Trip Reports
Year
As the sun rose up in the beginning of the trip, naturally, it came down painting the sky of yellow colors behind the Argo as we leave Cocos Island once again. This week was a perfect end to the first month of 2012. For the DeepSee sub, this year promises to be as big as the ocean. We are growing in so many ways, not just in terms of deep sea exploration, but also with the capabilities of growing as an operation as well.
This particular week proved to be remarkably interesting. We had the opportunity to visit both shallow and deep habitats at intermittent times to see how currents really affect our world. In the shallow waters, an absence of current brought the habitat to a state of near stagnation. However, slowly the currents came back bringing predators like tuna, jack and Galapagos sharks close to the rock. Whenever they came out of the shadowy blue waters they enlivened every creature on the reef. Finally, we had the occasional visit from a school of hammerhead and a school of bigeye jacks, which painted our dives with the emotion we feel whenever life expresses itself in such numbers.
We found the currents to be an indicator in deep water, as it was clearly marked by the presence of a soft, almost unnoticeable, current. This current was filled with nutrients and gelatinous creatures. Evidently our friends the mobula rays were very well informed of this and they feasted on the creatures in the current. From time to time they would take a break from their meal and play with the sub’s cloud of bubbles. The rock formation at 165 meters was also teaming with life, but biggest standouts were the groupers (in various sizes from 30cm up to 1m+!). They acted as though they had declared the sub as their new den. So unaffected by us, that at one point they started to give us a show of territorial declarations and perhaps courtship behaviors inches away from our faces.
But for us the true stars of this trip were the pelagic animals! We had the incredible sight of a sailfish above us, two thresher shark while we were in the blue, and a few encounters with hammerhead sharks coming out of the dark below 150 meters.
Truthfully a textbook trip to Cocos Island with the DeepSee. Hope to see you in the water.
The Pilots.
This particular week proved to be remarkably interesting. We had the opportunity to visit both shallow and deep habitats at intermittent times to see how currents really affect our world. In the shallow waters, an absence of current brought the habitat to a state of near stagnation. However, slowly the currents came back bringing predators like tuna, jack and Galapagos sharks close to the rock. Whenever they came out of the shadowy blue waters they enlivened every creature on the reef. Finally, we had the occasional visit from a school of hammerhead and a school of bigeye jacks, which painted our dives with the emotion we feel whenever life expresses itself in such numbers.
We found the currents to be an indicator in deep water, as it was clearly marked by the presence of a soft, almost unnoticeable, current. This current was filled with nutrients and gelatinous creatures. Evidently our friends the mobula rays were very well informed of this and they feasted on the creatures in the current. From time to time they would take a break from their meal and play with the sub’s cloud of bubbles. The rock formation at 165 meters was also teaming with life, but biggest standouts were the groupers (in various sizes from 30cm up to 1m+!). They acted as though they had declared the sub as their new den. So unaffected by us, that at one point they started to give us a show of territorial declarations and perhaps courtship behaviors inches away from our faces.
But for us the true stars of this trip were the pelagic animals! We had the incredible sight of a sailfish above us, two thresher shark while we were in the blue, and a few encounters with hammerhead sharks coming out of the dark below 150 meters.
Truthfully a textbook trip to Cocos Island with the DeepSee. Hope to see you in the water.
The Pilots.
A sunny day is always a good day for diving in the DeepSee. The sun's rays paint the deep depths of Cocos in a unique celestial color. For the DeepSee team and passengers, what better way to start a new year, then with seven straight days of sun in Cocos Island!
However, sunny doesn’t always mean easy. The start of our week was marked by an unusually high swell affecting the area where we were moored. This proved to be the perfect situation to put the skills and capabilities of the team to the test. The results: We are proud to say that operation carried on as usual with the highest safety levels and professionalism, which define us!
We found or should we say we were found at the ledge at 200m/660ft by 5 extra curious mobula rays which became our unofficial guides for every dive we conducted for the trip. Going deeper to 300m/100ft, where even the last color in the spectrum disappears, we are not alone in the dark. We find ourselves surrounded by many varieties of jellyfish-like creatures. The lights of the DeepSee illuminated them, creating a small carnival of colors.
No doubt the good weather brought us excellent activity and we are excited to see what future adventures are in store for the DeepSee in 2012.
However, sunny doesn’t always mean easy. The start of our week was marked by an unusually high swell affecting the area where we were moored. This proved to be the perfect situation to put the skills and capabilities of the team to the test. The results: We are proud to say that operation carried on as usual with the highest safety levels and professionalism, which define us!
We found or should we say we were found at the ledge at 200m/660ft by 5 extra curious mobula rays which became our unofficial guides for every dive we conducted for the trip. Going deeper to 300m/100ft, where even the last color in the spectrum disappears, we are not alone in the dark. We find ourselves surrounded by many varieties of jellyfish-like creatures. The lights of the DeepSee illuminated them, creating a small carnival of colors.
No doubt the good weather brought us excellent activity and we are excited to see what future adventures are in store for the DeepSee in 2012.
