Monday, December 17, 2012

Hola everyone! 
Back in the water today at Socorro island we did 3 dives! We took advantage of the current and explored the northern edge of the reef all the way to the end of it.  We spotted a couple of hammerheads white tips on our journey from one end of reef to the other. We saw a few mantas that didn't stay to play, but instead drifted with the current into the blue. For our second dive we spent time over the cleaning station where we found octopi, flounders, zebra eels, tiger snakes, scorpion fish, and more! We ended our 2nd dive with a pair of very friendly mantas that kept our cameras busy! 
Our last dive of the day was the best dive of the day.  The current was gone, and we found more playful mantas, schooling hammerheads, and even one dolphin to spice things up! 
We are still enjoying the warm water at 82F, with 50'+ visibility. One group stayed over the cleaning station, watching the clarion angelfish clean the mantas, not a bad way to end a day!

Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata





Friday, December 14, 2012


Greetings from San Benedicto!
Not too long ago we arrived to our destination Isla San Benedicto. We left rain behind in Cabo and arrived to sunny skies and whales breaching!!!! There  were a few whales spotted as we arrived to the island, later identified as  Sei Whales lobbing almost completely out of the water. Well our first dive was held at one our favorite dive sites El Canyon. The visibility was decent at 30 ft. and the water temperature remains warm at 82 degrees (F). Since it was our first dive, the goal was to get reacquainted with our gear and the dive site. We spent the dive checking all the nooks and crannies for green morays jewel morays, scorpion fish, and even found a handful of octo pus hunting the reef. We did see one silvertip checking us out, but otherwise sharkless on our checkout dive. It was a pleasant dive and a nice way to begin our diving here in the Revillagigedos. We are heading tonight to Socorro, hoping for some dolphins and mantas tomorrow.

Until Next Time,

Dave Valencia

Monday, December 10, 2012

We had a great two days here at Roca Partida.


Hi there Solmar fans,

We had a great two days here at Roca Partida. The water temperature remains warm at 82 degrees (F) and we endured a stiff current from the south both days. All three dives started the same from the South drifting to the north. The strong current brought countless fish at the southern end of Roca. Unfortunately, we could hover there long so we made the best and drifted. On our drifts we noticed there were more white tip sharks than ever. Everywhere you looked they seemed to be darting to a new resting spot. On dive one and two a manta circled near the north end and gave divers a fantastic manta experience. The second dive was the highlight of the day. There  was a nice school of 8 silvertip sharks that allowed a close approach. They circled between divers and allowed us to observe them closely. After the sharks, we started drifting with the manta away from the rock. The black manta went from one diver to the next. Continuing on our extra-long safety stop, dolphins joined in the fun. Just when we were going to end the dive the circled us along with the manta for at least 10 min. The manta even seemed jealous as our attention switched to the dolphins, then they were all together. It was amazing! Needless to say, we didn`t want to come up from that one. Our last dive was nice and relaxed. We took our time enjoying the cleaning stations, eels, whitetip sharks, and silvertips. We drifted away from the rock sad to leave, but happy with the great dives Roca has provided for us.

Until Next Time,

Dave Valencia

Sunday, December 9, 2012

The first day at Roca Partida was outstanding!


The First Day at Roca Partida was outstanding!
First dive in the morning and we found a southern current that made it difficult to hang out by the rock, but all our divers used a little extra effort and we could stayed by the rock for long time. At the beginning of the dive, we were just descending at the south point of Roca and 20 Bottlenose Dolphins welcomed us! Wait for Adil’s Trip Report to see these dolphins in action! Later on, we drifted towards the north point and found more dolphins that played with a Manta, while we tried to get up to where they were, we saw in the distance a huge pregnant Whale Shark that swam to us, suddenly the same Manta that the dolphins played with, went and joined the whale shark, so we got them both in the same shot! Unfortunately the whale shark didn’t stay with us for long, it just gave us a close up and then disappeared in the deep. By the afternoon dive, the current had picked up a bit more and so we did an easy drift dive along the wall, lucky us! This time a black manta showed up and stayed with us the entire dive.
We planned to stay another day in hope of finding that one whale shark or maybe a different one.
The water temperature is still in the low 80’s and a water visibility of 80'+ feet.
¡Hasta la vista!
Erick Higuera



Saturday, December 8, 2012

A great day of diving at Socorro Island!

A great day of diving at Socorro! We did 3 dives today, during the first one we had nice and strong current that made us swim a bit. We put in a little bit of extra effort for some great up-close hammerhead and silver tip encounters! While drifting along the reef we spotted mantas that stayed swimming around us and along the reef we also had the opportunity to find lots of lobsters, moray eels, flounders, etc. 
The second dive the current was very mild letting us stay for longer on the reef! Wild dolphins found us over the reef and stayed for a long while, making circles and other things around all divers! While playing with the dolphins we came upon a much larger surprise a WHALE SHARK! All the noise makers were shaking loudly to get the attention of our other groups of divers!  My group ended up in the shallow area of the cleaning station with mantas while the other groups went off to find 5 more mantas. 
Our last dive of the day went again with a mild current letting us go all the way to the end of reef, from beginning juveniles silver tips chasing our fins! That was crazy but fun! It was unusual to find so many white tips that came close for great photo ops! We also had mantas while drifting and ascending to our safety stop!

Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Hola from Isla San Benedicto!


Hola from Isla San Benedicto,

Today was our first day of diving. We arrived after a very comfortable crossing to El Fondeadero, our anchorage site. We were pleased to find the water is still warm at 81 degrees (F). This is not typical of this time of year, as we usually have cooler water now. So we`re going to enjoy it while we can. This was our check out dive so we planned to keep things nice and slow. We found 30 ft visibility with lots of life. There were many schools of fish everywhere you looked. Another oddity was the amount of white tip reef sharks we have been seeing. On this dive we counted ten actively hunting the reef and swimming circles seemingly making their territories known. Many octopus were also spotted and the green morays were out free swimming from rock to rock. It was a pleasant first dive and a great introduction to diving San Benedicto. 
Tomorrow we are headed to Isla Socorro where we hope to have some manta action.

Until next time,

Dave Valencia

Saturday, December 1, 2012

A final day at Socorro Island


Hi everybody.

Today was our last diving day of this trip. Early morning, after 3 incredible diving days at Roca Partida, we arrived to Socorro Island and we had our Mexican Navy inspection, before heading to our first dive at Cabo Pearce.
The water was 82 degrees, and we had more than 100 ft visibility, with nice strong currents from the north. 
During this dive we had the visit of a group of hammerheads, some whit tip reef sharks, and one manta show up briefly.
In our second dive, the current literally disappeared and we had 3 mantas surrounding our divers for the entire dive, approaching them. flipping over and over, more than happy to play with us!
On our last and final dive of this trip, we were visited by a nice manta again, and our divers enjoyed the view of this magnificent animal. At this time we are heading back to Cabo San Lucas, and you can see the big smiles in each of our divers faces after a great diving week.
Until our next trip we say hasta la vista!

Juan Ricardo TamaƱo
OWSI