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

Las Cuevas critters and the humpback whale song!

Our first dive of the trip took place at las cuevas (the caves) of San Benedicto Island.  It was nice to get in the water and feel a warm water temp of 75F with no thermocline.  We had no current, but there was a bit of surge which resulted in slightly lower visibility. We had fun diving the outer part of the dive site first before working our way into the caves. As usual the white tips sharks were ready to have their photos taken with as many as 10 in a frame.  We also ran into numerous lobsters, eletric rays, green sea turtles, and as a teaser one chevron manta showed up for a brief moment! During our safety stop we felt like were in an aquarium as we were surrounded by creole fish, and we can not forget to mention that we listened to the humpback whale song the entire dive, and the whales were singing so that loud we could feel it on our chest. Everyone still had a blast despite the sub-par visibility.

Dive Instructor Daniel

Today was "The Sharky Day"

Hola Amigos!

Guess what?! Today was “The Sharky Day”, after having a great day in Roca Partida, we moved to San Benedicto Island to do the last diving day and finish our trip. Waking up back in El Cañón, there were already our friendly pod of dolphins playing and waiting for us at the surface, so, we kicked down the line facing a strong northeast current that was bringing up 60’ visibility of clear water with 75°F, knowing that the conditions were perfect for us because our chances to see big schools of hammerheads were high! In fact, we hadn’t even left the anchor when a group of 12 hammerheads were cruising the blue, suddenly 2 dolphins swam like rockets and we realized that were chasing a Bigeye Jack for breakfast, but this jacks are smart enough and have and amazing escape strategy that when they feel themselves that the predator is going to get them, right in the last second this jacks throw up what have eaten, it could be sardines or mackerels and distract and keeps the enemy entertained while the jacks escape.  After watching this game of the cat and the smart mouse, we finally got to the cleaning station and a massive school of 100+ hammerheads was already swimming over the reef, so we all hold on the rocks and wait for the school to swim over our heads, it was outstanding seeing a surface covered of this beautiful sharks!. Later on we spotted a galapagos shark shape like but when it got close to us we confirmed what it was an 11’ Tiger shark, that surprised one of the divers making him to drop his regulator for such a big surprise! Of course he put his regulator back in his mouth right away, it was hilarious. Back on the Solmar V and getting dry to relax and do our surface interval, one of the divers asked the divemasters what were a big group of bobbies and frigate birds doing in the horizon, we decided to grab our snorkeling gear, jumped on the pangas and went to check it out, when we got out there we found a bait ball full of silkies, about 50 sharks that were still hunting a small group of baby jacks, it was a first class adventure!

On our second dive we saw the same school of hammerheads but this time were swimming away of the reef, on the way back to the safety stop a Manta swam by and stay briefly playing with the bubbles of one of the divers.

By the third dive, the hammerheads were gone but few juveniles silver tip sharks came to the cleaning station to visit the butterfly fishes that keep them nice and clean, also we enjoyed the hundreds of Green Morays and Lobsters that inhabit the crevices of El Cañón. We are heading back to Cabo San Lucas to relax and chill out for couple days before to start another Great Wild Adventure aboard the Solmar V.

Hasta la próxima amigos!!

Erick

Roca Partida

Hola from the one of a kind Roca Partida!
Today was an extraordinary day here, starting with very blue water and easily over 100' visibility.  Wild dolphins escorted us in the pangas from the Solmar V to all the way to the dive site.  We dropped in on the north eastern side of Roca where we found at least 15 white tip sharks guarding the ledge at 50' before we made our way to the northern point of Roca.  Galapagos sharks were coming in and out of the depths along with silver tip sharks.  After we made it around the northern point onto the western side we stayed by the wall and spent our time looking for camoflauged octopus!  
On our second dive we had no current so we were able to make it all the way around the rock!  We ran into even more white tip sharks and watched as green eels  slithered their way up the hard coral wall of Roca.  Out in the blue we saw a few galapagos sharks.
The third dive we stuck to just one side of the rock this time.  The eastern side of the rock was full of galapagos and silver tip sharks at all depths!  We also ran into a few good sized hammerheads plus some of the big yellow fin tuna in the photo below! Water temp was in the low 70's with 80'+ visibility and no current at all.
Dive Instructor Daniel

What a great day here at Isla Socorro!

What a great day here at Isla Socorro!

This morning we awoke to the sun kissing the sky in an explosion of reds, purples, and yellows. A collage of colors silhoutted the welcoming Isla Socorro.

We had an amazing day of diving on one dive site, Punta Tosca. What made it even more exciting is that it was our first time diving this site all season. Our first dive greeted us with 76 degree (F) surface temp., light current, and 40 ft. visibility. Within seconds of entering the water, we had a manta. It was a very friendly manta as it made passes around the entire group. The manta even stopped and enjoyed the bubbles of more than a few divers. As we slowly drifted the wall, the manta followed and more mantas joined the fun. We then had three mantas until the dive's end.

Dive two started much the same way, as a manta eagerly awaited our entry into the water. The stronger current, moved us along the wall a little faster. We spotted a few white tip sharks and we could hear dolphins, but couldn't see them yet. We could hear the pangas zipping far overhead exciting the chirps and clicks of the dolphins so we knew they were close.. Dolphins appeared and swam zipped in front of us. They were curious this morning approaching very close. Even as we drifted from the wall, they continued swim circles around us. The highlight was one dolphin allowed one group to gently touch it for over a minute. There is a great  pic and some "gopro" footage as you can imagine. Even as we surfaced the dolphins bounded from the ocean around us and they were bowriding almost all the way back to the Solmar V.

Dive three at Punta Tosca was very nice. We drifted the wall slowly taking time to point out octopus, white tip sharks, and eels. We even spotted a few hammerheads here and there. We were surprised when a group of 60 hammerheads graced our presence. Not more than five minutes later a group of 30 or so hammerheads were seen silhoutted against the sun. Once in the panga, as many as 15 mantas were seen in the area feeding on the surface. A few jumped in to snorkel as they watched the mantas sommersault mouth wide open to feed on the microscopic plankton.
 
It was a memorable day here in Socorro and looking forward to more days like this one heading to Roca Partida tomorrow.

Until next time....
Dave Valencia

It was a beautiful morning to dive "El Canon"

Hola from San Benedicto Island!

It was a beautiful morning to dive "El Canon", as we went down the line for our first dive, we had a bit of current from the north east, and because of this we had a good feeling that we were going to run into some hammerheads.  Once we got to 60' of water, we waited for a minute while playing with over 10 wild dolphin, before heading to the southern corner of the dive site.  By the time we got there, there were at least 40 to 50 hammerheads coming in and out from the deep.  As we made our way back to the boat, we saw a few octopus, lobsters, and the green moray eels were everywhere! We were entertained on our safety stop watching lots of creole fish. 

For our second dive, we had a little bit more current, so we continued with the same dive path.  This time we ran into some hammerheads, silver tips, LOTS of fish, and 3 mantas!

The third dive we did in 60' of water, and as we swam down the anchor line, there was already a giant manta waiting to play!  We decided to head north from this point, we ran into more hammerheads coming in and out that were not shy and came very close.  The manta we initially met on our descent decided to follow us on our journey north, and was soon joined by two more mantas!  We stopped swimming because we were surrounded by three acrobatic mantas swimming circles around us that wanted all our attention!  What a fun day of diving!

Inst. Daniel

Everything checked out on our checkout dive!

Buenas Tardes from San Benedicto!!

It was our first dive of the trip this afternoon on Las Cuevas. This spot is know for it's alluring caves. There are two and can be stacked with whitetip sharks. Today we had 30-40 foot visibility, a slight current, and a surface temp of 75 degrees (F). Our dive started in the caves where we spotted three whitetips right away resting in the corner. We watched on as they brought water in their mouths and out their gill slits. As we moved out of the cave we swam around getting comfortable on our first dive together pointing out green morays, lobsters, and even a giant electric ray (whose name is misleading since they are maximum 2ft. long). Another very interesting find was a sea urchin spawning on top of a rock. It looked to us like a little volcano. We finished the dive zig-zagging through the caves and up for our safety stop. All divers came up happy to be in the water again and looking forward to more dive in beautiful San Benedicto.

Saludos,
Dave Valencia