Malpelo Island

Inzan Tiger, January 1997, John and Jan Dempsey, San Diego, CA. "The Izan Tiger a name made up from the owners' names (Heinz and Zan Buchbinder) is a luxury yacht. With only four to six divers, personal service is a given. My wife and I made the trip from Golfito, Costa Rica to Malpelo Island. By far the best of all of our previous dive trips, including the trip to Cocos Island. I am an underwater photographer and found Malpelo Island to be exceptional. Unbelievable fine spotted moray eel community located in "condos" on Tiger Mount will be the subject of an article in the January 1998 edition of Discover Diving. Made five dives a day, and having demonstrated our diving abilities, we were allowed to go our own way. I was able to photograph Moorish idols, trumpetfish, yellowtailed surgeonfish, guineafowl pufferfish in all color phases, leather bass, stone scorpionfish, scrawled filefish, panamic graysby, yellow-tailed goatfish, camotillo, parrotfish, streamer hogfish, porcupinefish and various types of jacks, grunts, snappers and hawkfish. I found the skittish King Angelfish to be accessible at night along with the exotic Hieroglyphic Hawkfish, monstrous lobsters and numerous octopus. . . . During our three to five minute safety stops we were surrounded by schools of yellowfin tuna, barracuda, big eye jacks, steel pompano, stripe ail aholehole and Indo-Pacific bonito. Saw two pilot whales, pods of dolphin, a small whale shark, several small Galapagos sharks, spotted eagle rays and green turtles."

Inzan Tiger, May 1997, Robert Haak, Herrenberg Germany. "Water 80 degrees. Went for hammerheads - Saw ONE. Was very warm. Dive briefings practically nonexistent; no chance to dive on own. Owners suite excellent (unfortunately it was used to store 300 cans of beer; the 4 divers drank about 20 or 30, the rest. . . . the crew). Crew with one exception was helpful, food good. Easy fishing and everybody was invited. Thousands of eels."

Copyright 1998 by DSDL, Inc., publishers of Undercurrent. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact DSDL, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.