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Undersea Hunter

Diving Charter Boat (English)

Service:
  • Accommodation for Divers
  • Air
  • Equipment Gear Rentals
  • Gear Equipment Servicing
  • Liveaboard Diving
  • NITROX
  • Shark diving
  • Spearfishing
  • Underwater Publications Prints
  • Vacation Holiday Scuba Diving
Company description The research vessel Undersea Hunter was built in Florida in 1968 for Perry Oceanographic and was used for twenty years as a submarine support vessel. Working primarily in the Bahamas and the Caribbean, she completed hundreds of research and photographic missions including the Deep Rover Project with Dr. Sylvia Earle. Undersea Hunter`s closest brush with fame - so far - was her participation as support vessel for the James Bond movie ``License to Kill.``
We bought the Undersea Hunter in June, 1990, and spent five months refurbishing her from stem to stern. Already a capable and well-proven research vessel, the Undersea Hunter was modified to include six new cabins, built with conveniences that surpass all expectations, to accommodate 14 passengers. With fuel capacity of 40 tons and water tankage of 26 tons, her blue water capability is almost unlimited. Under the guiding hands of Avi Klapfer and Yosy Naaman, the Undersea Hunter is dedicated to bringing civilized comfort to the delightfully uncivilized gems like Cocos Island.
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 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 dive site that is switched on the following 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 snorkeling opportunities with Pacific Mantas, Bottlenose Dolphins or even a Bait Ball that will keep the adrenaline brewing all day long.
Between the 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.
Due to the remoteness of both Cocos and Malpelo, safety is an absolute priority at all times.
Our Captains are qualified with internationally recognized seafaring licenses. Many of our crew are Medic First Aid Instructors or are trained for basic first aid and as DAN O2 providers. All our crews maintain peak performance skills for emergencies like Man Overboard, Lost Diver Searches, Fire at Sea and more.
Since the nearest hyperbaric facility in Panama City is over 2 sailing days away, we must maintain a safe diving practice within the recreational diving limits. Thus decompression dives are not permitted and a maximum depth of 140 ft. / 40 m. is imposed. To increase safety and bottom time while maintaining safe non-decompression dives the use of Nitrox becomes essential.
DAN O2 Emergency kits are present on all of our skiffs as well as on the mother ship.
The total isolation of these Islands and the prevailing ocean currents play a major roll in our emergency plan and readiness for when divers might drift away from the dive sites. With the frequent rainsqualls, surface conditions are unpredictable at times. For this reason we have hired and train highly skilled skiff operators who have the knowledge and the know how to search and locate divers even in the most extreme conditions.
We further provide all guests with our Safety Kit that includes an extra-large orange dive sausage, a powerful storm whistle and a special safety light. Furthermore after one year of testing several Radio Diver Locator systems, we have found the symbiosis that fully satisfies our rigorous standards. The ACR miniature Personal EPIRB together with a high-tech Radio Direction Finder from SimradTaiyo will help locate a drift diver more than five miles away. These electronic units are fixed to the individual divers BCD. An on-board homing receiver will guide the vessel towards the missing diver, and these units will also transmit the marine international distress signal that is monitored by all ships and coast guard vessels.
Location description: Several excursions on the island can be planned during our trips. Most popular is the visit to the isolated Ranger Station at Chatham Bay where pirates, whalers and yesteryear’s visitors left their ships names carves in stone on the numerous boulders along the beautiful sandy beach.
Other excellent options are walks to one of the beautiful waterfalls where, after a short hike through the impressive tropical jungle, you can take a treasured bath in one or several fresh water pools.
Also available, depending on weather, are guided tours of the trail linking Chatham and Wafer bays. This hike offers marvelous panoramas of Cocos shores and a rare glimpse of the Island’s dense rain forest. One of Cocos endemic birds, the Cocos Finch is a common and curios companion along this trail. So unaccustomed to human presence, they can almost be touched.
For the serous hikers among us, a long 8 hours trek to Cerro Yglesias summit, the highest peak in Cocos, can be planed with prior arrangement and the permission of the national park rangers. A visit to the main park ranger installation at Wafer Bay and its adjacent stream and forest can be arranged when sea conditions permit a safe beach landing.
Your first Cocos dive and one of our favorites is Manuelita Island inside, which faces the calm waters of Chatham Bay. This well-protected site receives little current or swells. These calm conditions support a beautiful shallow garden at depths ranging from 20 to 70 feet. It is a macro-photographers heaven.
Countless fish, eels, lobsters and many other critters are residents of the hard coral reef and the adjacent sand slope. Large fish are frequent visitors to this site, including hammerheads, black tip sharks, white tip sharks and numerous marble rays. At this spot, large schools of white tip sharks can be seen feeding at dark. It is the best night dive spot.
Silverado is the only cleaning station for silvertip sharks at Cocos Island that we currently know about.
Bait Ball: This phenomenon occurs when the little bait fish, upon being hunted, seek protection by forming a furiously spinning silvery ball. This is an attempt of a small species to intimidate and confuse a predator. In a bait ball you can find different bait fish and different hunters. Sometimes the bait fish will be trapped between the surface and the hunters below. This is when the boobies and frigate birds will join the feast. These special events can happen anywhere and at anytime.
Shark Fin Rock: From the surface, this pyramidal rock looks exactly like its name, shark fin. This beautiful site hosts a huge school of thousands of bigeye jacks and is the home of an active colony of friendly marble rays. Because of the heavy surge often present on the spot, Shark Fin can only be safely dived between 40 and 120 ft.

Website: Preview http://www.underseahunter.com by Thumbshots.org http://www.underseahunter.com
Diving trips to the Cocos Islands. Diving vessel highlights and booking information.

Contact information:
Phone: +506 - 228 6613
Fax: +506 - 289 7334
Street Address:

Costa Rica
Spoken language(s): English
Open: from 09-00 till 17-00
Local time:  GMT - 6 Mexico, Monterrey, Guadalajara
Note: No guarantee is made to the accuracy of these details.

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