Anyone dive Galapagos or Cocos during El Nino?

We are looking to book for 09. On the waiting list for Cocos but were thinking of trying the Galapagos. NOAA says 2009-10 El Nino will be in full force and we have heard this can really effect the Galapagos. Looking for opinions or better yet anyone that dove there during an El Nino year. When did you go? How was the action?

Thanks

We are looking to book for 09. On the waiting list for Cocos but were thinking of trying the Galapagos. NOAA says 2009-10 El Nino will be in full force and we have heard this can really effect the Galapagos. Looking for opinions or better yet anyone that dove there during an El Nino year. When did you go? How was the action?

 

Thanks

I visited both Galpagos and Cocos during the 1997 El Nino.

Galapagos still had some very interesting diving though we didn't see many sharks. Was a bit depressing in that the marine iguanas and birds obviously weren't getting nearly as much food as they should. Still had a fun time though. Some good manta encounters and we got a front row seat for a group of dorado as they attacked a bait ball. This was relatively early in my dive career so my opinion of the diving may be overly positive in that anything underwater was great at that time. The more experienced divers at the time were a bit disappointed in not seeing many hammerheads and only a few white tip reef sharks. We didn't see any whale sharks either. What few corals were there were very stressed and bleached.

At Cocos there were no hammerheads at all and very few other sharks. Lots of schooling jacks, big stingrays, etc and the visibility was close to 200 feet with 82 degree water. When I went back the next year after the vis was more like 60-80 feet, the water was about 72 degrees and we saw big schools of hammerheads and other sharks on nearly every dive.

So... if you do go don't expect sharks. Diving will probably be OK otherwise though I think I'd probably go someplace else during an El Nino.

Clinton

Ditto to what Clinton said. We have been to both the Galapagos and Coco during el Nino events - not nearly as good as the times we went when water temps were closer to "normal."

The problem is knowing how the year is going to shake out before you make your reservations.

IMHO, I would save my money for another time.

Thanks for input, looks like we will stick with the South Pacific for 09. Maybe the Solomons and Fiji.

Thanks for input, looks like we will stick with the South Pacific for 09. Maybe the Solomons and Fiji.

That's where the wife and I are heading this December - a few days in Fiji just to relax then onto the Solomons for a 10 day cruise on the Spirit of the Solomons. Lookign forward to that

Ditto to what Clinton said. We have been to both the Galapagos and Coco during el Nino events - not nearly as good as the times we went when water temps were closer to "normal."

 

The problem is knowing how the year is going to shake out before you make your reservations.

 

IMHO, I would save my money for another time.

another ditto. we were at cocos for the 97 el nino and it was a wasted trip. Great viz and warm water but not much else. We saw maybe one hammerhead.

Howard Hall's "Island of the Sharks" was filmed at Cocos during the '97 El Nino.

I believe the footage speaks for the diving at Cocos Island during an El Nino year.

At the risk of there being no available spots at Cocos, I was there in '99 after the El Nino was over, and the shark action was phenomenal. I suppose that I should get my '10 booking in now

Although this is quite an old post, I still wanted to share my experiences as I saw it before I went and got quite afraid I was about to be having a horrible trip.

To put it in a nutshell: It was awesome! I went to Cocos in October, during what many experts believe is going to be one of the strongest El Ninos ever. The water was indeed very warm (28 degrees Celsius on most dives with the occasional thermocline between 20 and 40m and around 22 degrees below that). Nevertheless, we had loads of hammerheads, also big schools (the biggest with at least 300) and a total of 7 different species of shark (Hammers, Tigers, Galapagos, Silkies, Silvertips, Whitetips, Blacktips). Also, the hammers weren't that deep with some of the schools ranging almost to the surface.

All in all I guess it's just a matter of luck but from what I've heard the trips before mine were pretty great as well.

Have a look at my video for some proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0KyjuLri9k

Cheers