It was an exciting day here at San Benedicto.

Happy here in Isla San Benedicto. It was our first full-day diving at the beautiful San Benedicto island and it didn't disappoint. It was a sunny, warm day with lots of great sightings. We started the day at El Canon. The surface temperature was 75 degrees (F), a strong current from the East, and 40 ft.. visibility. As usual, we made our way to the corner, but this time because of the strong current we had to hold the grab hold of the rocks and take shelter behind the reef. On our way to the corner, we were buzzed by a manta, but it didn't hang around very long. Once at the corner, we spotted hammerheads immediately. We were front and center as a school of 50 plus hammerheads came around and around. It was so good we spent the entire dive there and drifted to our safety stop. That's the way we like to start the day on the Solmar V. 

Dive two showed similar conditions. This time at the corner, no sharks arrived. So we drifted a little further on the divesite in search. A few hammerheads showed up and even a galapagos shark made a close pass. Our group was engulfed by a very large school of burrito grunts. On the far side of the divesite we watched a single hammerhead swim steady in the current and then we drifted into the blue. A large variety of jellies like salps and siphonophores all throughout the water column. An interesting way to end dive two.

After the dive, we spotted a group of boobies, what looked like to be feeding on the surface. On closer inspection we noticed the boobies were surrounding a sea turtle as it was resting on the surface. So we jumped in the water to check it out. Underneath the surface, you could see 15 or so silky sharks bumping the poor turtle. When we hit the water, the silkies dove a little deeper and the turtle took refuge underneath the panga. The turtle allowed a very close interaction with the snorkelers in the water. Underneath the turtle, 15 silver/black pilot fish swam to keep up. We watched as the silkies circled us a some small silvertips sharks joined in. Finally, the turtle had enough and made a go for the shelter of a safe place at the bottom. The sharks, of course, pursued but we couldn't make out the ending. It was an exciting day here at San Benedicto.

Till next time,

Dave Valencia