Good diving locations in Central America

<sytech@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<220220040840240726%sytech@yahoo.com>...

> The only "Cocos" I could find is near Australia.

That's the Keeling Cocos, in the Indian Ocean, much better known to
non-scuba divers:

http://www.dotrs.gov.au/terr/cocos/index.htm


> Are there othere "Cocos"?

Isla del Cocos, the uninhibited island 300 miles off the coast of
Costa Rica is the one much better known to scuba divers.

Schooling hammerheads by the hundreds, marble rays, blacktip sharks
are the main attractions.

On the Okeanos Aggressor, it's about a 30-36 hour journey (one-way)
of very rough crossing.

-- Bob.

Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:
:On the Okeanos Aggressor, it's about a 30-36 hour journey (one-way)
:of very rough crossing.

When I did it, the water was like glass, much to my delight.

Dan Bracuk
If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


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"Dan Bracuk, CTHD" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:42ts305tqubuiahiqvh5bj6e0jvvj43kfb@4ax.com...
> Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) pounded away at his
> keyboard resulting in:
> :On the Okeanos Aggressor, it's about a 30-36 hour journey (one-way)
> :of very rough crossing.
>
> When I did it, the water was like glass, much to my delight.
>
> Dan Bracuk
> If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
> The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/
>
>
Consider yourself lucky. Our crossing was just as Reef Fish states, except
one engine went on the fritz and it took 38 hours to get there. My wife was
praising the maker of Scopolomine patches.

"Randy Buckner" <Randybuckner@att.net> wrote in message news:<ZLC%b.103027$hR.2021010@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> "Dan Bracuk, CTHD" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
> news:42ts305tqubuiahiqvh5bj6e0jvvj43kfb@4ax.com...
> > Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) pounded away at his
> > keyboard resulting in:
> > :On the Okeanos Aggressor, it's about a 30-36 hour journey (one-way)
> > :of very rough crossing.
> >
> > When I did it, the water was like glass, much to my delight.

I'll have to go do some searching in groups.google.com to see if anyone
else had ever said that crossing was 'smooth'.


> Consider yourself lucky. Our crossing was just as Reef Fish states, except
> one engine went on the fritz and it took 38 hours to get there. My wife was
> praising the maker of Scopolomine patches.

On my 1992 trip (report still in the archives), the Scop patch lasted all
of 8 hours, and I spent the rest of the time feeding fish (on what's left
of the chum <BG>). The mascot on the boat, the parrot, was sich as a
dog, and apparently suffered that fate on every trip.

NBC Dateline did a 10-minute section Special on Cocos diving on the
Okeanos Aggressor (I not only had a tape of it, but 30 minutes of
out takes given to me by Wayne Hasson) which featured a couple of
New England lawyers on their honeymoon.

For my sea-sickness on crossing, as soon as the boat stops, I am good
as new. But for that lady lawyer, she was in bed the first few days
after the boat got to Coco, and didn't do any dive until much later in
the week, and her remark was, "it was worth EVERY bit of it, the sea
sickness, the suffering ..." to have dived with the hammerheads.

I would have gone back every year if not for the LONG and ROUGH CROSSING
that has become the trademark of the trip. It wasn't until 2000 that
I did the trip again, armed with the strongest motion sickness pill I
know -- not yet approved for use in the USA, but available in Europe
and Mexico -- Sturgeron fort (medical ingredient cinnerisin -- with
varied spellings).

It worked wonders, for the first 24 hours. And I was sick as a
dog again. Again, as soon as the boat stopped, I was ready to dive!
I think that trip report is in the archives too.


I think Dan probably was dreaming about his crossing to the OTHER
Cocos in the Indian Ocean. <g> With his LUCK, he would be buying
lottery tickets instead of doing on dive trips!

-- Bob.

"Randy Buckner" <Randybuckner@att.net> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
:The trip to Cocos is worth it in my opinion. It's not a trip that I would
:do every year due to the long crossing, but then again it takes forever to
:reach Truk, Palau and PNG by jet. Six one way, a half-dozen the other.

Can't speak for PNG but, for Palau and Truk, once you land and get on
the boat, you don't have a 36 hour boat trip to get to the dive sites.

Plus, when I went to Cocos, we spent a couple of days in San Jose
coming and going because of boat schedules vs airline schedules. Then
there is the bus ride to and from the coast.

It is a nice trip though.

Dan Bracuk
If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


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"Dan Bracuk, CTHD" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:7rnv30hfc563nl7ehkj9ae1mi5npkm73vk@4ax.com...
> "Randy Buckner" <Randybuckner@att.net> pounded away at his keyboard
> resulting in:
> :The trip to Cocos is worth it in my opinion. It's not a trip that I
would
> :do every year due to the long crossing, but then again it takes forever
to
> :reach Truk, Palau and PNG by jet. Six one way, a half-dozen the other.
>
> Can't speak for PNG but, for Palau and Truk, once you land and get on
> the boat, you don't have a 36 hour boat trip to get to the dive sites.
>
> Plus, when I went to Cocos, we spent a couple of days in San Jose
> coming and going because of boat schedules vs airline schedules. Then
> there is the bus ride to and from the coast.
>
> It is a nice trip though.
>
> Dan Bracuk
>
Yep, the bus trip to Puntarenas is a trip in itself. We dove off of the
Okeanos. I hear that the Sea Hunter is a better boat, but the Okeanos had
the basics which is all that I needed. The currents there could be a hoot
at times.

Buck

"Randy Buckner" <Randybuckner@att.net> wrote in message news:<yKQ%b.50803$aH3.1555535@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:8fb7380b.0402271345.42cc60ce@posting.google.c om...


> > For my sea-sickness on crossing, as soon as the boat stops, I am good
> > as new. But for that lady lawyer, she was in bed the first few days
> > after the boat got to Coco, and didn't do any dive until much later in
> > the week, and her remark was, "it was worth EVERY bit of it, the sea
> > sickness, the suffering ..." to have dived with the hammerheads.
> >
> > I would have gone back every year if not for the LONG and ROUGH CROSSING
> > that has become the trademark of the trip.

>
> The trip to Cocos is worth it in my opinion. It's not a trip that I would
> do every year due to the long crossing, but then again it takes forever to
> reach Truk, Palau and PNG by jet. Six one way, a half-dozen the other.

I would do it EVERY YEAR, as I do the Cayman Aggressor every year (except
1996) since 1990. The only deterrant is the long ROUGH crossing, not the
time it takes to get there.

For us East Coasters, a 30-hour trip to get to a Pacific dive location
is NOTHING! It takes that long to get to Palau, Cairns (the GBR), and
a few others. The longest return trip I ever had was Sydney -- Cairns
-- Guam -- Honolulu -- Los Angeles -- Houston -- Atlanta, with 1-2 hour
stop at each airport to change planes. The total FLIGHT time was about
30 hours. But I got a lot of Frequent Flyer Miles out of it. :0))

The Coco's trip is as gruelling in total travel hours, because we have
to stay overnight in San Jose (Costa Rica), take the 3-4 hour bus ride
to Puncharina (sp?) to board the boat BEFORE the 30-hour crossing.

-- Bob.

"Thur" <thur@wanadooNOSPAM.nl> wrote in message
news:4037b01a$0$49830$1b2cd167@news.wanadoo.nl...
> <sytech@yahoo.com> wrote ...
> > I have traveled throughout Central America but have never done any
> > diving there.
> > I hear that Roatan (Bay Islands) is very nice and was wondering if
> > there are any other places which are worthwhile such as Panama etc.
>
>
> How about the Colombian Island of 'San Andres'?
> http://www.scubasanandres.com/
> http://www.diversdream.com/english/sai.html
> http://www.scubasanandres.com/
> http://www.san-andres.com/
> Greetz,
>
> *hmz?*
>
>

"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:Rid6c.97735$Up2.40058@pd7tw1no...
>
> "Thur" <thur@wanadooNOSPAM.nl> wrote in message
> news:4037b01a$0$49830$1b2cd167@news.wanadoo.nl...
> > <sytech@yahoo.com> wrote ...
> > > I have traveled throughout Central America but have never done any
> > > diving there.
> > > I hear that Roatan (Bay Islands) is very nice and was wondering if
> > > there are any other places which are worthwhile such as Panama etc.
> >
> >
> > How about the Colombian Island of 'San Andres'?
> > http://www.scubasanandres.com/
> > http://www.diversdream.com/english/sai.html
> > http://www.scubasanandres.com/
> > http://www.san-andres.com/
> > Greetz,
> >
> > *hmz?*

Whoops. Sorry folks I had this saved for my own info an accidentally sent
it back to rec.scuba.