Galapagos, Cocos, Socorro - Anyone been to all three?

[qwimjim]

Ok, I'm biased, but...Galapagos. Whale sharks are seasonal, however, when I went to snorkel with the humpbacks in Silver Bank, my first thought was that our whale sharks are larger. Almost 99% are pregnant females. Huge schools of Hammerheads, Galapagos Sharks, Silky sharks, Black Tip sharks, White Tipped reef sharks, Mantas, Eagle Rays, Stingrays, Cow Rays, Dolphins, tons of turtles, Mola Molas (sunfish), massive schools of jacks & barracudas, tropical reef fish, puffer fish, trumpet fish, octopus, lobster, nudibranchs, sea horses, sea lions, fur seals, marine iguanas, penguins, sea stars, moray eels, garden eels, snake eels, blue footed boobies, flightless cormorants, Orcas and humpback whales...The diversity and quantity of marine life is why the Galapagos are on every diver's bucket list and why no one who goes ever regrets the cost, just that it spoils diving elsewhere for them. Plus the land before time vistas when you're anchored with 4 active volcanoes in view.

And sorry Doc, land based diving in the central islands simply does not compare to diving the northern and westerns sites from a liveaboard. It's cheaper, yes, but not comparable. The analogy I use is that if you walk downtown in Marfa, TX, you're bound to see people, but not nearly as many as the numbers and diversity you see walking around midtown Manhattan. And there is no manta season. Manta sightings are more site based than seasonally based.

Go in high season when the whale sharks are around. Typically they begin showing up in June and are there until mid Nov. Scientists tracking whale sharks have shown individuals are always different and only spend a day or two in the north before moving on. It's a migration route that they assume has to do with calving, probably in very deep ocean northwest of the Galapagos, though no one has ever witnessed whale sharks mating or calving.

Galapagos is like the perfect storm of currents: The warm Panama current from the north east, equatorial currents from the west and the polar Humboldt current that arrives in June. High season does concur with reduced visibility, but it's the nutrients the currents bring that causes the explosion of life. I personally don't care if there's 100' visibility if I'm watching hundreds of hammerheads 25' in front of me, like I'm on the side of their highway and they are the traffic.

Thanks!

 

[curamax]

I have been to all three. cocos 2013, 2018 , galapagos 2015, socorros 2014, 2017,2019

I dont think one place its better than the others. Each place its unique and amazing , and each trip its also unique and different .

IMO this is the highlights from each place, the things that you are going to see almost for granted :

cocos :
for sure:sharks ! lots of Hammerheads, also white tips , and night dives whit white tips ( but now they are not doing it) , but now you can see more often tiger sharks . you can do up to 24 dives in a trip.

galapagos :
for sure: lots Hammerheads , Also galapagos sharks , eagle rays , sea lions
unique life: iguanas, penguins, and alot more
maybe ( deppending of the season and luck) :dolphins , mola mola, whaleshark , mantas, sea horses

socorros :
for sure: playfull mantas, white tips, hammerheads ( not like in cocos or galapagos but enough) , dolphins ( in 2 of 3 trips they also get really close to play and let you touch them ) , galapagos sharks , silkys . and other types of sharks

maybe ( deppending of the season and luck) : whales ( winter) , whaleshark ,

I dont think there is one place better than the other

 

[justwannadivenow3]

Some great info here.

Do you see the unique life (iguanas, penguins...) by the land based diving or only LOB in the Galapagos?

 

[curamax]

I was in liveaboard . Galapagos sky .

I did this video :

 

[Dan]

I’ve been to all 3, see my trip reports below. I agree on your (OP) summary & conclusion that if you want to pick one, Galápagos is it.

I like the short crossing to Darwin & Wolf with diving & land excursions along the way, better than the 24 hour crossing to Socorro & 36 hour crossing to Cocos. Galapagos offers the diversity of marine life and above water animals than Cocos & Socorro, You will need to endure diving in cold water though.

How is diving in Galapagos in December?

Cocos Diving Trip Report, 17 -27 September, 2018

Socorro 22-30 December, 2018 Trip Report

Overall I like all of them. As @curamax pointed out, each of them is unique and amazing. Cocos would have the warmest water temperature & has tons of sharks with hammerheads in closed encounter as you see in my trip report videos. I’m a sucker for this and already plan to go back there next year, as posted here:

Gathering a group for Cocos with Argo on 10-20 September 2020

I also like the closed encounter with giant mantas and bottlenose dolphins in Socorro. I’m thinking of going back there in 2021. After that I may go back to Galápagos in 2022.

 

[BDSC]

Never been to the Galapagos but have been to Cocos twice and Socorro once. Headed back to Socorro this coming November.

The single best dive I have ever done was a baitball dive in Cocos. The best dive trip I have ever been on was Socorro. We saw it all in Socorro. Mantas, dolphins up close, sharks including schooling hammerheads, rays, and whale sharks.

Socorro is getting crowded. Quite a few boats go there now. I like the Rocio Del Mar. Great operation and probably the best crew of any liveaboard I have been on. But the best part is they start their trips in November while most of the others start in December. The first time I was in Socorro on the RDM we only saw one other boat the entire time we were there and that was in November. I can highly recommend a November trip on the RDM.

 

[scubadada]

Cocos in 2017, Galapagos in 2018, Revillagigedos in 2019, I'll be back with a comparison.

 

[Dan]

....The single best dive I have ever done was a baitball dive in Cocos...

I saw this Undersea Hunter video about the bailball of Cocos. When (month of the year) were you there?

 

[BDSC]

That was it!!!!!!!

I’m the guy he interviewed where I said it was my best dive in over 20 years.

We were there in December.

 

[BDSC]

By the way, my friends are back. They said no matter what you have to go through to get there, no matter the price, no matter the flight schedule, Raja Ampat is worth it. They are ready to go again.