gina

You should know that May is the middle of upwelling season along the Central California coast.  Winds push the coastal surface waters south and west, and the deep, cold, nutrient-rich waters replace it, making for low visibility.  This doesn't mean every day at every location has bad vis--just that there's a greater chance of it than during winter.

 

I don't know how far south the upwelling goes, so So Cal may or may not have better vis in general.

 

Upwelling season also means lots of whales in Monterey Bay, so if you have a chance you may want to do that, too

 

-Gina

I think Wild Aid is one of the best conservation organizations as they are attempting to "stop the buying so the killing stops, too," and they do a lot of (great) work in China, ground zero for anti-conservation.

 

I'm also a fan of Sea Shepherd because sometimes you can't just wait around and hope others stop their killing.

 

Nature Conservancy and Ocean Conservancy (not related) work world-wide to preserve species and their habitat, while Defenders of Wildlife works primarily in the US and North America.

 

If you want to stick more to organizations that are more directly connected with diving, then there's Shark Savers.

 

Of course there are a million more organizations, but these are all large enough to make a difference, while still being well-regarded.

 

-Gina

They're all wonderful photos but I especially like the little bobtail squid!

-Gina

I can't tell you why that's happening, but I can tell you that if you edit out everything before "http" you will have a valid link:

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000187 EndHTML:0000002998 StartFragment:0000002525 EndFragment:0000002962 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/mike/Desktop/Word%20Files/ImagePostingNotes.dochttp://www.azurereal...blenny_3621.jpg

Just erase the crossed-out bits and you will be left with the location of your image. Wetpixel appears to recognize the URL and automatically change it into a link.

-Gina

If you could only go to Cocos once in your life what 1 or 2 months would you go? The highest probability of having awesome diving is what I am looking for.

I've now been in May-June (2010) and March (2011) and while both trips had good weather and minimal rain, there were definitely more hammerheads there in March. I have heard that the peak season for the hammers is September, but that also tends to be a time of rainier weather. This page will give you an idea of what to expect weather-wise, but remember, it's a rare trip when you see no rain whatsoever: http://underseahunte...05/climate.html Also, if you look back at various trip reports here, they tell you what the weather & water conditions were like on each trip: http://underseahunte...ripreports.html Personally, I would go any time of the year but if I had my choice I would like to see what September is like.

I keep reading about how El Nino years are not good years to go to Cocos. How do you find out what years are El nino are in effect for cocos? and how far in advance do they know?

El Niño year are not good because the warmer waters tend to keep the hammerheads to depths beyond recreational scuba. But they may also bring in different creatures. You may notice coral bleaching during or after an El Niño but coral isn't the reason one goes to Cocos. This page will tell you a bit more about El Niño in general: http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/

By the way, if you haven't yet booked a boat I would highly recommend the Undersea Hunter boats. They and their crew are clean, professional, safe, wonderful, and the best group to dive Cocos with.

-Gina