Cocos Island - the green

The 7 days of diving followed a predictable pattern - eat, dive, dive, eat, dive, eat, sleep - repeat. So the opportunity on the 2nd last day to have a look at the island, or at least a poofteenth of it, was a lovely change.

Isla del Coco

Don’t get me wrong, it required serious consideration, because it meant missing a dive on Dirty Rock, the site where we’d seen a lot of the action so far. It’s an angst ridden decision when you factor in that this could be the dive that produces a close encounter with a silky shark; or that big school of hammerheads silhouetted above you; or that elusive tiger shark we knew was around and probably watching us, but had only graced Blue Panga with a fleeting sighting so far. But we’d had fantastic dives in the morning on Dirty Rock and at Alcyone, and there’s something pretty special about the idea of putting your feet on land as remote and rarely trodden as Isla del Coco.

The island is said to have had some influence in the inspiration for the island on which Robinson Crusoe was marooned and also the island on which Jurassic Park is set. It is also quite famous in pirate folklore with many stories about buried treasure and attempts to find it. There was some discussion among our group but it was short lived.

 The landing

The island is about 24sq km, but we only ventured a couple of hundred metres in as it is pretty wild and doesn’t really have developed or well maintained trails. The tide was low so we had the chance to land at Chatham Bay where you can wander around looking at some impressive vandalism engraved in rocks on the beach by the likes of Jacques Cousteau and a range of pirates; and some fairly ordinary ‘Pete was here 1990’ style desecration.

Chatham Bay from the hill

Sign thanking the men and women who made the Olivier Hydroelectric project possible, which generates energy to power a radar used to monitor activity in the National Park 

We did a hot, sticky climb up a hill which wasn’t really far but was quite steep and required careful placement of feet. The 2 dive masters who were guiding us looked distinctly more nervous while they were managing us on this outing than at any stage facing unpredictable currents or creatures underwater. It’s not a place you want to come a cropper, being so remote.

Pretty white tern with her baby 

Some fancy graffiti by Jacques Cousteau

It was well worth the effort, with stunning views, a bit of wildlife, a brief period surrounded by green instead of blue, and a dip in a waterfall to freshen up at the end - although after the entertaining description coupled with charades by Fernando explaining not to drink the water because of animals pooing in it, I have my suspicions that this dip may have contributed to the ear infection I am now sporting. Nonetheless, a couple of hours very well spent and what will no doubt be an enduring memory.

Fernando and Sergio, our dive and tour guides, taking a dip in the waterfall

 

 View of Some of Chatham Bay from the top of the hill