White-tip reef shark and barberfish
Okeanos Aggressor II
Cocos Island ,
Costa Rica
Shark city
All aboard
Cocos Island is a blue-chip dive destination , a lonely mountain of jungle rising from the Eastern Pacific , 340 miles off the coast of Costa Rica . There are no hotels , and the island is too mountainous for an airstrip , so the only way to access the amazing diving is by liveaboard . This is a 10-day trip , incorporating the long voyage to and from Cocos .
The liveaboards
Aggressor liveaboards have been making the pilgrimage to Cocos Island since 1988 . There are currently two liveaboards operating there – Okeanos Aggressor II and the Cocos Island Aggressor . Both are hardy vessels powered for safety and stability , cruising at 10 knots and featuring en-suite staterooms .
Do not miss
Cocos is known for its pelagic wildlife , in particular schools of scalloped
The Cocos Island Aggressor , also known as Okeanos III
hammerhead sharks that migrate around the Eastern Pacific . Most diving doesn ’ t take place at the island itself , but on the surrounding pinnacles exposed to the current . There is a supercharged food chain , from the schools of snapper , bigeye trevally and leather bass to the hundreds of white-tip reef sharks .
It seems that the more exposed the dive site , the more potential there is
for encountering big sharks and rays . Arguably the most productive is Alcyone , a 200-metre-long seamount that rises to within 25m of the surface . Wedge yourself into the volcanic rock ( gloves are essential ) and watch the blue for scalloped hammerheads , which can appear in their hundreds alongside the usual cast of rainbow runners and almaco amberjacks .
Cocos treasure – a dense school of hammerheads
59