It was Roca Partida take two today.

Greetings from Roca Partida!

It was Roca Partida take two today. Yesterday was so fabulous we had to do it again. And today didn't disappoint.

Our first dive today gave us a slight current with 150'+ vis, it was beautiful. On the north point we found lots of sharks. One or two silkies patrolled the area, but on the outside we found a school of approx. 30 Galapagos and 4 Silvertip sharks coming in and out of the blue. The school circled again and again allowing us to see their numbers. A few split from the school and circled on the rock behind us getting cleaned by a few of the  barberfish. As soon as we would approach, however, they would move out of the area. After enjoying the show for awhile, we drifted along the east side of the rock checking the caves for whitetip reef sharks. White tips were everywhere some were even swimming along the wall moving from one cave to another. We saw a few Galapagos here and there, but it wasn't until we hit the south end that we had a large school of 20 circle in front of us three times. They got very close and my group got some great pics. After drifting around the south end we spotted another 5 Galapagos circling near the wall and we called it a dive. Yellowfin tuna graced our safety stop and we all finished the dive beaming.

On our way to the second dive we spotted dolphins so we got geared up. We entered the water far from the rock but were drifting towards it. We had a pod of twenty or so cruise through. Only four were in the playing mood. They swam circles around all of us and put on a pretty good show for about 10-15 minutes. Follwing the interaction, we made our way back to the rock and found the school of Galapagos. The water column was also filled with jacks of all kinds and tuna continued to swim by the outside.

On the final dive of the day we started on the north point. A few Galapagos were here and there. Lots of fish were everywhere, there were waiting lines for the cleaning stations. We said  our goodbyes to all the whitetips in the caves and got some last minute pics. We drifted and saw the school of Galapagos again and again. Out of nowhere we even spotted a very rare mobila making an appearance. We ended the dive observing the yellowfin tuna feeding on the baitfish on the surface right in front of us.

Roca lived up to its reputation this visit. It was one of the best visits to roca in a long time. Off to Isla San Benedicto tomorrow.

Until next time...

Dave Valencia