First humpback sighting of the season, plus a pair of whale sharks at Roca Partida!!

   January  10^th

Last night we headed to Roca Partida a Little worried about weather conditions because apparently the wind was picking up and getting a bit rough during the day.  Luckily the sunrise came with little wind and the current didn’t seem too bad at all. As Dani was going over the general dive site briefing some divers interrupted and pointed over the starboard side, the first humpback whale of the season had just made her appearance breaching a few miles north-west!! The excitement was in the air obviously, so we hurried out to the site in the pangas, group by group. Just 1 minute has past into our dive  and a 4m whale shark passed by only few metres away, and the divers could not believe it!  After the big shark disappeared into the blue we started to see some hammerheads and Galapagos a little deeper but coming up towards us. We thought the last group had missed the whale shark but just a few minutes after a second one came to us out of nowhere, this time a medium size adult! As we explored again the east side, more hammerheads keep coming by together with some silver tips and more Galapagos, there were so many sharks the divers didn’t know which way to look. Slowly making our way up to our safety stop and a third whale shark came from north, very curious it came very shallow to check the divers closely. Everybody was totally satisfied but hungry for more. The second dive seemed like it would hardly get as good as the previous, but the whale sharks were still wandering the rock, making pass after pass. This time we decided to check out the west face of the rock, and we were immediately rewarded. We swam into the blue a little bit and a few silky sharks followed by a couple of Galapagos, seemed to just be clearing the way for the big school of hammerhead sharks coming on parade. Back to the rock the whale sharks kept coming for more.  After lunch and a comforting siesta the wind was then blowing strong but the current underwater seemed ok. Again the sharks surrounded us several times, schooling hammerheads a little deeper were also seen and some of the groups enjoyed some quality time with a giant manta, not to mention the spectacular school of striped bonitos seen over the south end of the rock. The soundtrack of the dive couldn’t be better, humpbacks singing not far from us. All and all, the day had everyone immensely happy. Let’s see what tomorrow has in store for our excited divers!

Adrian 

DM on board Solmar V