Another great day of diving, this time at Roca Partida!

Roca Partida offered another of its usual shows! Despite of the choppy water, the sharks, skittish at first, came up to dance around the divers, especially during the afternoon dive. Current from north made us use our fins full power and the surge just added more adrenaline if the galapagos, silver tips and hummerheads weren't enough. A huge manta patrolled the rock at times, and the divers enjoyed the calm coves packed with eels and enormous lobsters! 
Adrian
DM on board SOLMAR V

What a day at San Benedicto Island!!!

What a day at San Benedicto Island!!! The first dive was at "El Canyon" where we
saw a couple mantas and a few hammerhead sharks, then we spent the rest of the day was at "El Boiler" where manta action was non-stop! We had five of them the entire time while we were at the boiler! The best part of it was that the mantas were very interactive with the divers. Everyone had an amazing time! Water was 78F with 60'+ visibility.
Claudio Bonato
Solmar V DM

It was absolutely incredible at San Benedicto!

Buenas Tardes from San Benedicto! 
What a day!! It was absolutely incredible today. We started our day at El Canyon. Temperature remains warm at 78 degrees and visibility was lacking  at 30 ft. But none of that mattered when the dolphins showed up. There were twelve in total and buzzed around my group for the first five minutes of our dive. Then we spotted a few very large hammerheads in the distance.. Shortly after mantas appeared. A black manta and a chevron circled us again and again making us dizzy with their friendliness. We were with the two mantas for more than 30 minutes as they cruised over our heads and circled us. Our second dive was more quiet as one group took the interest of the mantas and they drifted with them the entire dive. We were left with the  hammerheads as we saw a group of ten big hammerheads. They only crossed our path once and unfortunately we did´t get another glimpse. 
Now our last two dives of the day were really special. We moved to the Boiler knowing we would have some mantas. For the rest of the day, we had mad manta action. On the last dives we had seven mantas in constant action in every direction. It was almost overwhelming as they approached very close and others would be coming from the opposite direction. We didn`t know where to look. It was hands down the most incredible manta experience we have had since I have been here... in more than 2 years. Thanks to the mantas we had a send off nobody will soon forget. Viva El Boiler!
Until Next Time,
Dave Valencia

We had an incredible encounter with over 40 dolphins at Socorro Island!

Great dives at Socorro Island! We dove at "punta tosca" in the morning and had an incredible encounter with more than 40 dolphins!! Yes! more than forty, and they stayed with us for about 20 minutes. It doesn't get better than that. Our second dive was at the same site but we did not see them until we surfaced at the end of the dive, so we opted to snorkel with them! For the two afternoon dives we moved to Cabo Pierce where we found some hungry mantas, but today they were too busy feeding and they didnt interact as much as usual.  Water temp was 78F and visibility of over 70'. 
Claudio Bonato
Dive Instructor

Another phenomenal Manta day!

Just when we thought we couldn't beat the manta interaction we had at San Benedicto! We had amazing manta dives! The cleaning station was packed with clarion fish cleaning mantas today! The entire time we were over the reef, giant mantas kept coming from all directions! The best part of it was they came to stay! The Chevron and Black mantas were very friendly, plus we noticed a lot of juvenile ones mantas!  The reef was covered with lots of juvenile creolefish, and we also found flounder, lobsters, octopus, scorpion fish, eels, rays, a few hammer head sharks here and there, some white tips in the area also! A tiger shark showed up to to be part of our experience here at this dive site too, that's the second one  we've spotted on this trip! Our 3 groups were diving different areas of the dive site at the same time all of us watching something!  During our surface interval we also had something to do, snorkeling with the mantas that did not want us to leave. 

Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata

Lots of sharks at Roca Partida, including schooling hammerhead!

Greetings from Roca!
It was a nice day here at our favorite dive site, Roca Partida. The temperature was warm at 79 degrees F and the visibility was clear with over 80 ft. visibility. Our guests were treated to lots of sharks a some beautiful dives. The highlight was a school of hammerheads that circled below us for nearly 10 minutes. We had lots of other sharks to keep us occupied with the countless white tips, some silver tips, and galapagos sharks! We had a blast now next stop, Socorro Island! Looking forward to more manta time!
Until Next Time,
Dave Valencia

What a day at " el Boiler", mantas were everywhere!

Oh my god!! What a day at " el Boiler", mantas were everywhere! We had more than 5 at a time, big ones and all of them were very friendly. On all 4 dives we had amazing interactionwith these giant social critters, all four dives were phenomenal with no exception. On the third dive of the day we spotted a tiger shark out in the blue! On top of all of this we had some white tip sharks and tons of fish!
Another magic day at Revillagigedos! 
Claudio Bonato
DM

"As we broke the surface from our dive, a brilliant sunset was waiting for us

As we arrived to to San Benedicto Island we were escorted by 10 to 12 dolphins riding the bow gracefully, doing very high jumps on left and right side  of the boat!
So we arrived in time to do our check out dive at EL FONEADERO, the conditions were good with over 50' visibility and 79F water. We had a bit of current from the East, it was fun to swim around the dive area watching different behaviors of fish getting ready go to sleep and others just getting out to be active, lots of green morays, lobsters, jacks, white tip reef sharks, some electric rays!
As we broke the surface from our dive, a brilliant sunset was waiting for us, it was beautiful.  We ended the day with a very delicious BBQ with some red wine!
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata

The dives all week have been amazing and today was no different.

Buenas Tardes,
Sadly, it was our final day of diving this awesome archipelago. The dives all week have been amazing and today was no different. We started the day at El Canyon where the visibility was terrific. It was easily more than 100 ft. The only problem was, not much current. So we searched for the big animals but had to settle for tiger morays, zebra morays, green morays, octopus, and tons of fish. We decided to do the rest of the day out at the Boiler since we have had a lot of luck there lately. As soon as we jumped in we had mantas! Three in total circled us for the entire dive. Visibility was in the low 50's, but the mantas were all we needed. Everyone got their manta fix and returned back to the Solmar V with smiles. The mantas must have tired themsleves out because they didn`t show up for our last dive. It didn`t matter because the boiler is something to see in itself. The dive site looks like some Indiana Jones relic that rises from some 150ft. Every nook and cranny has life with lobsters, eels and octopus everywhere. Fish abound and there is always something to look at. So our divers were satisfied and ready to end an epic trip. We are Cabo bound! 
Until Next Time, 
Dave Valencia

Cabo Pearce was incredible today for dolphins!

Cabo Pearce was incredible today for dolphins! Unfortunately we did not see a lot of giant mantas like we usually do, but we had great encounters with friendly dolphins on every dive. In the first dive 2 dolphins were pretending to be sleeping on the sandy bottom lying motionless on the ocean floor.. fortunately were just playing! Wait until you see see it in Adil´s video trip report! On the second dive they did couple passes among the divers and left gently along the reef and at the third dive 3 of them were totally vertical at 100´/30m like if they were just posing for us to come and take great photos of them.  Tonight we´re heading back to San Benedicto for more Manta action! 
Hasta la vista!
Erick Higuera

A phenomenal day 2 at Roca

Once again Roca Partida does not dissapoint!
In 3 dives we did here we enjoyed a water temp of 79°F, vis average 80 Ft, about current just a bit at times, what was amazing the encounter we had with a 35ft female whale shark in two different dives, she was so friendly that let us swim alongside for a long time and so close that we could literally count every spot in her if only we had enough time. On every dive we saw her she came back several times to visit us.
We also had the opportunity to follow big schools of hammerheads on each dive.  They didn't seem concerned with our divers since they made a big loop and a close pass overhead. Galapagos, silver tips, silky, white tip sharks, they all were at the rock today! On top of all the sharks, Yellow fin tunas, bonitos, wahoo, and a world of fish also helped to make each dive unique lobster are getting really big here! 

Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata

What an amazing day out here at Roca Partida!

Hi there Solmar Fans,
What an amazing day out here at Roca Partida! The weather was beautiful and we had some super diving. The visibility was great at 80 ft  and the water temp. was warm at 79 degrees F.
We will go to bed tonight with hammerheads swimming in our minds. On all dives we had very impressive hammerhead schools. There was a school of 60-70 individuals first found off the East side during the first dive. On the second dive my group had the hammerhead school swimming with us for more than 20 minutes. This school was a tight school swimming in unison
and unafraid of divers. They approached very close allowing divers to get some some killer pics. On the last dive the current switched, catching us by surprise. Erick`s group and my group were on the north side and found no more than a few silver tip sharks, Galapagos sharks, and one hammerhead.. So we made our way to the south point, into the current. We starting seeing more sharks....first just a few Galapagos sharks and one or two silver tips. Then we saw the shadows in the blue, the hammerheads were there. Our entire groups were there as the school of hammerheads approached us. This time the school was a bit smaller 20-30, but no less bold. They came straight to us and circled our groups. Whoa! They were there for a while, but something strange spooked them and they darted like scared bait fish. Oh well...it was already amazing to see them so close and circling some 14 divers. Definitely a day we won`t soon forget. More to hope for tomorrow as we are spending another day here at Roca.
Until Next Time,
Dave Valencia

Today was a Manta madness Day!

What a way to start our first day of the trip, it has been a long time that we hadn’t seen so many Mantas at El Boiler, the place was boiling with mantas! 
We did 4 dives and each one was full of fantastic Mantas that kept swimming back and forth over our heads exploiting our bubbles. The whole time all of our divers were positioned around of one of the cleaning station in this dive site and the gentle and friendly Mantas were just parading back and forth without stopping. Divers finished their dives and came back to the boat just to get their tanks topped off and jumped right back into the water like at the pits in the race cars and just to keep the Mantas busy and being part the amazing folklore. At the end of day we counted about 10 different Mantas.
After a great day with warm water of 79F/26C and 50’/15m of visibility, we head towards Roca Partida, so, stayed tuned for more adventures on board Solmar V at the Revillagigedo’s Islands.
Pendientes,
Erick Higuera

Mantas at the boiler and looking for bait balls on our last day at San Benedicto!

Last day of the trip was very good, we begun at the boiler were we had two mantas, one black and one chevron during our entire dive. The second dive was the just as good as the first, and we also spotted a big hammerhead. Later we decided to go a few miles off the coast of San Benedicto Island to look for baitballs... and we found a small one with bonito! Later we tried a 2nd time and found one with spinner dolphins it was over in a flash! So we went back to the coast for the last dive, to a secret dive spot, where we found lots of fish and two mantas passing by to say "until next the one guys"
Claudio Bonato
Dive Instructor.

Today was the day for hammerheads at Cabo Pearce!

Today was the Day!  We dove Cabo Pearce all day doing a total of 3 dives. In the first 2 dives 
2 groups took the risk to swim all the way to end of the reef and sideways of a strong southern current and they knew that if we didn’t find the Hammerhead Sharks were not going to see anything else, so it was either taking the risk or staying at the Manta cleaning station and guarantee these majestic dancers.
This time the risk paid off, both groups saw an almost 100 hammerheads schooling that swam quite close to a 95’/28m pinnacle on the edge of the reef, of course the sharks were swimming away of our bubbles but because we didn’t chase them, they got used to us and gave us several amazing passes. 
The other group had fantastic encounters with  to 5 different Pacific Giant Mantas that as typical of Cabo Pearce always getting clean by Clarion Angelfishes. Tonight after a delicious BBQ on the bow, we will go back to San Benedicto and do our last dive day of this trip. Stay tuned and don’t miss the tomorrow news!
Hasta la vista!
Erick Higuera'

Today was like Christmas day at Roca!

Roca Partida -
Today was like Christmas day according to some of our guests! During the 3 dives we did today there was not a single time with no sharks! On our first dive of the morning not even 10 minutes into the dive and we were already watching a big school of hammer heads that came back for a second glance! The rock itself on the south and northern points we found Galapagos and silver tip sharks were schooling, we were surrounded by silver tips with Galapagos sharks coming straight at us, coming up on the wall, coming out of the blue, from all directions and the! The sharks were close, not even 10' away from us! 
We also had a bit of bonitos schooling and of course silky sharks chasing them, the yellow fin tunas today were as big as the Galapagos shark, even white tip sharks were active swimming among the silver tips and Galapagos, seems everybody was out to party today!
The schooling fish were making all type of formations and spreading out letting sharks come through the school; leather bass were congregating right by the wall, we saw red and yellow tail trigger fish, creole fish, jacks, rainbow runners, and more! There was not much of swimming due a mild current from west so it was very easy to stay right where the action was! A nice and refreshing water temp got us at the depth with a 73F where it seems sharks were more active, coming up we hit a little warmer layer of 77F and for our safety stop we had an 81F even at this depth schooling hammer heads showed up. 

We had an average vis. of 70ft, and on the surface we has a bit rough conditions due to wind blowing , also clouds made this place look so remote and beautiful, as I always say one of the most unique places on earth!
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata

There's no other place on earth like Roca Partida, period!

Great day at Roca Partida!! Everything was here today, white tips, big galapagos and silver tip sharks,
schooling hammerhead sharks, massive tunas, silky sharks, bonito baitball, different jacks all over and if like that was not enough in the last dive a huge whale shark showed up to blow everyone`s head up!! There`s no other place on earth like Roca Partida period.
Claudio Bonato
Dive Instructor

We started our day with a school of hammerheads and finished with Pacific Giant Mantas!

We started the day diving at El Cañón with 81F-26C of water temperature and a great visibility of 80’ /24 m. Going down along the stern anchor and realized that we had the perfect eastern current that brings up good schools of Hammerhead Sharks to the cleaning station. We swam up to the cleaning station where the ridge turns and hold on a rock while we waited for some hammerheads, and yes they came! A school of about 20 hammerhead sharks approached briefly to the divers.
We did one more dive at El Cañón and the conditions where still  the same, however, this time we saw the glimpse of Manta that cruised by the dive site, though didn’t stick around. 
We moved to El Boiler and finished our dive day with 2 awesome Manta dives at El Boiler. We saw totally 2 different Mantas this time, but one of them hung out with all of us in both dives. The visibility was low, about 40’/12 m and a chilly thermocline. Another group spotted 2 Hammerhead Sharks by the corner of the pinnacle. That is how we closed our dive day, diving with some Pacific giant Mantas.. 
Tonight we will head towards Roca Partida! Stand by and wait for some Roca news.
Hasta la vista,
Erick Higuera

Bull sharks at Cabo Pulmo and massive schools at El Bajo!

Cabo Pulmo
For our first dive we did a ship wreck dive of El Vencedor!  On our first dive we were amazed to see 5 different bull sharks, we spotted the first one as we were dropping down on the net area of the wreck, it was very nice to see it from above and as we are approaching it went away
slowly so we waited there but did not come back. We went north in the same area of the wreck until we found a sandy bottom again, there was another one bull shark coming straight at me turning left when it was just 10ft from me! We also know in this area they are morning sharks! So we continued swimming just above the sandy bottom, not too far from there we had to stop because 3 other bull sharks were chasing each other in a row! 
So ,the first dive of the morning was great about sharks, the rest of dive time was just watching schooling fish like groupers, snappers, grunts, lots of garden eels, some scorpion fish, electric rays etc. Two other dives took place in the beautiful reefs called El Bajo and Los Morros with a diversity of schooling fish just like in the first dive plus a massive school of jacks swimming circles in the same area, a really mild current kept other fish swimming into it so we were able to keep up with them swimming along side.The vis was from 40 to 50ft, water temp 79°F. current during the morning was heading south and afternoon north, surface condition windy, from SE, but sunny.
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata