger station was swamped so almost nothing came through. All landings on the isle (there were 4) necessitate a wading from the panga to the shore through chest high water.

On the day of departure, Aggressor arranged for rapid COVID testing at the dock for those who needed it to get on a plane. It cost $100.

 

[Dan]

Not sure if it is appropriate to tag on to someone else's trip report, but the OP did a great job of reviewing the Aggressor Okeanos I Cocos trip which is also applicable to the Okeanos II Cocos. The following is some additional information that I didn't see covered by the OP. My trip dates: January 17-28, 2021. Aggressor recommends two hotels for pickup in San Jose, both Holiday Inns. I booked at the Holiday Inn Forum, which is owned by the same people as the Holiday Inn Escusa. The Forum is temporary closed so I was moved to the Escusa. Only learned about this the day before I left from Aggressor and not Holiday Inn. Taxi ride to Escusa was about US$30.00. Picked up at noon the next day by a shuttle to Puntarenas. Pickup time changes for each trip and is based upon high tide in Puntarenas since boat can only leave the port at that time.

Although a COVID test is not required to travel to Costa Rica, a COVID test is required to board the Okeanos. A paper copy of the test was required. This was checked by the transfer driver before boarding the shuttle. One person had not gotten a COVID test so arrangements were made for her to get a test and separate travel arrangements were made for her to get to the boat..

Boat trip to Cocos was relatively smooth but took longer than normal because of a forward current. Upon arrival the boat was joined by 15 or more dolphins that stayed with us until docking in Chatham Bay. They put on a great show jumping out of the water, possibly to rid themselves of remoras. Although the crossing had been calm, the nightly moorings in Chatham and Wafer Bays were rougher. I fell out of my bed more than once during the first two nights. The wind and current then changed and things became much calmer. The park authorities only allowed for morning in the two different bays so we were often joined at night by the Argos and another private research boat.

Dives were very similar to those posted by OP. The vis for my trip was not great for the first couple of days. Although we saw lots of sharks, they were mostly shadows. Things got better throughout the week, but could vary from hour to hour. My first trip to Alcyone was cancelled when the other panga reported that they had to abort. Two days later, Alcyone was one of my favorite dives, but the other panga had to abort their dive again just a few hours later. Temperatures on a single dive could vary from 80 degrees to 65 degrees. Divers had to stay with DMs. There were two DMs on each panga. If someone needed to go up early, they were sent with the one DM while the other DM stayed down with the rest of the group. No night dives. These last two rules were implemented after the tiger shark attack on a diver a couple of years ago. We saw numerous white-tip reef sharks, hammerheads, and Galapagos sharks on every dive. Only saw silkies, silvertips, and tigers a few times.

There is phone service for some companies (T-Mobile being one) while moored in the two bays; however, no data, internet, or texts were available. The internet service supposedly available during the trip to the ranger station was swamped so almost nothing came through. All landings on the isle (there were 4) necessitate a wading from the panga to the shore through chest high water.

On the day of departure, Aggressor arranged for rapid COVID testing at the dock for those who needed it to get on a plane. It cost $100.

Thanks for adding your experience on the later trip to the original report. It gives the report more complete picture for those who are planning to go there in the future.

I also original booked my one night stay in Holiday Inn Forum, but since it was closed due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, they moved me to the Holiday Inn Escazu.

 

[divergirlLinda]

Not sure if it is appropriate to tag on to someone else's trip report, but the OP did a great job of reviewing the Aggressor Okeanos I Cocos trip which is also applicable to the Okeanos II Cocos. The following is some additional information that I didn't see covered by the OP. My trip dates: January 17-28, 2021. Aggressor recommends two hotels for pickup in San Jose, both Holiday Inns. I booked at the Holiday Inn Forum, which is owned by the same people as the Holiday Inn Escusa. The Forum is temporary closed so I was moved to the Escusa. Only learned about this the day before I left from Aggressor and not Holiday Inn. Taxi ride to Escusa was about US$30.00. Picked up at noon the next day by a shuttle to Puntarenas. Pickup time changes for each trip and is based upon high tide in Puntarenas since boat can only leave the port at that time.

Although a COVID test is not required to travel to Costa Rica, a COVID test is required to board the Okeanos. A paper copy of the test was required. This was checked by the transfer driver before boarding the shuttle. One person had not gotten a COVID test so arrangements were made for her to get a test and separate travel arrangements were made for her to get to the boat..

Boat trip to Cocos was relatively smooth but took longer than normal because of a forward current. Upon arrival the boat was joined by 15 or more dolphins that stayed with us until docking in Chatham Bay. They put on a great show jumping out of the water, possibly to rid themselves of remoras. Although the crossing had been calm, the nightly moorings in Chatham and Wafer Bays were rougher. I fell out of my bed more than once during the first two nights. The wind and current then changed and things became much calmer. The park authorities only allowed for morning in the two different bays so we were often joined at night by the Argos and another private research boat.

Dives were very similar to those posted by OP. The vis for my trip was not great for the first couple of days. Although we saw lots of sharks, they were mostly shadows. Things got better throughout the week, but could vary from hour to hour. My first trip to Alcyone was cancelled when the other panga reported that they had to abort. Two days later, Alcyone was one of my favorite dives, but the other panga had to abort their dive again just a few hours later. Temperatures on a single dive could vary from 80 degrees to 65 degrees. Divers had to stay with DMs. There were two DMs on each panga. If someone needed to go up early, they were sent with the one DM while the other DM stayed down with the rest of the group. No night dives. These last two rules were implemented after the tiger shark attack on a diver a couple of years ago. We saw numerous white-tip reef sharks, hammerheads, and Galapagos sharks on every dive. Only saw silkies, silvertips, and tigers a few times.

There is phone service for some companies (T-Mobile being one) while moored in the two bays; however, no data, internet, or texts were available. The internet service supposedly available during the trip to the ranger station was swamped so almost nothing came through. All landings on the isle (there were 4) necessitate a wading from the panga to the shore through chest high water.

On the day of departure, Aggressor arranged for rapid COVID testing at the dock for those who needed it to get on a plane. It cost $100.

So you were on the trip that my husband and I were not able to go on due to a positive Covid test that was a false positive. I tested negative on the antigen test but it was not acceptable so we had to cancel one day before our flight out. I hope someone got to use our beautiful suite we had booked (#11). Even if I would have gotten there from what I understand they only have PCR tests there so I would have had to find a place to live in Costa Rica. Postive PCR test results can happen for up to 8 weeks after even a mild cold 4 weeks earlier, which is what probably produced the positive test.

I greatly appreciate this report! The Okeanos II was not going to refund our money or give us credit but thankfully after writing to Aggressor we were offered credit for a future trip. We are now booked for September18-28. I wish you would have gone a little bit farther with the departure day. We had to change our flights to add 2 days to allow for the PCR test results. I had set up an appointment at the lab they said they were taking everyone to for a rapid PCR test. I was told $350 each for that. Was it a rapid PCR Covid test at the dock? If so, I assume everyone got it and went straight to the airport?