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Isla del Cocos
Saturday
Woke up anchored off Cocos! We're on the north side of Cocos, next to Manuelita Island.
Cocos is incredibly lush, so much so that it defines the word "verdant." Its cliffs rise straight from the ocean to hundreds of feet above the water, their faces covered with vegetation. Looking at the island it looks to be virtually impenetrable, which is fine as it is a national park and the only people living on the island are a few rangers. Day hikers must get permission before setting foot on the island, and no one is allowed to stay overnight.
Did our checkout dive here at Manuelita Coral Garden. First impression: Many more fish and bigger fish than any other place I've dived. Also, a bunch of whitetip reef sharks. So far, so good!
Did a total of four dives today-three day and one night dive. The day dives were all full of life. During one dive we had to fight a lot of current and everyone used up their air quite quickly. The night dive we did in ~30 feet of water. Watched whitetip reef sharks hunting which was amazing (even though we didn't see them catch anything)! They've learned to follow divers' lights and will attempt to catch the fish the lights are trained on. The sharks' eyes glow in the dark like cats' eyes. They range from two to six feet in length, and when they band together at dusk to go hunting they remind you of a bunch of trouble-causing teenage boys on a Saturday night. Whitetips are agile and sleek; they hunt together, flowing over the reef like a river of sharks. I also saw lots of lobsters this dive and was able to pet a couple of them.
I'm just now realizing that I'm going to need that long voyage home to rest up after this week-to-come.
