Diving Cocos Island in 2025... (Shot in 8K)

What's up dive hards? We are finally back in one of my favorite places on the entire planet. Welcome to Cocos Island Good morning, so I'm currently in my hotel room in San Jose, Costa Rica, and that's where this journey is gonna begin from here We're gonna take a three-hour car transfer to Punta Arenas Which is the port town where we're gonna board the undersea hunter and then it's a 36-hour 550 kilometer crossing to Cocos Island and the crossing can be a really beautiful serene contemplative mindful experience Or it can be extremely painful and literally the worst seasickness you've had in your entire life for 36 hours straight, so fingers crossed for an easy crossing Okay, welcome to Cocos our crossing wasn't terrible the first 24 hours were rough But we were going directly against the waves the boat was doing more of this Which is way better than when the wind and the waves make the boat do this weird Swirly motion and then it totally eased up and there was plenty of time to get set up and get ready for diving the epicness That is Cocos Island And if you aren't familiar Cocos is the largest uninhabited island in the world and it hosts a lot of local fish life that makes it a really appealing migratory hub for many many species like whale sharks Mantas and of course the scalloped hammerhead and out here nothing is guaranteed But also anything can happen at any time and that's why it's so exciting to dive Cocos and right now We're in the heart of the rainy season so the surface conditions and the visibility are going to be challenging But we also have really good chances for some of that pelagic magic So we're moored up in Chatham Bay, and it's time to do our first dive Let's get out there and see what Cocos is all about Okay, so we're a little bit over halfway through our trip and still have three days of diving left and so far It's been awesome. Lots of pelagic action, and I'm also really enjoying the local fish life Just beautiful colors interesting behaviors big schools of snappers and jacks and of course the barber fish Which are the main attraction for the hammerheads and the hammerheads are definitely here Probably more than I've had on many of the trips that I've done during this time of year and the thing with Cocos is you really need a lot of patience and Like generally a positive attitude towards the game of luck that is Cocos because sometimes the dive site will hit for you And it'll hit super hard and your dopamine goes through the roof And then the next dive at the exact same site It'll be a ghost town and of course there's still a ton of life to look at and to enjoy But you know we tend to be relative creatures So always good to level set your expectations and attitude to make the most of every dive here And then aside from the action There's a lot of other factors like swell which can stop you from going to some of the more exposed dive sites like El Sion Or Dos Amigos and then of course the visibility which has been challenging somewhere between 30 to 70 feet on most dives depending on where the thermocline is and just given the density of sharks right now I'm always wondering how many hammerheads are just beyond the visibility But there's been some heavy rain recently that should hopefully clear up the water column, so we've logged 15 dives so far Let's see what surprises Cocos will give us for the last nine Let's go diving You Okay, so that was a very good trip to Cocos We did get a few days of great viz and some massive schools out in the blue As well as some really good cleaning station action and our best dives for hammerheads were Dirty Rock and Manuelita outside while Dos Amigos small had a ton of big Galapagos sharks and a surprise whale shark encounter and It's not always the case that you get this lucky with the sharks I mean you're always going to be very likely to see hammerheads in Cocos But the really big schools and the close encounters are more of a gamble and the truth is That a lot of stars have to align to get those banger dives and in my experience It's something like 20% of the dives will deliver 80% of the highlights and because Cocos is so remote and the diving is deep You only do three dives per day So two deep dives in the morning which typically have the best chances for action and then one relatively shallow relaxed dive in the afternoon that can also be really good like we've had mantas and Tigers and all sorts of stuff show up on the afternoon dives, but it's generally about the morning dives and those deep dives Typically focus on cleaning stations. So you descend very quickly you get to the cleaning station you grab on to some rocks not the coral You stabilize yourself in the current and then you wait for the sharks and because sharks are super shy You have to really hide and hold your breath for long periods of time as they come in And I know you're not supposed to do that Make sure you know what you're doing before you go to Cocos holding your breath underwater can obviously be very dangerous And then once you run low on NDL you leave the cleaning station and finish the dive out in the blue where you can have really good chances to find those big schools and hammerheads and Dive site selection really matters here It's also very tricky because conditions change and the hammerheads move around and so there's some art and science To picking the right site at the right time But also because the dive site you want isn't always available. So the weather conditions other boats The park rangers require that each dive site have some time to breathe without diver pressure So there's this like delicate dance that the cruise director has to do between the captain The park rangers the other boats and nature and we got very lucky. We got the legend We got Juan Manuel who in my opinion is the greatest cruise director of all time on any live aboard in the world That's a big statement, but he is hilarious. He brings really good energy He can manage a group of pain-in-the-ass Demanding divers like me and when he's guiding he's fully focused on finding the action and putting you in the best possible spot to experience it so with Manuel if you know, you know, he's just like the best of the best and Honestly the undersea hunter in my opinion is probably the gold standard for open ocean Eastern Pacific diving like the safety protocols are best in class and safety is important on every live aboard But in particular when you're diving a place like Cocos, which is inherently higher risk than other places So like every diver gets a dedicated PLB That's regularly tested in Cocos Island and I always carry my own PLB and EPIRB but I prefer carrying a unit that's actually tested in the location where it would be used in an emergency since Honestly, these things can be a bit quirky and they don't always work everywhere That's why I have the redundancy of two lifelines and a Garmin mini. There's also 24-7 night watch So all the time there's someone who's actively awake and checking the boat for fires and that sucks for the crew but it dramatically reduces the risk of a boat fire or running aground if the mooring line breaks or whatever and Honestly, I wish every boat had this kind of dedication like a lot of boats will say they do But they don't actually and as a bonus on our trip We also had the benefit of dive master Juan who's very experienced in hyperbaric medicine So in terms of safety protocols, I haven't encountered anything better than undersea hunter big gold star And obviously the dive operation is super solid. All the critical equipment is well maintained tanks are refilled directly on the skiffs There's plenty of space for cameras and ever since the tiger shark accident There's now two dive masters for each dive group one in the front and one in the back Which lets you space out a little bit more which I really appreciate the sea hunter boat itself is very stable Super comfortable the rooms have basically unlimited cabinet space Which even I wasn't able to fill up with all my camera stuff and that never happens The food is very wholesome and tasty, but also healthy like nothing too heavy Protein and veggies with every meal Chico is an OG of Cocos Island One of the best chefs out there and the rest of the crew is also awesome Like I can't say enough good things about them some of the best out there. Seriously It's a privilege to work and dive in Cocos and you can really feel that dedication and seriousness in every one of the crew members, so Do I recommend Cocos to everybody? No, it's expensive it can be incredibly hit-or-miss the diving conditions can be really challenging But if you're an experienced diver and you understand the risks and like chance that you're taking then a hundred percent Yes, like Cocos is where I've had some of my most memorable experiences ever So what'd you think? Is Cocos on the list? Let me know in the comments below and until next time dive hard