On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:57:36 -0400, Krazy Kiwi <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I am now hammerhead addicted!!!

It's 'bout time!  An absolutely mahblelous report even though you
didn't seem to have seen as many marble rays as I did on my two trips.
But your report brought back such fond memories from your VIVid
descriptions of the dives that I wished I had taken you and Mika
up and gone on this trip.


>DAY 1 - 1st dive was in Chatham Bay.  This dive was really the check-out
>dive for those who had dived in a while to sort out their weights ..
>frankly some of the group should have done a refresher course factoring in
>either how many dives they had done .. or worse, how long ago they had
>actually dove.

This is the ONLY negative aspect of the Aggressor (and other
liveaboards) IMO, of not screening out some divers that SHOULDN'T
have been allowed to dive certain locations -- for THEIR safety
sake.   I think that's how the Okeanos Aggressor had its first
fatality a couple years ago when two Isrealis were blown away
on their second dive of the trip and never returned.


>a drift
>dive is entirely different to what I have normally experienced ie you turn
>and go WITH the current if it is too strong to fin against.

Ah, one of my two favorites -- Manuelita!  You must have done it
nine of ten times on this trip!  :-)  The reason you swim against
the current in some of the dives is that if you do with the
current, you may either be flown away from the ISLAND completely
OR you'll be blown around the island and you'll have to swim
against the current on the other side.  :-)  Moreover, it's good
exercise and you can usually see more sharks that way.

>Saw my 1st lots of hammerheads.

See?   :)

>Had the usual schools of various types of trevally,
>goatfish, blue and gold snapper, 3 different coloured versions of
>trumpetfish, various types of surgeonfish, schooling moorish idols busily
>gorging themselves nibbling away on the growth on the rocks, a couple of
>turtles and the usual RF.

Wished this RF was thar!


>3rd at Manuelita Island. The current was really ripping along now.

I know this island better than I know the palm of my hand now.  :-)
That was where I had my hand-ripping grap on the rocks to get
around the tip of the island to tons of white tips and marble
rays waiting on the other side.


>DAY 2 - 4th dive at Ulloa Island.  Alas, we searched high and low for the
>red lipped batfish but they were elusive this trip.

Punta Ulloa.  At the sandy/rocky bottom at 115 fsw, I remembered.  :-)


>6th dive - Pajara Island.  Saw 5 hammerheads on entry.

Don't recall having done this site or several other sites you did,

> My spg console decided to chuck a
>real wobbly and really start wasting air so I only did an 38 min dive.

I think the 'average' BT of an average diver on the Cocos dives
is about 30 minutes.  On my first trip, Pierre and I had several
dives lasting to the maximum we were supposed to do on one dive
(60 minutes) and those airhogs just had to get rained on waiting
in the dinghy.  :-)



>7th dive - night dive at Manuelita Island.  This time on the shallow
>side.  I think all the divers were in the water - normally we would have
>been split up in to 2 groups going to different dive sites.  Due to the
>number of dive, video and strobe lights downunder the whitetips were
>really going berserk hunting for prey.

Your single night dive on this trip was much better than the one
on mine, where we saw mostly sea urchins and hardly a shark!


>9th dive - Dirty Rock.  Minimal current for this particular dive.  Again
>saw hammerheads on entry.  Schools of snappers, goatfish, trevally,
>moorish idols. Lots of trumpetfish, pufferfish.  Around the main pinnacle
>cruised marble rays of all sizes.  It was like watching hovercrafts coming
>in to land.
>
>10th dive - Dirty Rock.  This time a ripping current.  Saw literally the
>same stuff from the 9th dive except less hammerheads this time.

That's my CO-favorite of Cocos -- Dirty Rock!  I think we did all
three dives there on one day and some divers requested more of it
on the following day.  :-)

>Day 5 - 14th dive on Dios Amigo (something P...).  I forgot to fill in the
>corret Spanish word for this site ..

Its Dos Amigos -- meaning two Mexican pals!  That's the site where
two divers, father and daughter were lost forever.


>but I know Mika can fill in the gap
>there.  A ripping current here.  Wore a couple of holes in my dive gloves
>during this dive clinging on to the wall with all my might.

When I dived there, it was relatively calm.

That's one of thing I always said about "potentially dangerous
sites" (such as the Baracuda site in Cozumel).  It may be calm more
often than not, but if had better be PREPARED for the worst --
which most divers are not, judging from the incompetents I've
seen diving the Baracuda, which is not nearly as ripping as
some of the currents I've seen in Cocos or on some sites visited
by the Tahiti Aggressor.


>Saw 2 silky
>sharks down in the depths .. Mika missed them due to having to go back up
>a bit until his bung ear equalised properly.

"Sue's Ear" syndrone must be contagious!  :-)


>18th dive - Montague Island.  After only 37 mins I wanted to exit the
>water as I personally found this dive site absolutely BORING.

Never dived this one either.  May be this was a "special" for the
newbie divers who had to stay on board on the good current dives.


>20th dive - Manuelita Island. Mika was feeling a little tired plus his ear
>was playing up a little so he skipped this one.  This was my best dive for
>hammerheads.

Mika is definitely getting old and washed up.  :-))  Without an ugly
diver like him, no wonder you saw many more hammerheads.


>Day 7 - Dive 21 back to Bajo Alcyone (well sort of... more of a bounce
>dive for Mika & I).  While Mika, Douglas & I did not really want to go
>back to this site were were outvoted.

Yup, another gas-hog special.  :-)


>Dive 23 - Manuelita Island.  The hammerheads were a bit wary of the
>group .. probably due to the fact that both pangas were at this dive site
>so bubbles going every where.

> By the time
>Mika & I ascend to our panga were are asked where the DM is.  I knew he
>had begun to ascend atleast 20 mins before us as he was accompanying one
>of the airhogs to the surface.  A quick glance around and I notice a
>safety sausage way off in the distance .. it was actually closer to the
>Aggressor than it was to us.  We zoom off to pick up Luis and find the DM
>was actually not with him .. he had been swept off in a different
>direction.  Soon spotted his dive sausage so all accounted for.. which was
>good news for the captain as he wanted to start motoring for the mainland
>as soon as we all got back on board.

Ah, the obligatory blown-off divers at Manuelita.  :-)


>Well, in 9hrs time I will be winging my way from Costa Rica to LAX, then
>on to Sydney where I arrive in time for coffee with Strike Monday
>morning.
>Viv

I see Strike's all ready to be your chauffeur once more.  :-)

In a couple of days, I'll be heading out to some POTENTIAL dives
at Nassau, Barbados, Dominica, and the wreck of the Rhone in BVI.
ALL of those will be BORRRRRRRRING compared to the tamest dives
in Cocos.  :-)

Once you get rested, I am waiting for you to be the organizer of
a NEDfest in PNG so that you-know-who can fulfill his life's
ambition of diving there.  :-)

Tankx for a wunnerful report -- reading it is almost as good as
doing a couple of dives there.

-- Bob.