Socorro Island was full of great and wild surprises underwater!

May 19, 2015
Hello everyone from Socorro Island!
The fourth day of the trip once again came full of great and wild surprises underwater! We spent the day diving at Punta Tosca, which came perfect in terms of conditions as the wind was blocked by the island and its high volcano hill offering the perfect shelter for coming back and forth from the Solmar V to the entry point of the dives with the zodiacs.
Almost flat sea as the sun came up, our first dive after a nutritious breakfast was very diverse, so if time usually flies when you are underwater, this time even more so. Water temperature was 77F/25C and vis. ranged from 50ft/15m to 80ft/24m throughout the day . The wall of Punta Tosca is always in action, from the clarion angelfish to the "schooling" bicolor parrot fish, lobsters , octopus, scorpion stone fish, eels...it is hard not to miss something with so much to look at, right? Well, we certainly remembered to look up too when the shadow of a huge chevron pacific giant manta came upon us! As we came to the other side of the wall the vivid colors of the reef surprised us once again, with several white tip reef sharks and a friendly green turtle completing the picture. As we headed  slowly up to the safety stop a couple of curious baby galapagos sharks came by for a closer look.
As we explored other parts of the reef during the next dive, a black giant manta guided one of the groups along the bar of rock and coral which runs perpendicular to the main wall, and another  chevron manta kept coming in and out of the blue. This shallower area of Punta Tosca, with 40 feet/12m of water on top of the reef and 80feet/24m at the bottom, made these second and third dive a very rewarding experience. It was Pure Wild Cuteness. As divers were resting over the sandy bottom up to six baby galapagos sharks and three baby white tip reef sharks kept making circles around the group, full of childish curiosity! Also, a small green turtle joined the baby parade demanding her share of attention. For the last dive of the day the current rose and we all went for a drift dive which took us all along the reef with no need for a fin kick! Then it was time for a delicious dinner and to get some rest for more adventure tomorrow!! Ciao Ciao everybody, report to you soon!!
Adrian
Divemaster on board