Coco Island Costa Rica

Photo courtesy from The Tico Times

While it is technically wrong to write Coco Island Costa Rica if used in a formal style of writing, it is one of the frequently used keyword when you search for Cocos island on the web. Although it is not intentionally done, possible reasons for this mistake can be contributed to typographical error or simply they just forget that Cocos is the right word and not Coco, not unless your Spanish. Nevertheless, it all boils down to a common subject matter which is an offshore island located in the western part of mainland Costa Rica. Or it can be possible that the person making the mistake is just very excited to search Cocos island on the web and just want to know more about the details on how to spend their great vacation in this Pacific island paradise.

World-Class Dive Sites

Photo courtesy from Dive the World

If there is a common factor why people are searching for Cocos island, the answer is they want to go diving and explore the underwater beauty of an offshore island where it has been considered one of the World’s Best Scuba Diving Destination. While the location of Cocos island is far-flung from any civilization, your adventure trip will be paid-off with over 10 dive sites that are jam-packed with big pelagic fish and amazing underwater landscape.

Your underwater adventure will usually start with a welcome dive where your divemaster can check your diving skills and get a starter feeling for the days to come and experience first hand the underwater action of Cocos island. This dive alone will astonish you where you can now possibly experience and interact with the thriving marine creatures.

Photo courtesy from Dive and Boats

Day dives around the island will usually take you to most of the top dive spots. Bajo Alcyone is first on the list where you will often neglect the beautiful rocky structure of this seamount due to high intensity action by sharks that are coming in from every direction. Diver’s that have already been to Cocos island shared their stories that the immense quantity of marine wildlife has kept their eyes busy while constantly turning their head as shark interaction happens anywhere you see. They said that the action does not stop when you are already low on air and start ascending up to the surface where the chances of seeing a thick school of bigeye trevally is fast becoming a feature before this particular dive ends.

Manuelita is another sought-after site in Cocos island where you can make a comparison of its environment at different time scale. During the day, the reefs of Manuelita is filled with whitetip reef sharks that are lying motionless on the seafloor. You may wonder, why are they not moving? This is because of their characteristic as a nocturnal animal where they become active at night and search for a meal. But how can you compare the said difference? Well, you have to experience the famous night diving in Manuelita where the beam from your underwater torch or flashlight will trigger the shark’s excitement as they can easily see their food and shift from sleeping into a feeding frenzy mode.

Photo courtesy from groovylivin.wordpress.com

One of the more challenging dives in Cocos island has no permanent address or location for that matter. It is based on the vast open seas of Cocos island and the timely arrival of the large baitfish shoal. This underwater adventure is called the Baitball where sharks, tunas, birds like the Brown Booby, dolphins and other large predator work hand in hand to concentrate this large population of fish into a small circle. Once they achieve this, this shallow water feast will immediately commence where predators are coming from every direction and taking in as much baitfish as they can. In no time, this feast will be over before you reach the halfway mark in your air-supply where you can see the remains of a small surviving population of baitfish that will continue their Pacific migration and sustain their cycle of life. This particular dive experience is not often offered as part of a regular trip where the arrival of the schooling baitfish happens only a few months in every year.

Living Onboard for a Week

Photo courtesy from Diving World

Since Cocos island is located 550 kilometers (340 miles) offshore, spending a night is not enough and won’t get your money’s worth. So most of the trips offered by tour companies will take you at least a week. But your accommodation in Cocos island will not be based on the island but onboard a custom built ship that allows you to experience comfortable diving and luxury living while at sea.

If you are expecting to stay in a cramped room with no space for your stuff and just go on with the trip just for the sake of the diving experience in Cocos island, then you might as well start thinking again. Most of the liveaboard vessels have several spacious and air-conditioned cabins that has its own private bathroom and cabinets where you can place your things. But who wants to stay in a room for a vacation, do you? The saloon is a common place to chat with other divers and talk anything about diving.

When its time to go down under, the spacious dive deck allows you to comfortably set-up your gear without bumping other divers as what you might have experience in some dive trips. The skiff boat is a fast-craft to ferry you to a particular dive site where you will be on top of your entry point in no time.

For more information, you can read our article about the liveaboard cruise offered by the Undersea Hunter Group.
As we end this article, we hope that we have given you ample details about the general information of Cocos island and the dynamics of its wonderful dive spots. For more information, you can read our related article entitled Cocos Island Costa Rica which will you informative details about the island and Best Scuba Diving where you will know the reason why Cocos island has become a diver’s paradise.

Reference

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org

Undersea Hunter Group: www.underseahunter.com

Dive the World: www.dive-the-world.com

About Tristan Paylado
Tristan is a marine biologist and a CMAS 2-Star Dive Instructor
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