Dive Review of
Undersea Hunter in
Costa Rica/Cocos Island

Maldives, Fiji, Caribbean, Palau, Truk, Philippines

Dive Conditions

Generally stayed in a loose group with dive guide; not strict.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

Be aware that it's a 30 - 36 hour ride from the mainland out to Cocos. 
What the crew said was an average passage seemed pretty rocky to me; not
recommended for those prone to mal de mer.  Cabins we about average size,
and the AC and hot water worked.  The food was certainly not gourmet, and
not a lot of choices, but generally appetizing.  Once you set up your gear
on a tank on one of the tenders it stays there, which saves a lot of work. 
Rides from the mother ship to the dive sites ranged from 5 to 30 minutes.
The dive guides were competent and pleasant, but nothing special.  A couple
of the tender drivers seemed to always be racing to get to the sites, which
often resulted in wetter and bouncier rides than necessary.  The crew on
the main boat provided good service and were enjoyable personalities.
The big attraction here is hammerheads, which were present on every dive. 
Didn't see any of the large schools you see in the pictures, but often
groups of up to a dozen.  Many of the dives were little more than
descending to a good spot at 50' - 100' and hanging on to the rocks while
we watched the parade go by, which was fine.  They would often cruise
within 15 - 20 feet if everybody sat still (unfortunately that didn't
always happen, as a couple of people in the group often just had to get
their camera a little closer for that killer shot!).  We saw other
varieties of shark on about half the dives, including Galapagos and
Silvertip.  There were also the smaller white-tips frequently around, to
the point where you had to sometimes shoo them away like pesky puppies. 
Marble rays were everywhere, with a lesser number of eagle rays and the
occasional manta.  Large schools of tuna (mostly small) and lots of large
jacks.  All in all, a great place if you like sharks and other big fish. 
All dives had some current, often quite strong.
Costa Rica has enough interesting sights on land that it's worth sticking
around for a few extra days.  Arenal Volcano is worth seeing.  We stayed at
the Arenal Observatory Lodge, and although the top of the mountain was
clouded over (as is often the case), stayed up half the night watching and
listening to glowing lava rocks roll down the slope only a couple of miles
away.  There's not much to see in San Jose, and definitely avoid driving
there in rush hour.  Monte Verde was interesting, but maybe not worth the
miles of terribly bumpy road to get there.  The Best Western Irazu Hotel is
overpriced, and one of the rooms we had there had an unpleasant moldy
smell. 

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