Cocos (Keeling) Islands

[DaG]

Hi there,
Currently looking into organising a dive trip for my dive club to the Cocos Islands [the ones NW of Perth - not to be confused with the -other- Cocos Islands!]

Has anyone had any experience with diving there and would like to share them? Advice, thoughts - complaints .. all would be welcome

Thanks
Damien

[Scuba Jim]

the place of the millions of crabs, eh?

I have a chum who has been there, Damien. I'll have a chat with him and revert....

[DaG]

Hi

Sounds great, thanks!!

Damien

[cairnsdiver]

Hi Damien,

New to the forum, so here's my first post.

I haven't had the fortune to dive there myself - yet.
However, the people that I know who have been there speak very highly of Cocos Keeling.
"The Maledives how they must have looked like 30 years ago..." "Best value fish/dive dollar " was a comment of a client after he was diving up and down the Pacific for over 18 month in a row.
(I run an online dive travel agency)

So in October I will finally go there.
From what I understand you can do weekly packages from Perth. A good idea would be to combine it with a week at Christmas Island. Thios place is completely different. Rugged rocky coastline, caves galore, and a maxcimum of only 10 divers at any given time...
The operator there trys to keep it very exclusive.

When are you guys planning to go?

cairnsdiver

[DaG]

Hi Cairnsdiver,
Sorry I've been away diving up at Exmouth - I have organised through my dive club a 14 day trip to the Cocos and Christmas Islands, 5 days of diving on each island for AUD$3000.00.

Includes airfare, accomodation, tanks/refills, lunches on diving days.

I'm looking forward to the trip if we get numbers!

[cairnsdiver]

AUD 3000 sounds like a very good deal. The beauty is that they have a number of big appartments, so groups can share and keep the cost low. I'll post a report when I'm back mid November. When are you planning to head out?

[DaG]

cairnsdiver once bubbled...
AUD 3000 sounds like a very good deal. The beauty is that they have a number of big appartments, so groups can share and keep the cost low. I'll post a report when I'm back mid November. When are you planning to head out?

We are planning on going January 4th 2004

Cant wait

I look forward to reading your report!!!

[DontLieToMe]

I was there in September 2003. Very unimpressed. Don't believe the literature by Gerhard Dieter - operator there - as being world class. Would rate as 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. Some hard and leather corals. Many sites seem to be victims of coral bleaching. Sharks on some dives. Saw a manta for 30 seconds on one dive.

I went to Christmas Island on the same trip. Better for corals. Not much large stuff. Definitely more variety in terms of underwater life.

[DaG]

I was there in September 2003. Very unimpressed. Don't believe the literature by Gerhard Dieter - operator there - as being world class. Would rate as 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. Some hard and leather corals. Many sites seem to be victims of coral bleaching. Sharks on some dives. Saw a manta for 30 seconds on one dive.

I went to Christmas Island on the same trip. Better for corals. Not much large stuff. Definitely more variety in terms of underwater life.

Interesting - I returned from Christmas/Cocos Islands early this week. I throughly enjoyed my diving on both islands but they were very different places.

Wont say which I prefered because I loved the entire trip - 2 weeks of diving was heavenly. We saw a hammerhead, manta rays, turtles, sharks sharks and more sharks, big pelagics such as tuna, wahoo, rainbow runner - it was absolutely spectacular!

If anyone is interested in seeing the pictures, above water and below, please pm me for the gallery link.

[underwater]

I've hear many good things about Cocos - just abit hard and expensive to get there. But it's definitely on my list !

Check out the site below - there is a story on a dive with a dugong, as well as a story on a tiger shark encounter, plus loads of photos in the gallery.

www.underwater.com.au is a great resource for all your diving questions - lots of stories, photos and excellent info.

It's THE Scuba diving portal for Australia. Comprehensive information on dive shops, liveaboards, charter and day boats, accommodation, gear and more - community meeting place for divers and marine enthusiasts.

See you underwater .....

Tim

Hi there,
Currently looking into organising a dive trip for my dive club to the Cocos Islands [the ones NW of Perth - not to be confused with the -other- Cocos Islands!]

Has anyone had any experience with diving there and would like to share them? Advice, thoughts - complaints .. all would be welcome

Thanks
Damien