Trip Report

We dropped in at Big Dos Amigos, and immediately encountered an enormous male green turtle swimming through the gargantuan arch. The turtle was friendly and curious, and made 3-4 passes throughout the dive! We also saw marble rays swimming through the picturesque arch, as well as schools of mullet snappers and barberfish perched upside down on the rock protecting themselves from the current. Visibility was crystalline, just perfect for photo and video, making this one of our favorite dives of the week!

The crossing was unusually difficult due to an unexpected hurricane that materialized far to the north of us the day we headed out. However, once we made it to the island it was like someone turned the rain switch “off” and we had nothing but immaculate weather and sunny skies the entire week!

Our first dive at Manuelita Outside was impressive, with individual hammerheads streaming into the cleaning station. Then, in the channel, we found about 25 very active whitetip reef sharks swarming the rocks – perhaps as if getting ready to feed. Next we encountered a few marble rays and finished up the dive out in the blue with a big school of hammerheads!

The Manuelita Outside and Channel dive sites also gave us some extremely close encounters with Galapagos sharks being cleaned (one of them was even pregnant!). Some of them were being followed by huge schools of blue trevally, which gathered in impressive formations by sharks’ tails. We also saw some hammerheads and a several curious tiger sharks around Manuelita, and a huge manta ray that passed overhead.

Afternoon dives at Viking Rock included some small baby whitetips in a cave, as well as tiny fish like gobies and blennies. However Pájara was the unanimous favorite afternoon dive, mostly for its marble ray action – these animals were huge and coming in unbelievably close! We also saw a frogfish swimming from one perch to another at the bottom, and then an inquisitive tiger shark at the safety stop.

Manuelita Coral Garden was another favorite this week, with hammerheads coming in one-by-one or in small groups to be cleaned. The white sand along the bottom reflected lots of light which made visibility a joy. There were stunning coral formations, schools of fish and copious whitetip reef sharks.
Plus all of the other macro life typical to Cocos Island -- from lobsters and flounders to frogfish and gobies.

Although Alcyone didn’t deliver on schools of hammerheads this week, it did show us a dizzying shoal of jacks, and on some dives a big school of mullet snappers. Dos Amigos Pequeño was another trip highlight, and we had some very close encounters with Galapagos sharks there. A massive eagle ray was spotted flying around the rock with the current with its mouth agape, like a filter feeder.

Our very last dive of the week at Dirty Rock was one of the best of the trip. The underwater mountain was bursting with fish life, rays and whitetip reef sharks swimming along the thermocline. Then at the pinnacle, we perched ourselves just beyond where the current was hitting the rock and watched at whitetip reef sharks basically flung themselves at us, riding the current and turning just at the last second right in front of our faces. We ended the dive immersed in a school of jacks. A wonderful end to a wonderful week diving Cocos Island!