Trip Report

We had smooth crossings both to and from Cocos Island, and a mixed group of people aboard the Sea Hunter from Europe, the USA and also Singapore. Big schools of whitetip reef sharks welcomed us our first “check-out” dive of the trip at Manuelita Coral Garden.

Our dive guide spotted a colorful frogfish at Punta Maria, plus a big school of black durgeons mating in a frenzy. Alcyone didn’t have much hammerhead action, but on several occasions we saw big clouds of jacks both near the rock and out in the blue (and a massive school of mullet snappers!). We enjoyed some fantastic dives at Manuelita Outside, with many hammerheads, yellowfin tuna and solid visibility. Eagle rays and Galapagos sharks awaited us in Manuelita Channel.

On one of our favorite dives around Manuelita this week we saw over 100+ hammerhead sharks between the various cleaning stations. Then on our afternoon dives we saw lots of macro life at Viking Rock, plus Galapagos sharks and many different species of fish.

Overall, the best dive sites this week were by far Manuelita and Dirty Rock. There were Galapagos and tiger shark sightings at the pinnacle at Dirty Rock, plus schools of hammerheads out in the blue during our safety stops. Mid-week we had a red tide that worsened visibility somewhat, but we still saw many schools of hammerheads in the blue. Our last dive of the trip at Manuelita Channel we had a spectacular dive with many hammerheads at the cleaning station.