Argo Sept 13-23, 2022 | Cocos Island Trip Report

We’re just back from another incredible voyage to the most beautiful island in the world!

Manuelita Island was on fire right from the start, and we enjoyed spectacular diving there. On our very first day we saw four tiger sharks right in Manuelita Channel. Then at Manuelita Outside, we came face-to-face with a whale shark, a giant manta ray, a tiger shark, a huge eagle ray and so many hammerheads streaming in to use the cleaning station.

On Day 2 we dove Punta Maria and saw a silvertip, a couple of Galapagos sharks and hammerheads. Later, a huge tiger shark was the highlight that day at Dirty Rock, which we observed right in front of the cleaning station, along with a silky shark, a mobula ray and five eagle rays swimming in formation close to the pinnacle.

Afternoon dives at Viking Rock exhibited a range of species from snappers, creoles, Cocos damselfish and cardinals – and also some big pelagics like mobula rays and Galapagos sharks. Pajara showed us seahorses and mantis shrimp, lots of reef fish and black durgeons spawning; and also a sea turtle.

Alcyone on Day 3 was out of this world! There was a strong surge and sharks all around us, to the sides and above us – as if we were being invited to join the school. It was magical.

Day 4 was an even more epic adventure. Undersea Hunter’s seasoned divemaster Brayan Gonzalez jumped in the water and found himself face to face with a giant Pacific manta ray, struggling and entangled in rope. With the help of the most experienced divers on our dive team, we spent the next five minutes freeing the manta from the line until it finally broke free and swam away. “It felt absolutely amazing to be able to help an animal in such a situation,” recalls Brayan.

To top it off, throughout the rescue mission, around 10 sharks were buzzing around us nearby waiting to pick off the manta if it didn’t make it – including silkies, Galapagos sharks and a tiger. The sharks must have been very disappointed in the end that the manta swam off unharmed! Then when we descended for the actual dive itself we enjoyed even more action with hunting dolphins and yellowfin tuna! Unfortunately we had our hands full freeing the manta, so we didn’t get video of it this time, but we do have video from another manta rescue with this very same divemaster from 2015.

Our last day at Manuelita Outside we had a lot of rain at the surface, and sighted another giant manta ray plus schooling hammerheads out in the blue. Alcyone gave us a wonderful sendoff with 5 Galapagos sharks making many passes around the rock, yellowfin tuna hunting, mullet snappers, jacks, eagle rays and hammerheads.