Second Day of Diving at Cocos July 1, 2016

7-1-2016

Minor cold, scratch throat, Sudafed to the rescue.  Three dives, Punta Maria, Dirty Rock, and Manuelita Channel.  80 degree water temperature, 80 ft visibility… Very rough, steep, 4 -6 ft seas with wind.  Wetter on the boat than diving!  Lots of beautiful waterfalls.  First dive we had several Galapagos sharks, a couple were 3 meters, nearly 10 ft long.  Also Scalloped Hammerheads.  Shy though, not sure I got much.

A large, maybe 9 ft, Galapagos Shark at Punta Maria.

                        Ascending as a group from Punta Maria for safety stop.

For more pictures from this dive please go to:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6305527198509263793?authkey=CPGhqParjI3bRg

Second dive was Dirty Rock, lots of surge, Charlie Bloomer had problem with his closed circuit scuba so we only had half a dive.  Scalloped Hammerheads were shy so no great shots.  I did get a nice shot of a large jack.

      Manuel gives the Blue Team a dive briefing.  His notes on the back of the card were "Bla bla bla".  Once you know Manuel you appreciate this!

          Jauma (Jim) gives the Yellow Dive Team their dive briefing before they board their dive panga.

A large Black Jack.

A view of the terrain at Dirty Rock, with a school of Blue and Gold Snapper.

     Beth in foreground, Peter on rebreather to the left, on a deep (>100 ft) cleaner station, hoping for sharks.  They were few and shy on this dive, this changed sharply for the better on future dives.

Beth Davidow ascending from deep dive due to no decompression limits.
For more from this dive please go to:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6305527198509263793?authkey=CPGhqParjI3bRg

 Manuel, our Blue Team dive guide, got us settled near cleaner stations at Manuelita Island Channel to quietly wait for Scalloped Hammerheads and other interesting passersby.

 Yellowfin Tuna

                                         Yellowfin Tuna

                                A mating pair of Big Eye Trevally.

      Scalloped Hammerhead

     A Scalloped Hammerhead approaches the Blue Team "skirmish line".

                                            A visiting Moorish Idol distracted me from watching for sharks, briefly.

For more from this dive please go to:  https://plus.google.com/photos/110159573286645489662/albums/6305527016503891265?authkey=CLfx1Yqoz46dqgE

                                       

                 

 

                                         

                                          Waiting my turn to get in the boat after safety stop.