Dive Review of
Okeanos Aggressor in
Costa Rica/Cocos Island

Bonaire,Belize,Grand Cayman,Cozumel,Roatan,Bahamas,Turks and
Caicos,Fiji,Australia,New Zealand,Canada

Dive Conditions

Depth limits determined by your nitrox mix. Before every dive you are
required to log your maximum allowable depth.  

    Plenty of tables, shelves and rinse tanks. Cameras were handled with
care. Photo pro did a nice job processing slides.  

Overall Rating

     Nitrox is a must at Cocos Island and the course can be taken on board.
I used an air computer as a backup and it went into deco several times.
This is no place for newbies. We did four or five dives a day with the
first four about 100ft. One day I totalled 459 ft. for five dives. There is
no chamber on the island and it's too far from the mainland for helicopter
evacuation.  Inspite of this there was plenty of dive freedom. I dived solo
in a group all week.  Follow the leader was not the norm, just stick to the
dive brief and get picked up. A safety sausage was required and provided.
We hit a few strong currents and noticeable thermoclines down deep. The
amount of marine life was incredible. Dozens of whitetips on every dive,
scattered hammerheads, abundant marble rays, several eagle rays, a couple
mantas and a few turtles. Massive schools of fish to feed all these
predators and plankton for the rest, to the detriment of visibility which
was 50-100 ft. You would have to do the night dive at "Shark
Rodeo" to believe it. Hundreds of whitetips on the prowl. The bottom
was mostly volcanic rock with very little coral. Bring your gloves. The
Okeanos was old but seaworthy. The food,service and accomodations were OK.
Now for the bad. The dive deck was often permeated with exhaust fumes from
the generator. I didn't see any oxygen kits on the small dive boats and
some divesites were 20 mins. away. The divestaff left a lot to be desired.
They did not pay attention to detail. On one dive, after handing me my
camera and allowing me to descend solo, my divemaster fired up the Zodiac
and zipped out of sight. I took a compass bearing, beat feet, and was
fortunate to find the rest of the group. I suspect he blew the location and
didn't realize his error until I was already down. The next day I came
within arms reach of the props when the driver squared up the boat in 6ft.
swells without checking my position. Our  divemaster sat out a night dive
without telling us about it (regulator problems!). He also missed the next
morning's dive when he forgot his dive gear and refused our offer to go
back and get it. I don't think any of us found the actual
divesite(Silverado), so we didn't see any silvertips. The kitchen plumbing
leaked through the ceiling and onto our bunks and they refused to fix it
until after our 36 hr. journey to port. Whew! We didn't have a last night's
party as is the custom, and we never once set foot on the island as
promised either. However, we did see the park rangers when they came on
board to collect the $35per diver per day park fee($210). Those that didn't
read the fine print were pleasantly surprised. The spectacular diving at
Cocos Island is worth the time, money and inconvenience of getting there.
I"m not sure the Okeanos Aggressor, "The Ultimate in
live-aboards", is the best way to experience it.
 

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