Vessel: Sea Hunter
Water Temperature: 84°F
Visibility: 70ft average, up to 100ft
Current: Weak to strong, including notably powerful current at Dos Amigos Pequeño
Highlights: A hammerhead school of 60+ at Alcyone, 30+ whitetip reef sharks swimming together with big-eye jacks at Manuelita Channel, a tiger shark and strong Galápagos shark activity at Dos Amigos Pequeño, and an incredibly rare fin whale sighting!
Day 1
The check dive at Chatham Bay had excellent visibility and plenty of whitetip reef sharks, along with mantis shrimp tucked into the reef. Manuelita Outside brought a group of five dolphins along with hammerheads and whitetips, and Manuelita Coral Garden closed the day with calm current, good visibility, and a ray cruising past.
Day 2
Dirty Rock had hammerheads working deep and big-eye jacks stacked up at the pinnacle. Punta Maria saw a manta ray pass by at the end of the dive along with an eagle ray, and Manuelita Channel turned up plenty of whitetip reef sharks, some actively hunting. Porites added two silvertip sharks and three eagle rays, and Pajara closed the day with a tiny toadfish and a pair of silvertips.
Day 3
Manuelita Channel was the standout, with 30+ whitetip reef sharks swimming together with a school of big-eye jacks, a striking density of sharks in one place. Dirty Rock had hammerheads working deep with another big push of big-eye jacks at the pinnacle, and Alcyone added hammerheads in the blue for an extended stretch. Pajara wrapped up the day with a very small frogfish and a pair of silvertip sharks that came in close.
Day 4
Manuelita Outside had hammerheads moving over the sandy bottom despite a strong current, and Dos Amigos Pequeño turned up Galápagos sharks working the cleaning station. Manuelita Coral Garden rounded out the day with mantis shrimp and whitetip reef sharks.
Day 5
Dos Amigos Pequeño produced a tiger shark along with six Galápagos sharks. Dirty Rock had hammerheads working deep with big-eye jacks stacked along the rock, and Alcyone and Manuelita Outside added more hammerheads and whitetips through the rest of the day.
Day 6
Alcyone delivered the best shark schooling of the trip: a hammerhead school of 60+ out in the blue. Manuelita Outside backed it up with heavy hammerhead and whitetip activity over the sandy bottom despite strong current, and Manuelita Coral Garden closed the day with a frogfish, a mobula passing at a distance, and an eagle ray.
Day 7
Dos Amigos Pequeño closed out the diving with eight Galápagos sharks cleaning at a single station along with another tiger shark sighting. Dirty Rock added deep hammerheads and another big school of big-eye jacks, and Manuelita Channel finished out the last dive of the trip with plenty of whitetip reef sharks.
Last but certainly not least, we enjoyed an incredibly rare fin whale sighting on Day 7!! Our guides at first thought it was a minke whale, but upon further research we realize that minke whales don’t get this large. Our DM estimated it to be 20-25m in length! This is almost unprecedented and perhaps one of the very first (if not the first) videos of a fin whale at Cocos Island, Costa Rica.