ISOLATED

Well we made it to Cocos on Friday, May 27. It was a hard slog -we motored nearly all the way to Cocos Island and burned 550 litres of diesel, changed 2 primary and 2 secondary fuel filters etc...Was it worth it-YES. The Cocos Island is amazing. It was just like stepping into Juarassic Park. We arrived just before sunset. Although we arrived in Chatham Bay at the most sheltered anchorage first, we had to continue to Wafer Bay and clear in. It was a very gloomy sunset and the sea was rolly and uninviting. We motored around the bay but decided it was unsafe to anchor. We quickly motored back to Chatham bay. The water was dark and it was difficult to decide which was sand, rock or coral.There were 3 liveaboard dive boats and a Danish Catemaran all on mooring balls. We called the cat and they advised us to take a spare mooring ball as there were no other dive boats due. Although it was getting dark the thought of becoming shark food did not deter us from jumping into the sea and refreshing after the horrific journey. I swam to the cat to say hello but Sheryl got straight out as the North Pacific does have a murky look and she thought there would be schools of hammerheads underneath her. There was a guy from Switzerland called Pascal visiting the cat-he was from the dive liveaboard and was looking for a lift to Galapagos. He is travelling the Pacific and trying to make articles on diving for publishers. Sheryl and I decided originally not to take on passengers or crew but Pascal seemed very interesting and we realised that an extra person for night watch is useful-so we invited him along.

On our first morning in Cocos the torrential rain finally stopped and we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. The scenery was spectacular with sheer cliffs cloaked in lush green rainforest. A variety of sea birds clung to rocky outcrops and sat in the trees on the shore when they weren't soaring above us. I kayaked over to the 'Agressor' liveaboard to enquire about diving with them. The Captain said 'no' which was disappointing as the rangers had told us it wasn't safe for the 2 of us to dive alone as a few weeks ago a diver had been swept 3 miles out to sea in a strong current and he was with a guided group. Luckily he was eventually found by a search party of 5 boats. Ian and I decided to go snorkelling instead and enjoyed gliding over small white tip reef sharks and checking out the unusual marine life. We pottered around in the dinghy next to the cliffs and checked out several waterfalls that were spilling into the sea. In the afternoon we kayaked to shore and climbed up to a lookout at the top of the hill. We had now mastered the art of surfing our kayaks onto beaches and paddling out into rolling waves. It was very hot and humid on land but we had a lovely view of Chatham Bay and the birds were now soaring at eye level with us. We sat for a long time taking in the view when all of a sudden we heard a rustling noise in the bushes. Expecting some wierd creature to emerge we poised our camera at the bush. To our surprise 2 rats sprang out of the bush and jumped across in front of us. Ian managed to take a photo of the rat at the same time as it poked it's tongue out at us. Nice.

There was another liveaboard dive boat moored in the bay next to us called 'Sea Hunter'. Not to give up easily on the diving we took the dinghy over to enquire about diving with them. The divemaster said he could organize a guide for us the next afternoon to do 2 dives on Melorita Island. I was really looking forward to seeing some hammerheads as they were known to frequent the rock in the strong currents. The guide called Esteban was excellent-from the moment he greeted us when we visited the boat the previous day until the crew picked him up after our dive, he was so enthusiastic.and extremely knowledgeable. He did have bad news for us- there was no chance of seeing a red lipped batfish as he had only seen 1 out of 12 dive trips to the island. Like all good plans we didn't get off to a good start. We had to motor our dinghy around to Sea Hunter to pick up the guide. Once we had him and all his gear on board as well as ours we headed off with our 10 horse power engine to the dive site. We got about half a mile away from the Sea Hunter when our engine died. Luckily the Sea Hunter was still in sight but we couldn't get their attention. We called them on the radio, held up a dive sausage and whistled for help. Ian and the guide called Steban started rowing the dinghy as we were getting swept by the waves into the rocks. Finally the Sea Hunter saw us and sent a boat to the rescue. The mechanic from Sea Hunter fixed our engine and after about half an hour we set off to the dive site. We couldn't dive the rock as the current was too strong so we went to a small bay for the first dive. It was very nice and we saw loads of white tip sharks, 2 marbled stingrays and a variety of reef fish. The guide spotted 2 Harlequin Shrimp which were very beautiful and a rare find. Unfortunately I but spiked my hand on a sea urchin (I pulled around 20 spines out of my hand while underwater, but many broke and remained under the skin-mainly the ones Ian pulled) in the process of taking the photo of the little critters that were wedged under a rock ledge. For the second dive the guide took us to Melorita rock.It was on the open ocean side of the rock-all other boats were gone and it was just us in the little dinghy with the unreliable 10hp engine. The swell was big and the waves thundered onto the rocks and cliffs only 20 metres away. It was late in the afternoon. it was getting darkish and the sky was gloomy when we jumped in the dark water. The guide assured me that once below it would be calm. Ian stayed on the dinghy as safety cover-he motored to 1 end of the rock-switched off the engine and drifted in the strong current before going back again-he was completely surrounded by the wild North Pacific and the many creatures that exist there-he saw a stingray jump out of the water nearby and many schools of fish feeding on the surface. He was always concerned that the engine would fail and he would drift to sea. There was only a little current below and we swam to the cleaning station where the hammerheads come in to be cleaned by small fish. Unfortunately they were out for the day. We didn't see any hammerheads just an eagle ray and more whitetip reef sharks. At the end of the dive Esteban allowed the dive sausage to surface as we drifted in the current below. This allowed Ian to strategically place the dinghy for a pick up.

I was a bit disappointed that I had not been able to really see the underwater world of this wild island as the next day we were leaving. The good news was that our new crewmate Pascal was waiting for us when we got back to Faraway. Pascal helped us to get ready for the next sailing adventure to the even more mysterious Galapagos Islands. After a rolly nights sleep and a quick dip in the ocean we headed south east into the wild blue..........