There are still spaces left for the September 18-28 shark & sea turtle tagging research expedition to Cocos Island on the Undersea Hunter vessel "Argo." Twice yearly, NGOs PRETOMA of Costa Rica and Sea Turtle Restoration Project of the US join forces and travel to Cocos to tag animals, retrieve & replace data receivers, and download transmitter data. Experienced divers are invited to join biologists and participate in the work.
I've done this trip twice so far and it has been an amazing experience; I loved being able to use my diving to contribute to conservation work. Not only do you get to dive a world-class area on the biggest and best liveaboard there, but your costs go to covering the expenses of the researchers, allowing them to perform the work. Divers are encouraged to help the researchers, but it is not at all required. You can help save Cocos while diving there! Plus, costs can be tax-deductible, at least in the US. And just in case that isn't enough, September should be prime season for seeing hundreds of schooling hammerhead sharks.
More info is here: http://seaturtles.org/article.php?id=1703.
Just to get you in the mood, I've included a few photos from my March trip below.
-Gina
hammerhead in blue by g-na, on Flickr
todd and his turtle by g-na, on Flickr
hammers and mooring line by g-na, on Flickr
receiver retrieval by g-na, on Flickr
