April 26, Socorro Island
Dive Report - Cabo Pearce
Today we had a wonderful first dive at Cabo Pearce! We went down in very clear water 60' to 80'/18M to 24M visibility water temp was 77F/25C. At the beginning of the dive, a group of 8 bottlenose dolphins greeted us! We continued by the wall which takes us to the lava flow. Once at 50'/15M we had 3 to 4 mantas aroudn us with lots of clarion angelfish around. The mantas were coming to the site and we had up to 8 mantas swimming around our divers for over 40 minutes! What an amazing dive!! For the second dive the current picked up a bit, we checked the cleaning station first, to see a black manta pass just below us! A big Galapagos shark appeared, with a huge dorsal fin! At the bottom of the site, a few white tip sharks were resting on the sandy area with the current when a few hammerheads showed up!
The 3rd dive was absolutely amazing! We had a very playful manta chevron with us the entire time! It was around the cleaning station with lots of angelfish on top, trying to clean it. This manta was doing close up with our divers and it loved our diver's bubbles on it's belly! When the manta felt bubbles on it's belly, it totally stopped swimming and seemed suspended in mid water, enjoying the bubbles, something we like to call a Manta Jacuzzi! It was totally amazing watching this manta leave the are, circle around, and come back wanting more bubbles! More mantas joined the party and we had 4 mantas aroudn our diver! Two of them were swimming in line together from depth up to shallo water, making circles, and swimming fast! The other two were circling around our divers and interacting with our divers, we couldn't believe what was happening when 8 bottlenose dolphins showed up! They were dancing around us, very curious, exceptionally playful, and they stayed with us for a while.
The last dive of the day was very relaxed, we moved along the wall following the lava flow, and cleaning stations there wasn't a lot of manta action, but we took in all the marine life along the reef, barberfish, parrot fish, flounders, white tip sharks, a galapagos shark, pacific triggerfish, trumpet fish, lots of sea urchins, clarion angelfish, lots of pacific creole fish! We went into the blue to finish our dive, only to have a BIG hammerhead shark pass in front of us, along with a bigger school of hammerheads to follow, showing us why Cabo Pearce is one of our favorite dive sites!
Ignacio H. Leyro
Solmar V
Scuba Instructor
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Big schools of jacks, friendly dolphins, and several species of shark made for an awesome day at Roca Partida!
Hello
Today we dove at Roca Partida the weather was just as good as yesterday, the water temperature was 73F/23C and the visibility ranged from 80ft/24m to 100ft/30m.
On the first dive as soon as we got in the water we could hear the dolphins but we could not see them, so we waited at the north point were they usually hang out. We kept hearing them, but still could not see them, so we decided to go out into the blue and there they were! A pod of 10 dolphins most of them were close to the surface but a couple of them came down to check us out, and were just staying there in a vertical position showing their belly to the divers witch was perfect for some pictures! On the second dive we mainly stayed along the wall on the east side with the white tip sharks this time there were lots of them in the ledges and just below there was a huge school of white mouth jacks and one of the biggest schools of black jack I have ever seen. On the last dive we got a bit more of shark action on the south point there were 4 big Galapagos circling us and going in and out of the school of jacks and at the end as we did our safety stop one very friendly silky shark showed up.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Today we dove at Roca Partida the weather was just as good as yesterday, the water temperature was 73F/23C and the visibility ranged from 80ft/24m to 100ft/30m.
On the first dive as soon as we got in the water we could hear the dolphins but we could not see them, so we waited at the north point were they usually hang out. We kept hearing them, but still could not see them, so we decided to go out into the blue and there they were! A pod of 10 dolphins most of them were close to the surface but a couple of them came down to check us out, and were just staying there in a vertical position showing their belly to the divers witch was perfect for some pictures! On the second dive we mainly stayed along the wall on the east side with the white tip sharks this time there were lots of them in the ledges and just below there was a huge school of white mouth jacks and one of the biggest schools of black jack I have ever seen. On the last dive we got a bit more of shark action on the south point there were 4 big Galapagos circling us and going in and out of the school of jacks and at the end as we did our safety stop one very friendly silky shark showed up.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Monday, April 25, 2016
A ton of fun at El Canon and El Boiler!
Hi All!
Today we had a lot of fun diving at the Canyon and at The Boiler!! The first two dives we dove the Canyon with a very good visibility 80 Ft / 24 m and the temperature of the water was very enjoyable, 76 Fº/24ºC. We saw a bunch of bottlenose Dolphins, 15 to 20 of them were very curious and playful with us. One of them we call "Henry the Dolphin" was especially interested with the divers. We had a couple of hammerheads at the 85 Ft / 25 m we found white tip sharks, and on the way back to the Island we saw a black Manta! A Beautiful Manta that was big, very big at least 20 ft. / 6 m. from wingtip to wingtip. It passed slowly, slowly in front of us at 50 Ft/15 m and went passing by to disappear into the blue. Another Manta showed up, but this time it was a Chevron, it was black on top with white spots and grey to white belly. This one was a small to medium size giant Manta. It was very relaxed and elegant swimming circling around the cleaning stations. For our second dive at the Canyon a Chevron Manta came up from depth to the 50 ft. / 15 m to play with us! This Manta was circling the cleaning stations where the Clarion Angel Fish were looking forward to clean it. Once at the 85 Ft / 26 m. a group of 4 Hammerheads Shark approached a little bit closer this time. To finish our day we spent our afternoon dives at The Boiler, spectacular dive spot which is an underwater plateau with several steps and cleaning stations. After we entered in the water immediately a Chevron Manta came to us and was interacting with the divers as they like to do, circling, feeling the bubbles on their belly’s, it was such a beautiful creature and incredibly gentle. The water temperature was 76ºF/24ºC and the visibility was 30 Ft/9 M, to 40 Ft /12 m. maximum. We went down and into a crack located at the 70 Ft / 21 M. we spotted 4 whitetips sharks resting on this part of the wall. Once at the eastern corner we found more Mantas passing on top of the cleaning station located at the step at the 30 ft. / 9 M. For the last dive we stuck to the reef and the visibility was lower than usual, 30 Ft / 9 m. to 20 Ft / 6 M. at the beginning we moved all along the reef and we had a big school of Pacific Creole Fish, lots of them! We were looking for the Mantas but they weren’t close by, so we swam into the blue water looking to find good stuff, when a massive school of Amberjacks was from the 50 Ft / 15 m. all the way to the surface! Trevally Jacks were passing close by as well along with a few Big eye Jacks! This dive was totally different and very relaxing. Finally we surfaced and we heard that other group found a Manta Chevron. It was and excellent day of diving and this is just the beginning! We have more dives coming soon!!
Hasta la vista!!
Ignacio Hernan Leyro
Solmar V
Scuba Instructor
Today we had a lot of fun diving at the Canyon and at The Boiler!! The first two dives we dove the Canyon with a very good visibility 80 Ft / 24 m and the temperature of the water was very enjoyable, 76 Fº/24ºC. We saw a bunch of bottlenose Dolphins, 15 to 20 of them were very curious and playful with us. One of them we call "Henry the Dolphin" was especially interested with the divers. We had a couple of hammerheads at the 85 Ft / 25 m we found white tip sharks, and on the way back to the Island we saw a black Manta! A Beautiful Manta that was big, very big at least 20 ft. / 6 m. from wingtip to wingtip. It passed slowly, slowly in front of us at 50 Ft/15 m and went passing by to disappear into the blue. Another Manta showed up, but this time it was a Chevron, it was black on top with white spots and grey to white belly. This one was a small to medium size giant Manta. It was very relaxed and elegant swimming circling around the cleaning stations. For our second dive at the Canyon a Chevron Manta came up from depth to the 50 ft. / 15 m to play with us! This Manta was circling the cleaning stations where the Clarion Angel Fish were looking forward to clean it. Once at the 85 Ft / 26 m. a group of 4 Hammerheads Shark approached a little bit closer this time. To finish our day we spent our afternoon dives at The Boiler, spectacular dive spot which is an underwater plateau with several steps and cleaning stations. After we entered in the water immediately a Chevron Manta came to us and was interacting with the divers as they like to do, circling, feeling the bubbles on their belly’s, it was such a beautiful creature and incredibly gentle. The water temperature was 76ºF/24ºC and the visibility was 30 Ft/9 M, to 40 Ft /12 m. maximum. We went down and into a crack located at the 70 Ft / 21 M. we spotted 4 whitetips sharks resting on this part of the wall. Once at the eastern corner we found more Mantas passing on top of the cleaning station located at the step at the 30 ft. / 9 M. For the last dive we stuck to the reef and the visibility was lower than usual, 30 Ft / 9 m. to 20 Ft / 6 M. at the beginning we moved all along the reef and we had a big school of Pacific Creole Fish, lots of them! We were looking for the Mantas but they weren’t close by, so we swam into the blue water looking to find good stuff, when a massive school of Amberjacks was from the 50 Ft / 15 m. all the way to the surface! Trevally Jacks were passing close by as well along with a few Big eye Jacks! This dive was totally different and very relaxing. Finally we surfaced and we heard that other group found a Manta Chevron. It was and excellent day of diving and this is just the beginning! We have more dives coming soon!!
Hasta la vista!!
Ignacio Hernan Leyro
Solmar V
Scuba Instructor
Sunday, April 24, 2016
An exciting checkout dive at San Benedicto!
Hello
We are out here again! Today we arrived at San Benedicto Island in the afternoon which gave us just enough time for one check out dive. We dove el El Cañon and it was great! The water temperature went up a bit to 76f/24C and the visibility was around 100ft/30m!
As soon as we got down to the bottom of the descent line we spotted a big tiger shark! It did not get very close to us but that is definitely a good start to the trip! One manta passed by but did not stay for long, there were also several silky sharks around getting very close to the divers plus one hammerhead and some tunas!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
We are out here again! Today we arrived at San Benedicto Island in the afternoon which gave us just enough time for one check out dive. We dove el El Cañon and it was great! The water temperature went up a bit to 76f/24C and the visibility was around 100ft/30m!
As soon as we got down to the bottom of the descent line we spotted a big tiger shark! It did not get very close to us but that is definitely a good start to the trip! One manta passed by but did not stay for long, there were also several silky sharks around getting very close to the divers plus one hammerhead and some tunas!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Amazing dives with mantas and dolphins at Socorro Island!
Hello!
Today we were at socorro island and we dove Cabo Pearce the water temperature was 23C/73F and the visibility ranged from 30ft/10m to 80ft/24m.
We had some amazing dives with dolphins and mantas today probably the best dives of the trip so far, on the first dive five minutes after we got in the water we had a group of 5 dolphins that showed up and stayed with us for about 20 minutes circling the divers and looking at us it was amazing.
On the second dive we were by one of the cleaning stations and there were 4 very big Galapagos sharks close to us being very curious witch is quite unusual for dis dive site. The best dive for sure was the third one as soon as we got in the water there was a extremely friendly manta that was interacting with the divers and getting cleaned by the clarions for over 20 minutes, after it left we continued to cruise the dive site and spotted another manta when suddenly a dolphin showed up together with a Galapagos shark and we had the three of them circling us for several minutes until it was time to go to our safety stop were the manta followed us and stayed until the end of the dive.
On the last dive we had two friendly mantas pass by for a while and about 10 dolphins cruised by but this time they just teased us and kept swimming.
Now we Head to the famous el boiler to see what kind of action we find there this week!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Today we were at socorro island and we dove Cabo Pearce the water temperature was 23C/73F and the visibility ranged from 30ft/10m to 80ft/24m.
We had some amazing dives with dolphins and mantas today probably the best dives of the trip so far, on the first dive five minutes after we got in the water we had a group of 5 dolphins that showed up and stayed with us for about 20 minutes circling the divers and looking at us it was amazing.
On the second dive we were by one of the cleaning stations and there were 4 very big Galapagos sharks close to us being very curious witch is quite unusual for dis dive site. The best dive for sure was the third one as soon as we got in the water there was a extremely friendly manta that was interacting with the divers and getting cleaned by the clarions for over 20 minutes, after it left we continued to cruise the dive site and spotted another manta when suddenly a dolphin showed up together with a Galapagos shark and we had the three of them circling us for several minutes until it was time to go to our safety stop were the manta followed us and stayed until the end of the dive.
On the last dive we had two friendly mantas pass by for a while and about 10 dolphins cruised by but this time they just teased us and kept swimming.
Now we Head to the famous el boiler to see what kind of action we find there this week!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Another great day underwater at Roca Partida!
Hi everybody!
Today we are heading towards Socorro Island after spending two days at Roca Partida with some good dives and happy to have experienced this amazing place once again!
Early morning we woke up still in darkness but with all the energy to make an unforgettable day for our guests and hopefully we did it cause even though we had some big swells due the strong wind, the divers proved once more their love for diving and everybody was ready to jump in the zodiacs and explore this magnificent place.
The conditions underwater were good, with great visibility about 80 ft/ 25 mts, it was cloudy so the first two dives it was a little dark but nothing to spoil the dives. the current was hitting us from the north so we started all the dives on the northeast so we could managed to get down easy and have relaxed dives close to the rock, the water temperature was 23 C/ 73 F with several thermoclines along the site.
On the first dive, we got to 30 meters and started moving to shallower water as the dive progressed with tons of fishes everywhere on the east face, big eye jacks, trevallys, the creole fish and triggerfishes were all over the place! We got close to the caves to take a glance at the white tip sharks that have made their home at Roca, sometimes making for a hilarious picture when you see how they like to get their own space between the lobsters and moray eels! We could see some silvertips quite deep and even one or two Galapagos shark made a scattered appearance.
For the second dive we focused more on trying to find a manta and two big mantas appeared to make the day for some of our divers that had never seen one before, so it always feels great when you see their expression of happiness and satisfaction on their face!
The mantas showed up on the last dive two and we drifted along with them during the whole dive and they really showed their love to the divers swimming between them and feeling the bubbles on their bellies! Our trip its almost at the end but we still have some more dives at Socorro and San Benedicto, let’s hope the weather is good! Stay tuned!
Rodrigo Marroquin
Dive instructor.
Today we are heading towards Socorro Island after spending two days at Roca Partida with some good dives and happy to have experienced this amazing place once again!
Early morning we woke up still in darkness but with all the energy to make an unforgettable day for our guests and hopefully we did it cause even though we had some big swells due the strong wind, the divers proved once more their love for diving and everybody was ready to jump in the zodiacs and explore this magnificent place.
The conditions underwater were good, with great visibility about 80 ft/ 25 mts, it was cloudy so the first two dives it was a little dark but nothing to spoil the dives. the current was hitting us from the north so we started all the dives on the northeast so we could managed to get down easy and have relaxed dives close to the rock, the water temperature was 23 C/ 73 F with several thermoclines along the site.
On the first dive, we got to 30 meters and started moving to shallower water as the dive progressed with tons of fishes everywhere on the east face, big eye jacks, trevallys, the creole fish and triggerfishes were all over the place! We got close to the caves to take a glance at the white tip sharks that have made their home at Roca, sometimes making for a hilarious picture when you see how they like to get their own space between the lobsters and moray eels! We could see some silvertips quite deep and even one or two Galapagos shark made a scattered appearance.
For the second dive we focused more on trying to find a manta and two big mantas appeared to make the day for some of our divers that had never seen one before, so it always feels great when you see their expression of happiness and satisfaction on their face!
The mantas showed up on the last dive two and we drifted along with them during the whole dive and they really showed their love to the divers swimming between them and feeling the bubbles on their bellies! Our trip its almost at the end but we still have some more dives at Socorro and San Benedicto, let’s hope the weather is good! Stay tuned!
Rodrigo Marroquin
Dive instructor.
Friday, April 15, 2016
Friendly dolphins, mantas, plenty of sharks, and great conditions at Roca!
Hi All!
April 13, 2016
We are at Roca Partida! It's a little bit chilly here this morning, the high clouds won't let the sun light penetrate, and we have a bit of wind coming from the North. The white stuff encrusted on the rocks makes it look like it was just raining! The wind was blowing pretty much all day long, at times it slowed down a bit, but the swells made our entry and exit a little more challenging than usual, but once we were underwater everything was very nice to us! We spotted dolphins early in the morning, we were lucky to see them on the east side, a group of about 12 actively swimming. We spent about 15-20 minutes with them doing all sorts of moves to keep us entertained! This group was very curious, they kept coming closer trying to investigate what we are! Two of them weren't shy at all, by showing a mating act in front of everyone, not only once but three times! The other were chirping loudly and were breaking up a school of cotton mouth jacks. Following them left us a bit away from the rock, so we needed to kick a little bit to make it back, but we made it! The west side offered nice diving with lots of fish, as usual we had a ton of white tips, the hard coral attached to the wall also offers protection to lobsters, eels, and other types of fish. Visibility is still good despite the surface swells. Pockets of cold water made us come up searching for warm water while the cotton mouth jacks stayed deep. Mantas appeared on the east side, they were playful as usual, the first one to show up was a chevron manta before a 2nd black manta showed up! Water temp was in the mid 70'sF/20'sC with 80'/24m visibility. Surface conditions continued to be cloudy and windy, a few times sunlight broke through making us feel toasty. On our 3rd dive the current shifted bringing blue water all over, the water was so clear we could see the bottom that's at a depth of 60m/200' approximately. The big eye jacks and cotton mouth jacks came up to shallow water, we were surrounded by jacks! We rode the current when a chevron manta crossed our path, and stayed with us for the rest of the dive! The friendly manta showed off doing vertical loops repeatedly showing us his white belly! As we're resting on the sundeck of the Solmar V, about 150m/450' away two humpback whales broke the surface to get air, and getting us excited about our next day of diving!
Dive Inst.
Daniel Zapata
Solmar V
April 13, 2016
We are at Roca Partida! It's a little bit chilly here this morning, the high clouds won't let the sun light penetrate, and we have a bit of wind coming from the North. The white stuff encrusted on the rocks makes it look like it was just raining! The wind was blowing pretty much all day long, at times it slowed down a bit, but the swells made our entry and exit a little more challenging than usual, but once we were underwater everything was very nice to us! We spotted dolphins early in the morning, we were lucky to see them on the east side, a group of about 12 actively swimming. We spent about 15-20 minutes with them doing all sorts of moves to keep us entertained! This group was very curious, they kept coming closer trying to investigate what we are! Two of them weren't shy at all, by showing a mating act in front of everyone, not only once but three times! The other were chirping loudly and were breaking up a school of cotton mouth jacks. Following them left us a bit away from the rock, so we needed to kick a little bit to make it back, but we made it! The west side offered nice diving with lots of fish, as usual we had a ton of white tips, the hard coral attached to the wall also offers protection to lobsters, eels, and other types of fish. Visibility is still good despite the surface swells. Pockets of cold water made us come up searching for warm water while the cotton mouth jacks stayed deep. Mantas appeared on the east side, they were playful as usual, the first one to show up was a chevron manta before a 2nd black manta showed up! Water temp was in the mid 70'sF/20'sC with 80'/24m visibility. Surface conditions continued to be cloudy and windy, a few times sunlight broke through making us feel toasty. On our 3rd dive the current shifted bringing blue water all over, the water was so clear we could see the bottom that's at a depth of 60m/200' approximately. The big eye jacks and cotton mouth jacks came up to shallow water, we were surrounded by jacks! We rode the current when a chevron manta crossed our path, and stayed with us for the rest of the dive! The friendly manta showed off doing vertical loops repeatedly showing us his white belly! As we're resting on the sundeck of the Solmar V, about 150m/450' away two humpback whales broke the surface to get air, and getting us excited about our next day of diving!
Dive Inst.
Daniel Zapata
Solmar V
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Lots of sharks, playful dolphins, friendly giant mantas, and more at El Canon!
Hello
Today we had our first full day of diving on the trip at El Cañon in San Benedicto Island. The conditions were great, visibility from 60ft/18m to 100ft/30m and water temperature of 73f/24C.
On the first dive as soon as we got in the water there were two dolphins a juvenile bottlenose and its mother, the young one stayed mostly at the surface while the mother was very active and displaying a very unique behavior that we get to see sometimes at this site. The mother was hunting by chasing a big eye jack, not to eat it but to get it tired and make it throw up the food that it had recently eaten and steal it, something amazing to watch and listen to also because when they are doing this they make a very unique sound.
The second dive was also amazing we saw a couple of black tip sharks, silvertips and some small groups of 3 to 8 hammerhead sharks passing by slowly close to the sandy bottom. After that we encountered a very friendly black manta that stayed with us for over 30 minutes and while it was around and the divers took turns taking pictures and blowing bubbles under it there was a very curious silky shark circling us.
On the third and fourth dive we saw some hammerheads again but not so close still there were many around the dive site. Tonight we are heading to Roca Partida stay tuned to find out what we encounter there this time!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Today we had our first full day of diving on the trip at El Cañon in San Benedicto Island. The conditions were great, visibility from 60ft/18m to 100ft/30m and water temperature of 73f/24C.
On the first dive as soon as we got in the water there were two dolphins a juvenile bottlenose and its mother, the young one stayed mostly at the surface while the mother was very active and displaying a very unique behavior that we get to see sometimes at this site. The mother was hunting by chasing a big eye jack, not to eat it but to get it tired and make it throw up the food that it had recently eaten and steal it, something amazing to watch and listen to also because when they are doing this they make a very unique sound.
The second dive was also amazing we saw a couple of black tip sharks, silvertips and some small groups of 3 to 8 hammerhead sharks passing by slowly close to the sandy bottom. After that we encountered a very friendly black manta that stayed with us for over 30 minutes and while it was around and the divers took turns taking pictures and blowing bubbles under it there was a very curious silky shark circling us.
On the third and fourth dive we saw some hammerheads again but not so close still there were many around the dive site. Tonight we are heading to Roca Partida stay tuned to find out what we encounter there this time!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
A great checkout dive at Las Cuevas!
Hi everybody!
Once again we are in Revillagigedo Island getting excited about the dives that we are about to have on this trip, from the beginning, we had a calm and easy dive for our check out dive in San Benedicto Island!
The conditions today were awesome with calm sea, great visibility at Las Cuevas, about 60 ft/20 mts, no current that helped us to have a very enjoyable dive with an underwater temperature of 24 C/ 73 F. Along the dive the conditions stayed constant, in terms of marine life we got to see several white tip sharks laying in the sand and inside the swim troughs sharing the space with big electric rays and some sting rays in between. The swim troughs at this site are great, full of grunts and jacks swimming between the divers made a perfect environment for our guests. Even though this was our check out dive and the best is about to come over the next days we got to see plenty of life here at Las Cuevas! Not to mention a couple of turtles swimming close to the wall on the west of the side, many parrot fish eating the coral and some rock mover wrasses graving rocks with their mouths and randomly placing them in another place. At the end of the dive we got to see more sharks on a big sand patch without even minding the divers getting close to them to get great pictures.
This trip has just started and we are waiting for the best to come, so stay in the loop with us and check our next dive reports!
Rodrigo Marroquin
Dive Instructor.
Once again we are in Revillagigedo Island getting excited about the dives that we are about to have on this trip, from the beginning, we had a calm and easy dive for our check out dive in San Benedicto Island!
The conditions today were awesome with calm sea, great visibility at Las Cuevas, about 60 ft/20 mts, no current that helped us to have a very enjoyable dive with an underwater temperature of 24 C/ 73 F. Along the dive the conditions stayed constant, in terms of marine life we got to see several white tip sharks laying in the sand and inside the swim troughs sharing the space with big electric rays and some sting rays in between. The swim troughs at this site are great, full of grunts and jacks swimming between the divers made a perfect environment for our guests. Even though this was our check out dive and the best is about to come over the next days we got to see plenty of life here at Las Cuevas! Not to mention a couple of turtles swimming close to the wall on the west of the side, many parrot fish eating the coral and some rock mover wrasses graving rocks with their mouths and randomly placing them in another place. At the end of the dive we got to see more sharks on a big sand patch without even minding the divers getting close to them to get great pictures.
This trip has just started and we are waiting for the best to come, so stay in the loop with us and check our next dive reports!
Rodrigo Marroquin
Dive Instructor.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
A little bit of everything at Cabo Pearce, along with a surprise from a massive tiger shark!
Hello
We moved from Roca Partida to Socorro Island where we did 4 dives at Cabo Pearce. We started early in the morning, the water temperature was 75F/23C with visibility about 40ft/18M. On the first two dives we saw a friendly pacific giant manta ray and a few white tips sharks along with a few Galapagos sharks one hammerhead. The current started to pick up so the group decided to drift into the blue while we were doing our safety stop, and a group of 5 dolphins came and played with the divers! So instead of a 3 minute safety stop, we made it 10! On the 3rd dive the current picked up a bit so we decide to stay near the reef and watched as lots of jacks and a big yellow fin tuna was eating were swimming about! At the end we started drifting with the current for our safety stop a big shark kind of looking like a juvenile whale shark at distance but when him approach It was a tiger shark! Then the shark disappeared in the blue! On the 4th dive the was no more current at all, so we did a nice relaxed dive along the reef!
Benjamin Lazcano
Dive instructor
Solmar 5
We moved from Roca Partida to Socorro Island where we did 4 dives at Cabo Pearce. We started early in the morning, the water temperature was 75F/23C with visibility about 40ft/18M. On the first two dives we saw a friendly pacific giant manta ray and a few white tips sharks along with a few Galapagos sharks one hammerhead. The current started to pick up so the group decided to drift into the blue while we were doing our safety stop, and a group of 5 dolphins came and played with the divers! So instead of a 3 minute safety stop, we made it 10! On the 3rd dive the current picked up a bit so we decide to stay near the reef and watched as lots of jacks and a big yellow fin tuna was eating were swimming about! At the end we started drifting with the current for our safety stop a big shark kind of looking like a juvenile whale shark at distance but when him approach It was a tiger shark! Then the shark disappeared in the blue! On the 4th dive the was no more current at all, so we did a nice relaxed dive along the reef!
Benjamin Lazcano
Dive instructor
Solmar 5
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Galapagos, hammerheads, mantas and a world of fish on our 2nd day at Roca Partida!
Hi All!
April 05, 2016.
An awesome second day at Roca! We woke up feeling the wind blowing from North East, at the bow of Solmar V we are just looking at that rock, thinking, just below the surface the incredible amount of sea life gathers here!
Our first dive of the morning got welcomed by a Chevron manta ray, it was extremely friendly, this is only 18m/60ft of water, in the background lots of pacific creole fish, a few hammerheads and white tips sharks that were very active swimming in the area East side, no swimming needed during the next 13 minutes which was all a manta dive, only one but we had her attention! Definitely she liked our bubbles stream, she wasn't either making big loops around us, she wanted to be so close to us all time, the slowly swimming movement she was performing was passed on to us making our breathing pattern go slow as well making stay longer underwater, dream dive underwater condition made our dive a great one, vis 30m/100ft(+), barely noticeable current from south in which she swam off heading North, well then we all went South! No more than a few Black Jacks here and there while doing so and a perfect crystal clear water, finally we got South enjoying our swimming, rising from deep water columns and columns of cotton mouth jacks in black color, Big Eye Jacks well coordinated while swimming, hundreds of Pacific Creole Fish, lots of rainbow runners, red and yellow tail trigger fish, our depth by now is 30m/100ft, shark fins started to be visible to us among the big number of fish, we did not chased them, they came up on us, we had counted up to 25 adult Galapagos sharks and 4 Hammer Heads with them, literally we had them right below our fins making circles, it was our reward by not chasing them! Disengaging from current it took us to white tip sharks ledges well distributed, adults taking its place, pregnant females other ledges, juveniles too, the little ones about 0.30cm/a foot long separated from others, our safety stop was easy surrounded by lots of big eye jacks, water temp of 23℃/74℉.
During the surface interval the wind picked up a bit more, sky partially clouded, the swells were not too big, nothing major that would keep us from going diving so here we go second dive! It started again with such a blue water! While descending on the South point that world of fish was still there! We descended about 30m/100ft spent time there until dive comp were beeping hoping for sharks, it is a unique sensation being down here, depth inviting to go deeper, we can actually see sandy areas, easy we are talking another 30m/100ft deeper, rock formation all covered with soft coral moving sideways due to swells on the surface, Galapagos shark are there as deep as that! We actually see them, hope next dive they will come up shallower.
Our last dive of the day we insisted on the South area, every time, every descent the world of fish was there making us feel how so fortunate to see this we are, not too long after those shark fins came back close to the rock, so close to count more than 80, 90, 100 hundred Hammer Heads, with them Galapagos also, the world of fish retracted towards the rock letting us see such a fascinating creatures, then a second time, then a third time! The way up to shallow water was relaxing easy, surrounded by fish, even though current picked up and had to swim a bit it was worthy! So we drifted North East to finish the dive and have the opportunity once more to enjoy the baby white tips.
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata
Solmar V.
April 05, 2016.
An awesome second day at Roca! We woke up feeling the wind blowing from North East, at the bow of Solmar V we are just looking at that rock, thinking, just below the surface the incredible amount of sea life gathers here!
Our first dive of the morning got welcomed by a Chevron manta ray, it was extremely friendly, this is only 18m/60ft of water, in the background lots of pacific creole fish, a few hammerheads and white tips sharks that were very active swimming in the area East side, no swimming needed during the next 13 minutes which was all a manta dive, only one but we had her attention! Definitely she liked our bubbles stream, she wasn't either making big loops around us, she wanted to be so close to us all time, the slowly swimming movement she was performing was passed on to us making our breathing pattern go slow as well making stay longer underwater, dream dive underwater condition made our dive a great one, vis 30m/100ft(+), barely noticeable current from south in which she swam off heading North, well then we all went South! No more than a few Black Jacks here and there while doing so and a perfect crystal clear water, finally we got South enjoying our swimming, rising from deep water columns and columns of cotton mouth jacks in black color, Big Eye Jacks well coordinated while swimming, hundreds of Pacific Creole Fish, lots of rainbow runners, red and yellow tail trigger fish, our depth by now is 30m/100ft, shark fins started to be visible to us among the big number of fish, we did not chased them, they came up on us, we had counted up to 25 adult Galapagos sharks and 4 Hammer Heads with them, literally we had them right below our fins making circles, it was our reward by not chasing them! Disengaging from current it took us to white tip sharks ledges well distributed, adults taking its place, pregnant females other ledges, juveniles too, the little ones about 0.30cm/a foot long separated from others, our safety stop was easy surrounded by lots of big eye jacks, water temp of 23℃/74℉.
During the surface interval the wind picked up a bit more, sky partially clouded, the swells were not too big, nothing major that would keep us from going diving so here we go second dive! It started again with such a blue water! While descending on the South point that world of fish was still there! We descended about 30m/100ft spent time there until dive comp were beeping hoping for sharks, it is a unique sensation being down here, depth inviting to go deeper, we can actually see sandy areas, easy we are talking another 30m/100ft deeper, rock formation all covered with soft coral moving sideways due to swells on the surface, Galapagos shark are there as deep as that! We actually see them, hope next dive they will come up shallower.
Our last dive of the day we insisted on the South area, every time, every descent the world of fish was there making us feel how so fortunate to see this we are, not too long after those shark fins came back close to the rock, so close to count more than 80, 90, 100 hundred Hammer Heads, with them Galapagos also, the world of fish retracted towards the rock letting us see such a fascinating creatures, then a second time, then a third time! The way up to shallow water was relaxing easy, surrounded by fish, even though current picked up and had to swim a bit it was worthy! So we drifted North East to finish the dive and have the opportunity once more to enjoy the baby white tips.
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata
Solmar V.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Very friendly mantas at Roca Partida!
Hello
Today we dove at Roca partida and as usual we had another great day! The water temperature was 73F/25C and the visibility ranged from 80ft/24m to 100ft/30m with almost no current throughout the day.
Probably the best dive was the first one in the morning, as soon as we got in the water right next to the caves where all the white tips hang out close together we saw a giant manta coming towards us and then we noticed there were actually 4 mantas around the rock! It is unusual to have so many mantas on this dive site and when they are around normally they are not as friendly as in the other islands but this time it was different there was one in particular a juvenile chevron giant manta that was extremely friendly and allowed the divers to get very close and enjoyed their bubbles.
On the second dive we spotted a couple of big Galapagos sharks and also a school of hammerheads, it was a big school but we just hovered on top of them as they were a bit too deep this time. On the last dive we mainly stayed with the white tips and the schooling jacks but at the end of the dive we saw about 7 big Galapagos circling the north point of the rock in shallow waters.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Today we dove at Roca partida and as usual we had another great day! The water temperature was 73F/25C and the visibility ranged from 80ft/24m to 100ft/30m with almost no current throughout the day.
Probably the best dive was the first one in the morning, as soon as we got in the water right next to the caves where all the white tips hang out close together we saw a giant manta coming towards us and then we noticed there were actually 4 mantas around the rock! It is unusual to have so many mantas on this dive site and when they are around normally they are not as friendly as in the other islands but this time it was different there was one in particular a juvenile chevron giant manta that was extremely friendly and allowed the divers to get very close and enjoyed their bubbles.
On the second dive we spotted a couple of big Galapagos sharks and also a school of hammerheads, it was a big school but we just hovered on top of them as they were a bit too deep this time. On the last dive we mainly stayed with the white tips and the schooling jacks but at the end of the dive we saw about 7 big Galapagos circling the north point of the rock in shallow waters.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Monday, April 4, 2016
Back at San Benedicto!
Hello
Today we did our fist dive at the canon in san benedicto island, the visibility on the fist dive was about 40ft/12m. We did a boat dive the current wasn't very strong, the water temperature was kind of warm at 75F/23C. We were diving along the cannon toward to the cleaning station where we saw a school of 25 hammerheads a few silvertips and some white tips along with a school of big eye jacks and a few moray eels. On the second dive of the day, we decided to stay below the boat where 3 silkies shark and a school of big aye jacks were doing their rounds. For the third dive were moved from el “cañon” to el “el boiler” and at the boiler the visibility was much better at 100ft/30m and the temperature was the same 75F/23C. At the boiler we saw a big yellow fin tuna probably 275 lbs, white tips, blue, jack trevalli, then on our last dive of the day the current picked up a bit, so we did one lap around the rock and then the group decided to drift with the current. We saw a school of amberjacks and at the end when we were doing our safety stop a giant pacific manta passed by and stayed with our divers until the end of our safety stop!
Benjamin Lazcano
Solmar V
Dive Instructor
Today we did our fist dive at the canon in san benedicto island, the visibility on the fist dive was about 40ft/12m. We did a boat dive the current wasn't very strong, the water temperature was kind of warm at 75F/23C. We were diving along the cannon toward to the cleaning station where we saw a school of 25 hammerheads a few silvertips and some white tips along with a school of big eye jacks and a few moray eels. On the second dive of the day, we decided to stay below the boat where 3 silkies shark and a school of big aye jacks were doing their rounds. For the third dive were moved from el “cañon” to el “el boiler” and at the boiler the visibility was much better at 100ft/30m and the temperature was the same 75F/23C. At the boiler we saw a big yellow fin tuna probably 275 lbs, white tips, blue, jack trevalli, then on our last dive of the day the current picked up a bit, so we did one lap around the rock and then the group decided to drift with the current. We saw a school of amberjacks and at the end when we were doing our safety stop a giant pacific manta passed by and stayed with our divers until the end of our safety stop!
Benjamin Lazcano
Solmar V
Dive Instructor
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