Hola!
Roca Partida did it again! We just had another amazing day of diving it’s the third one here and it keeps getting better. The visibility was still the same 16ft/18m to 80ft/24m, the temperature on the surface was 78F/25.5C and 72F/22C at depth.
On the first dive we started next to the rock on the south west side and swam into the blue for a bit it started slow but we found a big school of black jacks surrounded by a big school of hammerhead sharks about 30 of them and a bit further away another 30 hung out there for around 10 minutes and then made our way back to the rock where there were hundreds of creole fish, trigger fish, jacks, some silve rtip sharks and a couple of huge Galapagos sharks.
On the second dive we started on the same area since its where most of the action has been in the last couple of days and as soon as we got in we saw a big shadow on the shallow right next to the rock and there it was a wale shark about 18ft/6mlong we went with it until the south side of the rock and then it went against the current but that was ok because we stopped were all the school of the different fish were and also some silvertips, Galapagos and a couple of hammerheads going by. After a bit the whale shark came back to where we were and stayed right next to a school of bonitas that was being chased by silky sharks. During this entire dive we also had a sea lion looking at us from the surface.
In between the third and second dive the whale shark left the rock and stayed doing several laps around the boat right in the surface leaving time for us to snorkel with it. And as soon it was time for the third dive it went to the rock again and one more time we had the whale shark next to the school of bonitas being chased by the silkys.
Since it’s been so good at the rock the last three days and we are on an extended trip we are going to stay one last day here and see what surprise it brings us tomorrow.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Our second day at Roca Partida was even better than the first!
Hola amigos!
We stayed for a second day in Roca Partida and it was even better than yesterday!
The visibility around the rock was about 60ft/18m to 80ft/24m, this time the current was coming from the south west. Water temperature at the surface was still the same 78F/25.5C but at depth it got a little colder, 72F/22C, but that was good because current + colder water = more shark action!
Today we had everything around the rock, we had bottle nose dolphins on the 3 dives, and the south west corner was just packed of life, thousands of creole and trigger fish, cotton mouth jacks, big schools of black jacks and big eye trevallys, and all kinds of sharks swimming around them, silkys, silver tips, white tips, Galapagos and even some hammerheads! We would just sit there and hag out waiting for them to come by, and suddenly huge yellow fin tunas would swing by changing color and looking for a prey, some times one at the time and some times schools of up to 8 or 10 tunas will pass by. On the second and third dive we also had a huge school of bonitos being chased by mainly silky sharks but at times also some silver tip sharks would join the feast, the huge ball keep going round and round the rock specially on the south, it went above, under and even between us!
We also had schooling hammer heads! During the first dive they were on the south west had by the end of the day we had 2 schools, the one on the south west and another one on the east and south east side of the rock, they were at about 100ft/30m and one school had about 30 sharks while the other one had probably about 70 hammer heads!
Also by the rock we had the ledges on the east side packed with white tip reef sharks, some ledges had 5, 10 sharks but the big ledge at 40ft/12m had almost 30 sharks laying on top of each other!
Another great day diving Roca Partida, and it was so good that we are staying for a third day!
So stay tuned because we are gonna have more shark action tomorrow!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
We stayed for a second day in Roca Partida and it was even better than yesterday!
The visibility around the rock was about 60ft/18m to 80ft/24m, this time the current was coming from the south west. Water temperature at the surface was still the same 78F/25.5C but at depth it got a little colder, 72F/22C, but that was good because current + colder water = more shark action!
Today we had everything around the rock, we had bottle nose dolphins on the 3 dives, and the south west corner was just packed of life, thousands of creole and trigger fish, cotton mouth jacks, big schools of black jacks and big eye trevallys, and all kinds of sharks swimming around them, silkys, silver tips, white tips, Galapagos and even some hammerheads! We would just sit there and hag out waiting for them to come by, and suddenly huge yellow fin tunas would swing by changing color and looking for a prey, some times one at the time and some times schools of up to 8 or 10 tunas will pass by. On the second and third dive we also had a huge school of bonitos being chased by mainly silky sharks but at times also some silver tip sharks would join the feast, the huge ball keep going round and round the rock specially on the south, it went above, under and even between us!
We also had schooling hammer heads! During the first dive they were on the south west had by the end of the day we had 2 schools, the one on the south west and another one on the east and south east side of the rock, they were at about 100ft/30m and one school had about 30 sharks while the other one had probably about 70 hammer heads!
Also by the rock we had the ledges on the east side packed with white tip reef sharks, some ledges had 5, 10 sharks but the big ledge at 40ft/12m had almost 30 sharks laying on top of each other!
Another great day diving Roca Partida, and it was so good that we are staying for a third day!
So stay tuned because we are gonna have more shark action tomorrow!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
Monday, April 6, 2015
Mantas, sea lion, clarion angelfish, and lots of sharks on our first day at Roca Partida!
Hi All! April 4, 2015
Out in the middle of the ocean, just Roca Partida in front of us and a gorgeous full moon eclipse happening!
The surface of the water behind Roca denotes how the current is flowing from North West, bringing with it interesting changes in water temp from 23.8˚C/75˚F to 26.1˚C/79˚F, the upwelling as well responsible for changes in vis as low as 12m/40ft and at times over 30m/100ft.
The diving was great! So as we are slowly dropping down on the North West point in blue water a silky shark that was very curious about our divers showed up accompanied by a yellow fin tuna. In the mean time we could hear the chirping of dolphins, it seems they like to show up most of the time in the north east side of the rock! It got louder as they were coming to intersect us, visibility got green in a matter of a second so we are looking thru green water making everything look a bit blurry, not bad its just different! The shadow of 6 playful dolphins came out of that water turning into solid image of smiling mammals, at only 21m/70ft of water a Chevron manta showed us its affection for a bit of time as well! The southern point of the rock was slow in action with a few silver tip sharks, some hammer heads and Galapagos sharks, so we decided to come back to north point. The current did its job and brought us away from the rock on a drift dive that in the end was amazing. A silky shark stayed with us all the way, as well as the same Chevron manta surrounding us, the one we saw earlier in the dive. A gigantic yellow fin tuna and for some time already the new attraction of the Rock was with us a female sea lion!!
During the second dive we discovered that everything was happening on the west side of the rock, it was a world of Pacific creolefish, more shark action, the silver tip with sharks their incredible shape and color coming too close to us! Unfortunately a group of 12 adult size Galapagos sharks were in deep water, it would have been so fun to have them at 18m/60ft of water! Anyway, enough to see the dark shadows in contrast with the white color of sand at depth, dolphins also got here in the area not so playful this time, visible to all of us putting a smile in our faces right away, a section of the dive was planned as a drift dive hopping foe hammer heads, in the end no hammer heads but still fun counting numbers and shapes of jelly fish.
The last dive today we were immersed in a fish tank! This is a good description of the life under the surface by Roca Partida, we swam ¾ of the rock to finish the dive on the East side of it with lots of white tips, big eye Jacks, pacific creolefish, some yellow fin tunas, some of us were already on the surface waiting for the pickup, we put face underwater just to see a bit more while zodiac comes over, to our surprise, about 70 Hammer Heads swimming by at only 18m/60 ft of water, obviously mask back on right away and dive a short one! Others saw them while scuba diving, so we were all are super happy!
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata, Solmar V.
Out in the middle of the ocean, just Roca Partida in front of us and a gorgeous full moon eclipse happening!
The surface of the water behind Roca denotes how the current is flowing from North West, bringing with it interesting changes in water temp from 23.8˚C/75˚F to 26.1˚C/79˚F, the upwelling as well responsible for changes in vis as low as 12m/40ft and at times over 30m/100ft.
The diving was great! So as we are slowly dropping down on the North West point in blue water a silky shark that was very curious about our divers showed up accompanied by a yellow fin tuna. In the mean time we could hear the chirping of dolphins, it seems they like to show up most of the time in the north east side of the rock! It got louder as they were coming to intersect us, visibility got green in a matter of a second so we are looking thru green water making everything look a bit blurry, not bad its just different! The shadow of 6 playful dolphins came out of that water turning into solid image of smiling mammals, at only 21m/70ft of water a Chevron manta showed us its affection for a bit of time as well! The southern point of the rock was slow in action with a few silver tip sharks, some hammer heads and Galapagos sharks, so we decided to come back to north point. The current did its job and brought us away from the rock on a drift dive that in the end was amazing. A silky shark stayed with us all the way, as well as the same Chevron manta surrounding us, the one we saw earlier in the dive. A gigantic yellow fin tuna and for some time already the new attraction of the Rock was with us a female sea lion!!
During the second dive we discovered that everything was happening on the west side of the rock, it was a world of Pacific creolefish, more shark action, the silver tip with sharks their incredible shape and color coming too close to us! Unfortunately a group of 12 adult size Galapagos sharks were in deep water, it would have been so fun to have them at 18m/60ft of water! Anyway, enough to see the dark shadows in contrast with the white color of sand at depth, dolphins also got here in the area not so playful this time, visible to all of us putting a smile in our faces right away, a section of the dive was planned as a drift dive hopping foe hammer heads, in the end no hammer heads but still fun counting numbers and shapes of jelly fish.
The last dive today we were immersed in a fish tank! This is a good description of the life under the surface by Roca Partida, we swam ¾ of the rock to finish the dive on the East side of it with lots of white tips, big eye Jacks, pacific creolefish, some yellow fin tunas, some of us were already on the surface waiting for the pickup, we put face underwater just to see a bit more while zodiac comes over, to our surprise, about 70 Hammer Heads swimming by at only 18m/60 ft of water, obviously mask back on right away and dive a short one! Others saw them while scuba diving, so we were all are super happy!
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata, Solmar V.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Mother Nature gave us four very different but amazing dives at Socorro Island
Hola!
Punta Tosca on Socorro Island was our dive site today and it gave us four amazing dives, the water temperature is still high 78F/25.5C and the visibility was about 80ft/24m.
All four dives were very different because Punta Tosca has lots of different areas to explore a wall, some small pinnacles, lots of sandy patches and a wide shallow area with lots of beautiful hard coral formations that make some nice swim through. During the day we saw some mantas and a couple of hammerheads but the highlights of the dives where the schools of clarion angel fish, one school had about fifty of them and the juvenile Galapagos sharks.
The best dive of the day was the third one where we found a round sandy patch surrounded by hard coral at 60ft/20m that seemed to be the home of some juvenile Galapagos sharks. We stayed there laying on the sand as the sharks went around us, they started to get more comfortable and started to come closer and closer at one point we had eight of them going in circles after 20 minutes with them it was about time to go up and as we did the sharks started following us and five of them were still going around in circles during our safety stop.
After the last dive there were two humpback whales next to the boat so we decided to try to snorkel with them and after a couple of tries they let us get a quick look at them, it was a momma and her baby.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset with the sun setting over the water at the same time that the full moon was rising on the opposite side over the island, what an amazing day!!!!
Now we head to Roca Partida planning to do two days of diving there and really anxious to see what that mysterious rock will have for us this time.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Punta Tosca on Socorro Island was our dive site today and it gave us four amazing dives, the water temperature is still high 78F/25.5C and the visibility was about 80ft/24m.
All four dives were very different because Punta Tosca has lots of different areas to explore a wall, some small pinnacles, lots of sandy patches and a wide shallow area with lots of beautiful hard coral formations that make some nice swim through. During the day we saw some mantas and a couple of hammerheads but the highlights of the dives where the schools of clarion angel fish, one school had about fifty of them and the juvenile Galapagos sharks.
The best dive of the day was the third one where we found a round sandy patch surrounded by hard coral at 60ft/20m that seemed to be the home of some juvenile Galapagos sharks. We stayed there laying on the sand as the sharks went around us, they started to get more comfortable and started to come closer and closer at one point we had eight of them going in circles after 20 minutes with them it was about time to go up and as we did the sharks started following us and five of them were still going around in circles during our safety stop.
After the last dive there were two humpback whales next to the boat so we decided to try to snorkel with them and after a couple of tries they let us get a quick look at them, it was a momma and her baby.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset with the sun setting over the water at the same time that the full moon was rising on the opposite side over the island, what an amazing day!!!!
Now we head to Roca Partida planning to do two days of diving there and really anxious to see what that mysterious rock will have for us this time.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Cabo Pearce at Socorro Island had a little bit of everything.
Hola amigos!
Last night after dinner we left San Benedicto island and after a very smooth 5 hour crossing we made it to Socorro island. “Cabo Pearce” was the dive site for the day, the water temperature was 78F/25.5C, visibility from 30 to 50ft/10 to 15m, and we had a very light current during the whole day, that allowed us to dive from the swimming platform for our 4 dives!
The day had a little bit of everything, in the first two dives the mantas had our attention, chevron and black mantas came to get cleaned at the site, and we spotted them everywhere, they were at 12m/40ft, 24m/80ft and also at 33m/110ft! All of the cleaning stations stayed busy, mantas took turns to get cleaned and play with our bubbles...clarion angel fish were on fire today, we saw up to 25 of them cleaning a single manta! Apart from the manta action we also had sharks, of course white tip reef sharks were all over as always, but we also had a couple of hammer head encounters, two of them came up from the deep to check us out as we drifted away from the dive site at the end of one of our dives! Juvenile silver tips and Galapagos showed up as well, as we were watching the mantas geting cleaned a couple of them swam by, but that was not it also dolphins came to visit us twice! The first time 4 of them played with 8 divers for a few minutes, which was very exciting and as always they left only smiles in our faces! The second time they only swam by right above one of the groups, but they decided not to come to play that time.
For the afternoon mantas left but there was a lot of fish and little critters in the shallow area of the site so we spent 2 dives looking closer to the rocks and taking great pictures and videos of the peacock flounders, scorpion fish, octopuses and the schools of barber fish cleaning bigger fish like the endemic Socorro chub, parrot and hog fish.
After the 4th dive we went to the Navy base for an inspection and after that we made our way to the other side of the island to sleep next to “Punta Tosca”, our dive site for tomorrow, so stay tuned because there is more action coming our way!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
Last night after dinner we left San Benedicto island and after a very smooth 5 hour crossing we made it to Socorro island. “Cabo Pearce” was the dive site for the day, the water temperature was 78F/25.5C, visibility from 30 to 50ft/10 to 15m, and we had a very light current during the whole day, that allowed us to dive from the swimming platform for our 4 dives!
The day had a little bit of everything, in the first two dives the mantas had our attention, chevron and black mantas came to get cleaned at the site, and we spotted them everywhere, they were at 12m/40ft, 24m/80ft and also at 33m/110ft! All of the cleaning stations stayed busy, mantas took turns to get cleaned and play with our bubbles...clarion angel fish were on fire today, we saw up to 25 of them cleaning a single manta! Apart from the manta action we also had sharks, of course white tip reef sharks were all over as always, but we also had a couple of hammer head encounters, two of them came up from the deep to check us out as we drifted away from the dive site at the end of one of our dives! Juvenile silver tips and Galapagos showed up as well, as we were watching the mantas geting cleaned a couple of them swam by, but that was not it also dolphins came to visit us twice! The first time 4 of them played with 8 divers for a few minutes, which was very exciting and as always they left only smiles in our faces! The second time they only swam by right above one of the groups, but they decided not to come to play that time.
For the afternoon mantas left but there was a lot of fish and little critters in the shallow area of the site so we spent 2 dives looking closer to the rocks and taking great pictures and videos of the peacock flounders, scorpion fish, octopuses and the schools of barber fish cleaning bigger fish like the endemic Socorro chub, parrot and hog fish.
After the 4th dive we went to the Navy base for an inspection and after that we made our way to the other side of the island to sleep next to “Punta Tosca”, our dive site for tomorrow, so stay tuned because there is more action coming our way!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
Friday, April 3, 2015
El Boiler, El Fondeadero, and El Canon at San Benedicto!
--Hi All! April 01, 2015
The morning was a bit windy but we found playful dolphins! We found about 10 of them while we were setting the anchor, and even more during our first dive of the day! At 8:00 am our divers started getting in the water, we dropped in to over 30m/100' visibility with a surface temp of 25.5˚C/78˚F! We didn't have to wait long before the mantas showed up, the playful dolphins wanted our attention too! One lonely dolphin showed up first, quickly followed by another 10 behind it! Their underwater acrobatics were inviting, but due to the current we had to stay in the protected area. The mantas hung out in the protected area with all of us, enjoying the stream of bubbles we provided for them. 5 mantas got our attention on the northern side of the rock, and the group of 10 dolphins quickly turned into 19-21 of them, swimming very close to us several times, to add to the color of the dive, we also had white tips, lobsters, long nose butterfly fish, flounders, scorpion fish, jacks, and green morays were there!
On the 2nd dive we managed to get all the way to the other side right where the current hits the rock. It was beautiful in blue water, all the fish were there feeding on nutrients, and on the bottom we can see the sand waves and very distinctive hammerheads crossing by! We spent time there for a bit, and after the hammerheads left, we drifted with the current and a tiger shark crossed our path! The dolphins came back again just for a brief time then went away, the faithful mantas always there with us!
Taking a break from the strong current we moved to El Fondeadero at the southern part of San Benedicto Island for a third dive which ended up being a drift dive! A very cool by the way, we were gliding all the time with 3 mantas, white tips resting on the bottom, some juvenile silver tips here and there! It was a fun dive not to have to swim into the current and still have lots of thing to see.
The last dive of the day happened to be at El Cañon, very mild current, easy dive, one hammer head, lots of fish.
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata, Solmar V.
The morning was a bit windy but we found playful dolphins! We found about 10 of them while we were setting the anchor, and even more during our first dive of the day! At 8:00 am our divers started getting in the water, we dropped in to over 30m/100' visibility with a surface temp of 25.5˚C/78˚F! We didn't have to wait long before the mantas showed up, the playful dolphins wanted our attention too! One lonely dolphin showed up first, quickly followed by another 10 behind it! Their underwater acrobatics were inviting, but due to the current we had to stay in the protected area. The mantas hung out in the protected area with all of us, enjoying the stream of bubbles we provided for them. 5 mantas got our attention on the northern side of the rock, and the group of 10 dolphins quickly turned into 19-21 of them, swimming very close to us several times, to add to the color of the dive, we also had white tips, lobsters, long nose butterfly fish, flounders, scorpion fish, jacks, and green morays were there!
On the 2nd dive we managed to get all the way to the other side right where the current hits the rock. It was beautiful in blue water, all the fish were there feeding on nutrients, and on the bottom we can see the sand waves and very distinctive hammerheads crossing by! We spent time there for a bit, and after the hammerheads left, we drifted with the current and a tiger shark crossed our path! The dolphins came back again just for a brief time then went away, the faithful mantas always there with us!
Taking a break from the strong current we moved to El Fondeadero at the southern part of San Benedicto Island for a third dive which ended up being a drift dive! A very cool by the way, we were gliding all the time with 3 mantas, white tips resting on the bottom, some juvenile silver tips here and there! It was a fun dive not to have to swim into the current and still have lots of thing to see.
The last dive of the day happened to be at El Cañon, very mild current, easy dive, one hammer head, lots of fish.
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata, Solmar V.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Today we woke up at El Cañon and there was a baby humpback whale with its mom right next to the boat!
Hola,
Today we woke up at El Cañon and right as the sun was coming up there was a baby humpback whale with its mom right next to the boat! The baby even did a couple of breaches. The water is still warmer than usual for this time of the year 78F/25.5C it was a bit murky on the surface but once you passed 15ft/5m it was clearer around 60ft/20m visibility. We did two dives there and in both of them we spotted some hammerhead sharks no big schools but groups of two to four individuals in different parts of the dive site. On the second dive there were three giant mantas and one of them was very friendly showing a very specific behavior that some of the mantas that came to El Cañon demonstrate, that is to go on top of the divers to feel their bubbles on its gills and head towards the sandy bottom area and hover there very close to the bubbles almost pressing the divers into the sand.
For the third and fourth dive we moved the other side of the island to El Boiler witch usually is the best place to interact with the mantas and this time was no different. As soon as we went down the descent line there were nine giant mantas they stayed with the divers and were extremely playful the whole dive in between 40ft/12m to 60ft/20m. On the last dive of the day there were less mantas but there was still lots of interaction with them.
Tomorrow we have planned a full day of diving at El Boiler keep tuned to see what happens next.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Today we woke up at El Cañon and right as the sun was coming up there was a baby humpback whale with its mom right next to the boat! The baby even did a couple of breaches. The water is still warmer than usual for this time of the year 78F/25.5C it was a bit murky on the surface but once you passed 15ft/5m it was clearer around 60ft/20m visibility. We did two dives there and in both of them we spotted some hammerhead sharks no big schools but groups of two to four individuals in different parts of the dive site. On the second dive there were three giant mantas and one of them was very friendly showing a very specific behavior that some of the mantas that came to El Cañon demonstrate, that is to go on top of the divers to feel their bubbles on its gills and head towards the sandy bottom area and hover there very close to the bubbles almost pressing the divers into the sand.
For the third and fourth dive we moved the other side of the island to El Boiler witch usually is the best place to interact with the mantas and this time was no different. As soon as we went down the descent line there were nine giant mantas they stayed with the divers and were extremely playful the whole dive in between 40ft/12m to 60ft/20m. On the last dive of the day there were less mantas but there was still lots of interaction with them.
Tomorrow we have planned a full day of diving at El Boiler keep tuned to see what happens next.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
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