Greetings from Roca Partida

Greetings from Roca Partida!

What an excellent day of diving. We saw conditions improve greatly from
yesterday with 50' visibility on the first dive and 80 degrees (F) on the
surface. There was some current left over from yesterday coming from the
NE. The first dive was a shark exhibition as soon as we hit the water we
had Silvertip and Galapagos Sharks weaving in and out of the Creolefish.
There were just too many to count. The outside of the Creolefish was busy
too with a seemingly endless school of Yellowfin Tuna running by for as
long as we waited. We moved to the South side of Roca Partida where we
were treated to a school of 20 hammerheads. Some Silvertips and Galapagos
cruised with them as well. We watched as the school came around and
around. The fifth and final pass was the best as the school of hammerheads
emerged from below, some to the left and some to the right. We were
surrounded! We finished our dive with a brief look at Roca, spotting
numerous green morays and whitetip sharks. We even stopped to watch a few
barberfish do their thing and the many cleaning stations.

Dive two showed good visibility at 60'+ and a continued current, though
less, from the NE. We started our dive shallow checking out the many
ledges on Roca. This is the place whitetip sharks like to nap during the
day. A peak over the first ledge showed 10 whitetip sharks all snuggled
up. The next ledge an equal amount. The last and largest ledge had 30 or
more whitetip sharks. From there our group ventured back to the south
point to see if we could find the hammerheads again. We saw many
Silvertips and Galapagos sharks on the way. Sure enough we watched as a
group of 20 hammerheads came schooling by. They gave us three great passes
before they slowly went about their day. The current took us to the north
point of Roca and we watched as the Galapagos sharks and Silvertips
passed. Again, too many to count and a great way to end our second dive.

Our third dive was the best of the day. Visibility improved to 70'+ and
the current picked up, still coming from the NE. We started with checking
out  the ledges of whitetips again....10..20...30...so many. The group
agreed before hand to go 3 for 3 with hammerheads so we went south again.
Within minutes we were on a small school of 5. We waited and a few single
hammerheads here and there, some Galapagos sharks. Then another small
school of 5 hammerheads. We made our way back to Roca, which took some
time given the current. We enjoyed the cleaning stations and watched the
Silvertips pass by ever so closely. Finally at the North  point, the
current was strong. We saw 5 Galapagos swimming in a line, then 5
Silvertips they started swimming very quickly in circles as if searching
for something hiding in the reef. We looked up and saw a school of 10
hammerheads under a bait ball of hundreds of skipjack tuna. The school of
hammerheads made a very close pass as we began to drift with the current.
The hammerheads left, but the baitball remained as we were engulfed by the
massive school. On all sides of us for the next 5 minutes the school went
around and around. What a way to end our dives here at Roca Partida.

Saludos,
Dive Instructor
Dave Valencia