Silverado – Home of the Silvertip Sharks

Photo courtesy from Edwar Herreno

Located in the northeast corner, Silverado is one of the few places in Cocos Island where Silvertip Sharks abound and is the only known location for their cleaning station. Aside from this, it is only dive site in Cocos Island that does not require a deep dive.

Dive Profile

Type of Diving: Liveaboard Diving
Maximum Depth: 18 meters (60 feet)
Average Depth: 10 meters (30 feet)
Visibility: 5 – 10 meters (17 – 30 feet)
Water Temperature: 73 – 75 ^OF (22 – 24 ^OC)

The Usual Dive Plan

After a few minutes of boat travel from Chatham Bay where your liveaboard vessel is safely anchored, you will arrive at the shallow reefs of Silverado where you don’t need to perform an anchor line descent as the currents are mild.

The reef profile in Silverado can be considered quite unique as per Cocos Island standards for several reasons. First, the reef here is relatively shallow with several patches of sandy bottom. Second, although cleaning stations are present in Silverado, it’s the rainbow wrasse (Halichoeres pictus) that are manning the car wash station and their number one customer are the silvertip sharks instead of hammerhead sharks.

The cleaning stations here are not found in reef ledges but rather on top of small pinnacles where you can see slow moving silvertip sharks being cleaned from parasites while you are safely observing in the sandy bottom at 18 meters (60 feet).

The Sandy Playground for Marine Critters

Photo courtesy from Avi Klapfer

As you kneel down the sandy bottom, you cannot help but notice several marine critters that are crawling and minding its own daily business. Some of this marine critter are snake eels, octopus and jawfish. In some instances, you may notice that your dive buddy, or perhaps the rest of your dive group, are setting their sight on the sand rather than the intense action while silvertip sharks are being cleaned. The reason for this is due to the fact that Silverado has a unique resident that will surely get your attention: it’s the endemic
rosy-lipped batfish (Ogcocephalus porrectus).

Reference

Undersea Hunter Group: www.underseahunter.com

Dive Site Directory: www.divesitedirectory.co.uk

Divescover: www.divescover.com

Video courtesy from bdbenj

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