General Information

Located in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, 300 miles southwest of Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica, lies the famous Cocos Island Marine Park. A rugged and incredibly beautiful Costa Rica island, this World Heritage Site is the crown jewel of Costa Rica's many National Parks. Cocos Island has an irregular coastline, which makes estimation of land area more a matter of opinion than a surveyor’s science, but it is roughly five miles by two miles (8 x 3 kilometers).
The Costa Rica island was formed during a volcanic upheaval about two-and-a-half million years ago and is composed of basaltic rock, labacorite and andecite lava flows. Its landmass is punctuated by four mountain peaks, the highest of which is Cerro Yglesisas, at 2,080 feet or 634 meters.
The Costa Rica island has two large bays with safe anchorages and sandy Costa Rica beaches: Chatham is located on the northeast side and Wafer Bay is on the northwest. Just off Cocos are a series of smaller basaltic rocks and islets. The largest satellite is Isla Manuelita (formerly Nuez).

Dive Operations

We daily schedule two dives in the morning (8 AM and 11 AM), one in the afternoon (3 PM) and a night dive at 6 PM.
After a Costa Rica dive briefing from our Divemasters on the mothership, our guests board the two skiffs that each accommodate up to nine divers plus Divemaster, who always dive with the group and the Skiff Driver. After a short ride, each of the skiffs will reach a different Costa Rica dive site that is switched on the following Costa Rica dive allowing the two groups to dive the same areas but at different times of the day.
On the way to or from the divesites it is very common to find exciting Costa Rica snorkeling opportunities with Pacific Mantas, Bottlenose Dolphins or even a Bait Ball that will keep the adrenaline brewing all day long.
Between the Costa Rica dives, as the tanks are being refilled there is time for Sea Kayaking or to go back on the skiffs for a photo tour or land excursions.

The dive skiffs on-board Sea Hunter and Undersea Hunter are an asset worth mentioning. At times when a rubber inflatable would be crippled in the wind-blown vastness of the Pacific, these large, heavy-duty fiberglass dive cruisers provide the stability and safety that is essential at Cocos Island. We put nine or fewer divers in each skiff and move them safely and efficiently to diverse dive sites around the Costa Rica island.
Each measuring twenty four feet in length and with over nine foot of beam, these boats are extremely stable in any sea conditions. Our skiffs are powered by twin 90HP 4-cycle fumeless outboard motors. These modern engines provide the power and redundancy required to reach any of the remote Costa Rica dive sites within a safe radius of the mother ship. At the end of the dive, boarding is made via a solid and stable ladder.
These boats are equipped with integrated racks for Costa Rica scuba diving equipment, separate camera storage area, VHF radios, depth sounders and T-Roof, which offers shelter from the tropical elements to the crew and camera equipment. They further hold all the necessary safety equipment, oxygen first-aid kit, spare dive gear, and tools.
These extra large skiffs also serve as a dive platform throughout the duration of the trip. Personal dive gear is kept onboard the skiffs during the dive days. This eliminates the need to carry heavy scuba tanks back and forth and reduces wear and tear.

Imagine that you are in Cocos Island ready to dive in one of the best locations on the planet. You strap on your computer and plan the best air dive possible. But after too short a time on the bottom, at around a hundred feet (±33 meters), you will have to ascend to shallower waters to avoid decompression.
Looking down while ascending, you see some others who began the dive with you but are still down there. They are wearing scuba tanks with a special green and yellow label: NITROX.

What is Nitrox? It's enriched air with a higher percentage of oxygen and a lower percentage of nitrogen than normal atmosphere. By reducing the amount of nitrogen in breathing gas, there is less to dissolve in our bloodstream for an equal time at a given depth. This translates into more bottom time with an additional benefit: a significant reduction of the effects of nitrogen narcosis.
Depending on the mixture, Nitrox can allow you as much as 50% more bottom time than air. Two more advantages are shorter surface intervals due to less outgassing required and, at the end of a busy diving day, you'll feel less fatigued due the reduced physiological effort required to outgas.

A Dolphin Rebreather has no electronic parts and no controls to operate underwater except for the valve that opens the Nitrox gas supply to the circuit, that's it! Everything is preset at the surface as you plan each dive with the appropriate Nitrox mix and the proper gas flow rate for the maximum operating depth that you intend to dive.
This basically means that you have to prepare your equipment carefully prior to your dive and stick to your plans. The preparation of your rebreather is crucial. We like to compare its importance to the skydiver who folds his or her own parachute before a high altitude dive. The technical diver has to learn new skills and adopt a professional attitude in the safe practice of "rebreather" diving.