Trip Report

The unanimous favorite dive site this trip was Dirty Rock – there we had fantastic viz on most dives, as well as the most exhilarating big animal encounters. Aside from the hammerhead activity and enormous schools of jacks, we came across dolphins and a whale shark – icing on the cake. Not to mention the pod of orcas that trailed the boat, leaping out of the water on our way home (the best Cocos Island “goodbye!”).

After a somewhat choppy crossing, Cocos Island welcomed us with sunshine and beautiful weather. About mid-week the visibility became fantastic – at times we could see upwards of 100ft in the distance.

At Pajara we saw frogfish, lobsters, eagle rays and enjoyed altogether stellar visibility. Submerged Rock was calm, and exploding with colorful fish. All around Manuelita Island we saw tiger sharks and hammerheads coming into the cleaning stations. Our last day at the island we decided to do all three dives at Dirty Rock, where we filled our heads with visions of jacks and hammerheads to daydream about on the way home. On the ride back, we were escorted part of the way by the curious pod of orcas.

Orca sighting on Cocos Island crossing! from Undersea Hunter on Vimeo.