slushangar
Registered
Did a 10 day liveaboard trip on the Cocos Aggressor on 12/16/2023.
Pre-Liveaboard Departure
Flew into SJO one day early on 12/15 as required. Stayed at the Hotel Grano de Oro. The host hotel is the Park Inn By Radison which is a very short 1 block walk from the Hotel Grano de Oro. I was able to arrange an airport pickup via the hotel and a driver was waiting at the airport with a sign with our names. Cost was $45 and billed to our hotel room. This was a pretty cool hotel and had a great restaurant (reservations required). There was a Christmas parade on 12/16 which had several streets in San Jose closed. Traffic in the city was miserable. We made our way to the Park Inn by Radison on 12/16 for the 1pm bus departure to Puntarenas. Traffic was so bad that we went something like 3 miles in 1.5 hours. But finally did end up making it to the boat in Puntarenas. The Cocos Aggressor was docked adjacent to the Okeanos I (retired) and Okeanos II and used the pangas to board rather than walking across each of the other boats.
The Boat
The Cocos Island Aggressor (also known as the Okeanos III) is a nice boat. It has 11 cabins and accommodates 22 guests. We stayed in a lower cabin. The boat is very spacious IMO. We have previously sailed on the Nautilus Explorer which is a significantly smaller vessel that has 13 cabins. I believe Nautilus Explorer is ~300 tons vs. Cocos Island Aggressor is ~375 tons, so the size difference is significant and given that the Cocos Aggressor has 2 less cabins we had a lot of room to spread out. The boat is advertised as a new ship. IMO that is not the case (supported by a review I read on undercurrent which states that the boat had previously sailed on the Red Sea). It appears it is an older boat that received a significant facelift, but there are some items that were not updated, namely the shower and toilet compartments in our room. The material on aggressor's website and printed material on the boat states that it is a new boat, so a bit disappointed that that is clearly not the case. But the boat was still very nice and IMO looks much better than the Okeanos II. One minor complaint I had was the amount of airfresheners in our room. There were at least 4 of them that resulted in a terribly artifical smell. It took a few days after we turned them off to get the smell to die down.
The Crossing
The crossing to Cocos was pretty mild. The boat had Dramamine available and I took some once, but generally was fine. We left Puntarenas Saturday around 6pm and arrived to Cocos in the early morning ~36 hrs later. The return crossing was even calmer. On the last day we squeezed all 3 dives in before lunch and departed around 2pm, arriving back at Puntarenas in the morning 2 days later. The bus had us back to the airport by 11 am. We had a 2pm departure, so had plenty of time to spare.
The Diving
Typically we did (3) dives a day, 2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. Park rules don't allow the last dive of the day to start later than 3:30 pm. One day we were allowed to do (4) dives and start our last dive at 3:45pm. This was to compensate us for not being able to do the waterfall hike/tour due to conditions that prevents us from accessing that beach (apparently there is a brief swim to get to this beach and the swell was too big to allow this). We were able to make it on shore for a couple of other hikes and one day there was an island tour in the pangas that was offered after diving. As far as sharks we saw white tips on every dive. Saw 1 tiger shark at Shark Fin Rock. Also several galapagos, oceanic black tips, hammered heads (but never more than 1 or 2 at a time), and 1 silvertip shark. We saw dolphins on a few dives and were able to snorkel with them in between dives at one point. That was interesting as right after we rolled out of the pangas we saw a silvertip and a tiger shark amongst the dolphins. We quickly got back in the pangas after that. I was honestly expecting more sharks on this trip. On average, we only saw 1 or 2 on each dive, and it was typically from a distance and only for a short period of time. This was significantly less compared to a liveabaord trip we did to Socorro in December 2020. We saw a lot of marbled rays and eagle rays. The other panga saw a whale shark and a manta. We saw many huge schools of jack fish. On one dive at Alcyone, we saw several oceanic blacktips hunting amonst the school of jackfish. They were getting so close that the dive guide got out his poker in case he had to push them away (Note he said he's had to do this before with tigers). The water was much warmer than I was expecting (80 to 85 F) and someone said that the divemaster stated that El Nino could be a contributing factor in the amount of sharks we saw. I wore a 5 mil suit and was comfortably warm (I run cold). I think most people would be OK with a 3 mil for the temperatures we expereinced. There were some thermoclines but not on most dives. Alycone was the best dive site IMO. One of the times we dove there the current was booking (descended using the mooring line) and we saw a ton of fish. This was probably the only dive that lived up to my expectations. Apparently the best time to go to Cocos is the fall (maybe September thru November). Visibility varied greatly; anywhere from 25 ft to 100 ft. Nitrox is not technically required, but I don't see how it would be possible to do this trip without it. We dove nitrox (32-33% mix) and were up against our bottom time limit on many dives. For practical purposes, I think nitrox is required for diving here. Getting in and out of the pangas is via a ladder which was quite easy, even with our BCDs still on. Dive equipment stays in the pangas throughout the trip. Entry is via backroll but the currently wasn't strong enough on any of our dives that we were rushing to immediately decend. Dive times were typically ~50 minutes. Tank fills were consistently higher than 3,200 psi. I think I only got to 500 psi a few times and regualrly had more than 1000 psi left at the end of the dive. I've never had fills as consistently high as we got on this trip.
The Food
Breakfast consisted of toast, meats, chesses, cereal, and some sort of fresh baked pastry plus fresh fruit and juice. Eggs cooked to order. There is a coffee machine that makes espresso, coffee, lattes, etc. that is available to use 24 hrs. Lunch was buffet and usually had a soup, salad, entree, and desert. Dinner was sometimes a buffet and sometimes plated, usually included a soup, and always a desert. My wife is a vegetarian and they had special arrangments made for her ILO fish/meat. Some of the meals were very good and some were so so, but overall I was pleased with the food. Other guests thought the food was not as good as other livebaords they have been on.
The Crew
The crew were amazing and took very good care of us. The cruise director, Warren, was very, very good at his job. I think he said he's been doing this for almost 20 years and it shows. He was one of the dive masters. You can tell he truly enjoys what he does. The other divemaster was the captain, Maricio. He has a contagious laugh and was a blast to dive with as well. They alternated which group they went diving with each day. The both had cameras and shot videos and took photos that they make available for sale for $65 at the end of the trip. It is a very nicely edited video and slide show and is well worth the money IMO. At the end of the trip awards were handed out for dive milestones (100th dive, etc...). My wife reached her 300th dive and I felt that the cruise director was genuinely happy to have been a part of this milestone of hers. There were also iron diver awards for those who didn't miss any dives. Given that a lot of people were sick on our boat (see below), Aggressor might want to reconsider their policy of encouring people to not miss any dives to get this award.
Onboard Sickness
Many people on our boat were sick and missed dives as a result. Some people missed half of the trip or more. I missed one day of diving, but luckily was able to get back in the water after. Just a reminder if you are sick to cover your mouth when coughing, wash your hands religiously, and consider not dining with the rest of the guests in the dining room. Unfortunately, some guests on our boat were especially bad about covering their mouth when coughing and were at the main dining table when they were clearly very sick. I realize that there might not be much that can be done when you have 30 people living in close quarters and touching the same railing, etc. all day, but it would be nice if people at least made a token effort.
Pre-Liveaboard Departure
Flew into SJO one day early on 12/15 as required. Stayed at the Hotel Grano de Oro. The host hotel is the Park Inn By Radison which is a very short 1 block walk from the Hotel Grano de Oro. I was able to arrange an airport pickup via the hotel and a driver was waiting at the airport with a sign with our names. Cost was $45 and billed to our hotel room. This was a pretty cool hotel and had a great restaurant (reservations required). There was a Christmas parade on 12/16 which had several streets in San Jose closed. Traffic in the city was miserable. We made our way to the Park Inn by Radison on 12/16 for the 1pm bus departure to Puntarenas. Traffic was so bad that we went something like 3 miles in 1.5 hours. But finally did end up making it to the boat in Puntarenas. The Cocos Aggressor was docked adjacent to the Okeanos I (retired) and Okeanos II and used the pangas to board rather than walking across each of the other boats.
The Boat
The Cocos Island Aggressor (also known as the Okeanos III) is a nice boat. It has 11 cabins and accommodates 22 guests. We stayed in a lower cabin. The boat is very spacious IMO. We have previously sailed on the Nautilus Explorer which is a significantly smaller vessel that has 13 cabins. I believe Nautilus Explorer is ~300 tons vs. Cocos Island Aggressor is ~375 tons, so the size difference is significant and given that the Cocos Aggressor has 2 less cabins we had a lot of room to spread out. The boat is advertised as a new ship. IMO that is not the case (supported by a review I read on undercurrent which states that the boat had previously sailed on the Red Sea). It appears it is an older boat that received a significant facelift, but there are some items that were not updated, namely the shower and toilet compartments in our room. The material on aggressor's website and printed material on the boat states that it is a new boat, so a bit disappointed that that is clearly not the case. But the boat was still very nice and IMO looks much better than the Okeanos II. One minor complaint I had was the amount of airfresheners in our room. There were at least 4 of them that resulted in a terribly artifical smell. It took a few days after we turned them off to get the smell to die down.
The Crossing
The crossing to Cocos was pretty mild. The boat had Dramamine available and I took some once, but generally was fine. We left Puntarenas Saturday around 6pm and arrived to Cocos in the early morning ~36 hrs later. The return crossing was even calmer. On the last day we squeezed all 3 dives in before lunch and departed around 2pm, arriving back at Puntarenas in the morning 2 days later. The bus had us back to the airport by 11 am. We had a 2pm departure, so had plenty of time to spare.
The Diving
Typically we did (3) dives a day, 2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. Park rules don't allow the last dive of the day to start later than 3:30 pm. One day we were allowed to do (4) dives and start our last dive at 3:45pm. This was to compensate us for not being able to do the waterfall hike/tour due to conditions that prevents us from accessing that beach (apparently there is a brief swim to get to this beach and the swell was too big to allow this). We were able to make it on shore for a couple of other hikes and one day there was an island tour in the pangas that was offered after diving. As far as sharks we saw white tips on every dive. Saw 1 tiger shark at Shark Fin Rock. Also several galapagos, oceanic black tips, hammered heads (but never more than 1 or 2 at a time), and 1 silvertip shark. We saw dolphins on a few dives and were able to snorkel with them in between dives at one point. That was interesting as right after we rolled out of the pangas we saw a silvertip and a tiger shark amongst the dolphins. We quickly got back in the pangas after that. I was honestly expecting more sharks on this trip. On average, we only saw 1 or 2 on each dive, and it was typically from a distance and only for a short period of time. This was significantly less compared to a liveabaord trip we did to Socorro in December 2020. We saw a lot of marbled rays and eagle rays. The other panga saw a whale shark and a manta. We saw many huge schools of jack fish. On one dive at Alcyone, we saw several oceanic blacktips hunting amonst the school of jackfish. They were getting so close that the dive guide got out his poker in case he had to push them away (Note he said he's had to do this before with tigers). The water was much warmer than I was expecting (80 to 85 F) and someone said that the divemaster stated that El Nino could be a contributing factor in the amount of sharks we saw. I wore a 5 mil suit and was comfortably warm (I run cold). I think most people would be OK with a 3 mil for the temperatures we expereinced. There were some thermoclines but not on most dives. Alycone was the best dive site IMO. One of the times we dove there the current was booking (descended using the mooring line) and we saw a ton of fish. This was probably the only dive that lived up to my expectations. Apparently the best time to go to Cocos is the fall (maybe September thru November). Visibility varied greatly; anywhere from 25 ft to 100 ft. Nitrox is not technically required, but I don't see how it would be possible to do this trip without it. We dove nitrox (32-33% mix) and were up against our bottom time limit on many dives. For practical purposes, I think nitrox is required for diving here. Getting in and out of the pangas is via a ladder which was quite easy, even with our BCDs still on. Dive equipment stays in the pangas throughout the trip. Entry is via backroll but the currently wasn't strong enough on any of our dives that we were rushing to immediately decend. Dive times were typically ~50 minutes. Tank fills were consistently higher than 3,200 psi. I think I only got to 500 psi a few times and regualrly had more than 1000 psi left at the end of the dive. I've never had fills as consistently high as we got on this trip.
The Food
Breakfast consisted of toast, meats, chesses, cereal, and some sort of fresh baked pastry plus fresh fruit and juice. Eggs cooked to order. There is a coffee machine that makes espresso, coffee, lattes, etc. that is available to use 24 hrs. Lunch was buffet and usually had a soup, salad, entree, and desert. Dinner was sometimes a buffet and sometimes plated, usually included a soup, and always a desert. My wife is a vegetarian and they had special arrangments made for her ILO fish/meat. Some of the meals were very good and some were so so, but overall I was pleased with the food. Other guests thought the food was not as good as other livebaords they have been on.
The Crew
The crew were amazing and took very good care of us. The cruise director, Warren, was very, very good at his job. I think he said he's been doing this for almost 20 years and it shows. He was one of the dive masters. You can tell he truly enjoys what he does. The other divemaster was the captain, Maricio. He has a contagious laugh and was a blast to dive with as well. They alternated which group they went diving with each day. The both had cameras and shot videos and took photos that they make available for sale for $65 at the end of the trip. It is a very nicely edited video and slide show and is well worth the money IMO. At the end of the trip awards were handed out for dive milestones (100th dive, etc...). My wife reached her 300th dive and I felt that the cruise director was genuinely happy to have been a part of this milestone of hers. There were also iron diver awards for those who didn't miss any dives. Given that a lot of people were sick on our boat (see below), Aggressor might want to reconsider their policy of encouring people to not miss any dives to get this award.
Onboard Sickness
Many people on our boat were sick and missed dives as a result. Some people missed half of the trip or more. I missed one day of diving, but luckily was able to get back in the water after. Just a reminder if you are sick to cover your mouth when coughing, wash your hands religiously, and consider not dining with the rest of the guests in the dining room. Unfortunately, some guests on our boat were especially bad about covering their mouth when coughing and were at the main dining table when they were clearly very sick. I realize that there might not be much that can be done when you have 30 people living in close quarters and touching the same railing, etc. all day, but it would be nice if people at least made a token effort.
