Choosing the best boat in Cocos

[sharksdelight]

I shot this film from just one trip to the Cocos in 2008, it was my 11th trip there.
Sea Below, What's Beyond? on Vimeo

I would not recommend going in late Oct/Nov as the main attraction to the Cocos is really the massive hammerhead schools and I doubt they will be there at that time. As I said in my previous post, mid June through Sept is the best time to go.

I recall telling Howard Hall who was headed there to film the IMAX film 'Isle of the Sharks' not to go in April. He went anyway and stayed for a month but still had to return because the rainy season hadn't started and the hammer schools had not come yet.

I only go there when I can get the best dates. In 2011, we have July 30-Aug 9. Should be perfect.
Steve

 

[mermoose]

I would like to hear from some of you "Cocos Veterans" about the current as requested by Manta John. I also have seen several warnings about being fit and advanced diving skills. What say ye?

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

Hi Mermoose - some dives at Cocos have the potential to have knock your socks off currents - requiring literally pulling yourself along a rocky bottom to get to a better viewing position, or making your way down a handline to 30 meters at Alcyone while your bubble stream goes sideways - and then hanging on as you ascen to a safety stop like a fishing lure on this line, while the hammerheads effortlessly cruise around and inspect you. Dirty Rock is site where at ist ebst the current is streaming past, bringing with it huge schools of hammerheads and you nee dto get into the lee and hang on. Other sites like Silverado are sitting on a rocky/sandy bottom at 6/7 metres with no current while giant silver tips come into be cleaned a few feet in front of you. Yes there are very strong currents but if you are fairly fit, are confident with your equipment and your ability to get out of trouble, are not spooked by currents, or from time to time being in blue water with nothing around you to tell you where you are, and feel that you will not panic when a big hammerhead swoop close by, then I would recommend it. It is not a place for novice or new divers but we are all different and every divers abilities vary.

 

[sharksdelight]

It really is a day by day thing with the currents. Sometimes at any of these sites there are no currents and sometimes there are. The Cocos are easily handled by any intermediate or advanced divers. I have had beginner divers on my trips who did just fine. I also had two beginners on a trip in 92 that were in over their heads.
Steve

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

In response to some earlier comments I was a little concerned about people getting the wrong impression of the camera facilities aboard the Sea Hunter. I have chartered Sea Hunter and Okeanos and had not noted any great lack of space on either boat but just felt they had each made a choice of how they dealt with the camera issue, so I asked the owner of the Sea Hunter for his comments - see following:

"The dive facilities and camera setup on board the Okeanos Aggressor have been measured and copied directly from the Sea Hunter deck. It was copied with permission by Victor Hugo Leiva who was the captain and cruise director on Sea Hunter and later captained the Okeanos. The accumulated tabletop areas on the Sea Hunter is actually greater than on the Okeanos. The below (under the top counter) area on the Sea Hunter is divided by person and hosts separate electrical outlets to allow each passenger to keep their own control over charging and small camera gear. It is not really designed to handle the more complex large housing systems with multiple strobes. Okeanos, although using the same measurements, preferred to keep the second level as a public area for all to use, which might seem more spacious but in fact does not provide the same personal camera gear storage or personal charging.

The Sea Hunter has a very large total deck area for a total of 18 divers leaving a lot of overall room for each diver.

In our opinion the Sea Hunter’s custom-built dive boats are perfect for Cocos, as they cut the travel time to most far away dive sites and they handle well in the different types of wave action to be found at Cocos. The dive boats are easy to board with a lot of interior space for all divers. They have a covered roof, a dry area for camera gear and newly designed board ladders. The setup of the skiffs also makes it easy for older people or people with weak knees, backs or hips to get in and out of the skiff.

I do want to make it clear that both companies have traveled to Cocos for twenty years and both provide safe and enjoyable voyages."

Avi Klapfer
CEO
Undersea Hunter Group

 

[oceanicwhitetip]

Yes Sea Hunter is the best option for boats and staff, it is too bad they increase their rates every year ($5000 this year) and still only pay dive guides and instructors $700/month....Costa Rica is not a cheap place to live!


Also this is an El Nino year so don't expect to many hammers but do expect more galapagos, tigers and silkies.

 

[sharksdelight]

I would strongly disagree with you regarding the staff and services between the 2 boats. I found them very equal in both regards. The Costa Rican crews for both boat operations generally remain the same with little turnover on either. Like I said before, the only thing I didn't like on the Hunter were those little cubby holes for cam gear. For little baby cams and housings they were fine but that was about it. Poor Shawn Henderson and I shared a cabin on the Hunter and he had to leave his Gates housing for the EX1 on the deck floor and hope no one would trip over it.
This year's El Nino is nowhere near as bad as the one in 1998 so I would expect anyone going in 2010 to probably have plenty of hammers though they may go deeper as they certainly did in the 1998 El Nino. You have a cautious point however for 2010 which is why I booked the dates I did for our 2011 trip.
Steve