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MV Argo dive boat review
With world-class facilities, world-class vessels and world-class diving, the Undersea Hunter Fleet are one of the key dive safari operators visiting the amazing Cocos Islands. MV Argo is the newest vessel on their stunning fleet and the sister vessel to MV Sea Hunter and MV Undersea Hunter.
The Cocos Islands, off the coast of Costa Rica, were designated as a protected marine park back in 1978. Today, still equally impressive, they remain home to some of the most impressive pelagic life on the planet. There is a great diversity of marine and still the chance to see large groups of sharks and rays in their natural habitat. Some experts also speculate that during the correct season whales utilise the Cocos Islands to take shelter from the open ocean, congregate and give birth. With in excess of 25 endemic fish species, including such special species as the red-lipped batfish, the Cocos Islands are a wonderful playground for experienced divers.
MV Argo is the newest addition to the fleet. She was built in 2008 to be a hybrid of luxury liveaboard and working ship. The owners, Underseahunter Group, consider her to be the culmination and amalgamation of all their knowledge and experience running vessels in these waters over the past years. Argo is 129ft/39m long, 26ft/8m in beam and – with her strong steel-hulled construction – weighs in with a displacement of 205 tons. She’s sturdy, safe and ready for action! And, with a powerful 850hp CAT motor she’s capable of powering to and from these famous islands at a cruising speed of 10 knots.
As you would expect with this class of vessel, there’s the full range of safety, navigation and emergency equipment. Argo is equipped with depth sounder, radar, GPS and radio (VHF/DSC/SSB), life rafts, fired detection and fire-fighting equipment, first-aid supplies and a crew trained in dealing with emergency situations. In addition, Argo has a crane on the aft deck and a Deep See Submersible for which is able to take 3 passenger and explore the oceans. This allows even non-divers to witness first hand some of the amazing aquatic life.
You can check the availability and prices for this Boat here.
Cabins and Boat Layout
Argo is able to cater to a maximum 18 guests over 9 cabins known as ‘Staterooms’. Each stateroom is interchangeable to either a twin or double occupancy, is air-conditioned and has ensuite facilities including shower and toilet. There are also TVs in the cabins should you wish to view media. Clean and comfortable, you’re sure to wake refreshed and ready for the day’s scuba action!
Food is served in a buffet style and is a mixture of tasty local and traditional western dishes. Vegetarian options are available if specified. Snacks are available throughout the day ensuring you spend you voyage with your appetite satiated.
Double Cabin
Double Cabin
The vessel features a comfortable salon/lounge area and an spaciously proportioned sun-deck for relaxing between dive
Lounge area
Argo has a comfortable lounge area with soft chairs where you can chat, relax or even have a little nap on your surface interval! There’s TV/DVD, games and a refrigerator stocked with drinks to make your time here as hospitable as possible.
Dining area
The dining room serves up a nourishing combination of western and Costa Rican meals. On offer are fresh tropical fruits, salads, along with stunning meals – both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. All meals are prepared in a variety of styles by one of the chefs onboard who work wonders within the confines of the galley.
Up on the top deck is the bridge and a spacious sun-deck. Admire the vista or have a cold drink soaking up the night sky. The choice is yours.
Diving onboard Argo
The facilities onboard Argo are truly amazing. A toy box for grown-ups!
Beginning with the diving facilties, Argo has a large, spacious dive deck. She is, naturally, scuba and nitrox friendly. In addition, for the more technically minded, she offers CCR support.
There are 3 support dinghy/skiffs. Powered by twin 115hp motors, each 8m in length and equipped with VHF Radio, navigation and safety equipment. for diver transportation to and from the dive site, taking lucky guests to and from the shore or tracking the submersible.
Inside the Deep See Submersible
Yes, Argo has it’s own submersible – ‘Deep See Submersible’. ABS approved and certified with a Schilling Orion robotic arm; it’s capable of taking 3 persons in this 1500ft/500m rated submersible.
And, to record all of these amazing experiences, there are camera stations and lots of charging points to ensure you don’t miss a thing.
Itineraries
The itineraries take you to the far away Cocos Islands. The islands are a considerable distance offshore and a 32-36 hour transfer once aboard is typical. The facilities are world class and, combined with the offshore travel time, not inexpensive.
Price starts at 5,845$US for 11 days / 10 nights – Cocos Islands
Where does this liveaboard dive boat go?
Check out the fabulous places where this dive boat travels to.
Note: some destinations may not be listed below, please enquire for more details.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica offers experienced divers some of the best diving in the world.
Cocos Island Costa Rica
"The most beautiful island in the world." and The world's most remote diving destination with regular liveaboard service.
- If you have been diving on board this liveaboard dive boat in Cocos & Costa Rica, please share your review and let us know what you thought. Please post your comments in the review section below, by doing so you will help fellow divers to plan their next diving trip
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We had an unforgettable week scuba-diving on Argo!
We’ve dived in many beautiful places including the Tuamotu archipelago in French Polynesia. But nothing compares to Cocos Island when it comes to sharks. We’ve never seen as much scalloped hammerhead sharks. We admired them during all of our 21 dives apart from 2: the check dive in a lovely coral garden, and a dive on Big Dos Amigos, where we saw a tiger shark. Galapagos sharks are numerous as well. And we could see some black tip sharks, one whale shark, and two tiger sharks! There are so many white tip reef sharks that you ignore them completely. Apart from sharks, there are some impressive schools of jacks, some massive tunas, barracudas, frog fishes, marble rays, eagle rays, boxer crabs, just to mention a few.
Security is paramount. All divers are equipped with GPS emitters, lights and whistles in case you are taken away by current. Undersea Hunter developed an astute defense pole to which you can add a bullet firing top in case of an unlikely attack from a tiger shark. The dive guides are very professional and caring. The dive sites have lines to facilitate the access to submerged rocks in big currents. You have space for your photography gear. The skiffs used to get to the dive sites are comfortable and speedy.
We were thrilled to dive with Deepsee submarine. We greatly appreciated the professionalism of our pilot Federico, whose knowledge and kindness made our exploration highly entertaining and captivating. Time flied during the whole journey! We started with dolphins at the surface. We enjoyed looking at crabs, eels, frog fish, brotulas, groupers, and many strange invertebrates. At 300m depth, we were so excited to spot an unknown fish species, that needs to be checked by a scientist for identification.
The boat is large with comfy cabins with lovely marine paintings. We had the manta ray cabin. On the first night in Cocos, we were annoyed by a high pitch noise due to a generator. As soon as we mentioned it, they found a solution to stop it. More generally the whole team was very kind and caring. You can feel that all team members are happy and love their jobs. The food was good. On top of that we had a very friendly group of divers, which allowed for a lot of captivating conversations.
We will be back!