January 24 - February 1st, 2017

DOLPHIN´S PARADISE

Hi everyone!
We are on our way back to Los Cabos having completed once again a successful trip on board of the Solmar V liveaboard which kept our guests thrilled along the week with playfull mantas, dolphins, sharks and lots of different species that make this outstanding place one of the best diving spots in the world.

This trip started whit rough swells and windy days but the weather came to a calm state at the middle of our journey making the visibility a great allied and the light current made our dives enjoyable showing the great marine life that get around this magnificent archipielago, specially at our favorite diving spots Cabo Pearce, Roca Partida and Boiler.

The first stop this time was El Cañon in San Benedicto Island with its versatile diving and marine life diversity along the canyon, with 50+ big eye trevallies under the boat swimming on and on having their own silky shark patrol of about 6 different individuals making the best scenario for our great photographers on board. Right on the edges of the site we have great manta encounters, 4 mantas hovering on the mild current and getting their usual bubble shower. The sharks made their appearance always at the cleaning station full of life between silvertips, whitetip reef sharks and the occasional hammerhead coming up from deep water.
The weather conditions made us to take a decision and lead the boat straight to Socorro Island where the best was about to come at Cabo Pearce. On the first dive the pangas drop the divers at the perfect spot. Once we started descending, an unusual behavior took place when one dolphin came right at one of our guides and started poking his nose at his mask on a clear sign of friendly gesture, so the interaction didn´t wait to long when in a moment 7 dolphins were all over the place being pet by the divers for about an amazing 35 minutes that according to our guests, this definitely has to be one of their best dives of their lives, hard to disagree with them when this place has come to be the Dolphin Paradise! For the rest of the day the mantas were the best part of the show, with at least 6 different individuals swimming close to the rock and right at the surface. The Galapagos sharks were all over the place on a big number hunting on the deep parts, big school of 100+ tunas swimming on the blue and two of our divers got to see false killer whales right on their safety stop.
Roca Partida has risen big expectations between the divers that come to Socorro because it is humpback whale season and we were waiting the same once we got there. We could spot them at the surface but it is hard to see them underwater. Anyhow we had great diving there with 5 different mantas along the rock, 6 Galapagos sharks swimming on the deep zones the same as the hammerheads and 2 silvertips. The rock was full of life on the south point with big schools of jacks, creole fishes and yellowtail triggers.
We finished our trip at Boiler with poor visibility but great manta action, having their bubbles doze and the never ending stills and videos by our guests. At the end we got to see one tiger shark close to the sand at 35 mts / 140 ft and more Galapagos sharks swimming close to the pinnacle.

As always we are heading back to land with happy divers and lots of great memories to share with the diving world, so mission accomplished and hopefully we get to see the big mamas next trip!

Wishing the best from and for the ocean.

Rodrigo Marroquin, dive instructor.
SOLMAR V.

DIVING CONDITIONS
Currents: Mild
Visibility: 65 ft / 20 m
Water temp: 75 F / 23 C


WEATHER  
(On scale 0 calm - 5 rough)

Climate: Cloudy
Sea: Choppy 3/5


CROSSINGS
(On scale 0 calm - 5 rough)

To San Benedicto: 4
To Socorro: 4
To Roca Partida: 3

Jan 19, 2017

Good day people,

Today we dove in Cabo Pearce in Socorro. The water temperature was 75F and the visibility around 60 feet, the day was cloudy with a soft rain early in the morning. Because of the check in the afternoon at the Navy Base, we did only three dives. The first dive was good, we saw one dolphin, two hammerhead sharks and two mantas. For the second dive we had three mantas modt of the time and a group of five playful dolphins. Probably the best dive of the day was the third one, the current picked up, so we had to hold on to the rocks for a while to stay on the reef. We saw a big hammerhead close to us and a few minutes latter in the blue the big school of hammers! Strong current, big stuff to see! Also three mantas were on top of the reef, two blacks and one chevron; one of the black mantas followed us when were were drifting away from the reef, until we did our safety stop and then the manta left us.
Socorro Island gave us a great day of diving and now we are heading to San Benedicto, for the last day on this trip.

Pablo DM

Jan 18, 2017

Hi All!
Jan 18, 2017.
Roca Partida:
Humpback whales are back to Roca Parida, they kept teasing us coming closer to the rock, mama
calf and escort chasing them, at times they came across between the Roca and Solmar V,
Under a cloudy day, early as 7 am we went diving! Our first dive of the morning brought to us a
very curious whale shark in the North End of the Roca, as the day went by in other dives fun Black
and Chevron Giant Pacific Mantas were there to make our dives unforgettable,Vis over 80ft/24m,
for the most part water temp 79℉/26℃, shifting current along the day kept us in shape
starting mild in the morning increasing intensity by our third dive! With it a school of
Hammer Head shark came back to South End of Roca doing what they are famous for,
swimming on their side, showing the shiny side, here and there Yellow Fin Tunas making
every fish retrieve to the safety of the rock, Fun day and a bit challenging made it count for
our dive experience!
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata, Solmar V.--

Jan 17, 2017

Today we arrive to Roca Partida after a rocky crossing from San Benedicto but the diving conditions were good with a medium swell coming from the north, the wind blowing from the northwest, good visibility of 30 meters / 90 ft, water temperature 24 C / 79 F, some thermoclines along the rock and light current coming from the north.

We got in the water on the first dive waiting to spot some whales due we have seen spotting them early morning a 100 yards away from the rock and then appearing on a different spot blowing and even splashing with their tail, apparently there 3 around the zone, one escort, the big mama and the calf. As soon as we were in the water we could see a big school of hammerheads, about 30 individuals swimming deep in the blue and getting away from us with the ocasionaly single lost one swimming behind the big group. On the current at the north the big sharks appeared, silver tips, Galapagos, silkies and the resident white tip reef sharks resting on the ledges made the perfect occasion for the photographers. As the day goes by, we could see two mantas chasing each other, one black and a very friendly chevron that kept following the divers as usual. In the blue we could see a big school of skip jacks followed by tunas, rainbow runners and the pompanos swimming close to the surface.

We expected to see the big whales today but hopefully tomorrow will be our lucky day, they are so close!!

Rodrigo Marroquin, dive instructor.

Jan 16, 2017

Good day everybody,

Today we were in San Benedicto and the dive site was El Cañon. The water temperature was 75F and the visibility for the first two dives around 70feet; for the afternoon dives the wind picked up bringing dust from the island, and changing the conditions. We had 30 feet of visibility more or less.
The first dive at 7 AM was good, we saw dolphins, a couple of mantas, hammerheads and silver tip sharks. For the second dive we saw three mantas, dolphins at the beginning and the end of the dive, hammerheads, two black tip sharks, a tiger shark close to the cleaning station and four silkies swimming under the Solmar V were there for us. Probably the best dive of the day this one was because of all the action we had. For the third dive we found again the school of hammerheads, but this time they came pretty close to the divers. Two playful chevron mantas were with us most of the time and silkies too. For the last dive because of the lower visibility, some divers decided to stay under the boat taking pictures and video of the silkies in shallow water; also a chevron manta came close too.
Now we are heading to Roca Partida for another great day of diving.

Pablo DM

Jan 11, 2017

Today we are back at San Benedicto diving "Boiler" with great diving conditions, light swell, with 60 ft / 20 mts of visibility, 23 C / 75 F water temperature, no current on the first 2 dives and a little bit of it on the third and fourth dives.

We started the day spotting dolphins on the west side of Boiler, 6 dolphins diving down to 30 meters to get cleaned by the endemic clarion fish, two of them were petting each other on a clear sign of mating so we thought we spoiled their special time, anyway they kept swimming between us and even one of them started rushing to the surface and jumped out of the water several times. On the deep we could see a big hammerhead, about 2 meters or more swimming close to the sand, some black tips were very close to the dolphins but when we tried to have a closer glance they disappear in the blue. The mantas showed up along the day, 4 or 6 different were gliding between the rock and the canyon on the west side of Boiler, so we went down to 30 meters to see them better when 2 big ones started swimming back to the rock and started coming up close to it to get the rising current right under their wings. To finish the day we got a quick view of a big tiger shark that came close to the divers just for a moment and then it went back down to the sand while the divers tried to get the best shot possible.

Its been a great trip for the Brazilian team and for the Solmar crew, we will be back in short.

Rodrigo Marroquin, dive instructor.

Jan 10, 2017

We woke up today in Socorro Island. We did two dives in Cabo Pearce, then we went to the Navy base to do the check in, and latter in the afternoon the last dive of the day in Punta Tosca. The water temperature was 77F and the visibility around 30 feet.
The first dive one of the groups saw a few dolphins passing by and three mantas on the distance. For the second dive one manta was swimming with one of the groups for a while, also we saw a couple of big tunas and a Galapagos shark. Because the dives were not the best, we decided to move to Punta Tosca and that was a good call! We spend most of the dive with dolphins, and the best part was when one of them very friendly let us touch her. All the divers had the opportunity to pamper the dolphin!
Everybody came back with a huge smile in the face.

Pablo DM

Jan 8, 2017

Today we are at Roca Partida on our first day of diving with great conditions; mild swell, visibility of 30 mts / 90 ft, water temperature 25 C / 79 F, current coming from the west.

On the first dive we spotted lots of mantas coming from the blue and joining our dive feeling the bubbles and chasing the divers to get as close as possible, even it looks like they are more interested in us day after day. In total we could see over 10 different mantas along the day with one chevron that kept swirling and looping among the divers, one big black manta that we spotted in past january in San Benedicto made it appearance here at Roca. All the divers got their best chances to get the shots between the ocasionaly silver tips, hammerheads and the constant white tip reef sharks. On the last dive we spotted a big school of bonitas mixed with some silvertips and silkys, no mantas but I believe the divers are very satisfied with the day.

Rodrigo Marroquin, dove instructor.

Jan 7, 2017

Today was the second day of our trip. We were in San Benedicto and the dive site El Boiler. The water temperature was 75F, the visibility around 40 feet and the current heading north most of the time.
We did four dives today. On the first one we saw dolphins and three chevron mantas. For the second dive the mantas were there again, three chevron and one black, and also a couple of hammerhead sharks swimming close to the rock. For the third dive the current picked up and the mantas didn't stay in the area, but we saw one black and two chevron for a few moments. The last dive of the day was really good, four mantas, one black and three chevron; one big hammerhead and one not so big tiger shark. White tip reef sharks, lobsters, octopuses, green moray eels and colorful fish we saw during the dives too. As usual El Boiler gave us a great day of diving. To finish the day, we did the "panga ride", so the people could take a closer look to the island.
Tonight we are heading to Roca Partida for another fun day in Revillagigedo.

Pablo DM

Jan 2, 2017

dive report - roca partida

   To do our first dive we went down at the estearn wall of the rock ,protected from current .At the 45 ft /14 m. we explore the ledges where the whitetipssharks were resting .After taking pictures and videos we went down to 100 ft / 30 m and little by little we move to the north .At this corner we found the first manta chevron of the day ,which was very elegant swimming in the blue . we spent time with it and we went to check the northwest where few whitetipssharks were passing by . We come back to the north and once there more chevron mantas were arriving from the blue to stay with us , swimming up and down ,doing circles from the 50 ft / 15 m to the surface .we count 4 mantas , 3 chevron and a black manta was around .for our second dive the plan was to cover the southern corner of the reef to search for hammerheads or in a very lucky day why not for a whaleshark ? .We entry at south and we saw 3 mantas chevron playing with anothers divers in the blue ,but we didnt pay atenttion to them to stick with the plan .we continue at south but the current was going north then we were swimming slowly at south thinking to come back at north ,when a big ,massive shade was coming from the north to us ,we went straight to it when a huge massive whaleshark showed up in front of us !! it was no less than 30 ft / 9 m  and it has a massive body and volume.Beutiful body plenty of white spots swimming with us at the the 123 ft /37 m !.it turns to the south to turn at the northern corner to disappear . Every diver of every group saw it !!. All was about happiness and enjoyment of this magnificent creature of the oceans !! majestic moment of the day !. To finish the trip we cover from the southern corner of the rock and we explore all the western face ,with beautiful hard coral and a wonferfull view of the wall going down  ,seaurchins and whitetipssharks  swimming around ,mixed with schools of amberjacks and pacific triggerfish , and once at the north an amazing spectacle of mantas was there for us , 6 mantas chevron were coming from everywhere and a black manta too . The water was very clear ,more than 80 ft / 24 visibility ,clean and blue !! the temperature was 77 º F / 26 ªc .very nice conditions to enjoy all the incredible wonders of mother nature !!.Now we are heading back home with the feeling that there,s no better way to start the new year than diving the revillagigedo archipielag with our vessell the solmar v !! Happy new year !!


                                                                                                                                            ignacio hernan leyro
                                                                                                                                               scuba  instructor

Jan 1, 2017

Happy new year people!!!

Today we were back to San Benedicto and the dive site selected was El Boiler. We did four dives in this place and the water conditions were 75F temperature, visibility 50 feet and current heading north. On the first dive we did we saw three mantas and a group of eight to ten dolphins. For the second dive the dolphins came back for a few moment at the beginning and then five mantas!, for the rest of the dive; four chevron and one black. The third dive was all about mantas, they were swimming with us and playing with the bubbles of the divers. For the last dive of the day the current picked up a bit and me and my group decided to swim into the blue to look for more big animals. We found some tunas, a couple of black tips sharks and a group of nine or ten hammerheads. This time the hammers were very friendly because they came so close to us, less than ten feet away and swimming around us; the divers had the opportunity to make good videos of them. They came to celebrate the new year!

Pablo DM

Dec 30, 2016

  December 30 th ,2016 , san benedicto island 

We had a great day of diving at the canyon today !. we had lot of action with the hammerheads .During the first dive we saw few of them circling around , one was close to the reef but when we open to the blue we found few more and when we come back to the reef a black manta pass in front of us ,swimming slowly ,slowly .It make a couple of circles around the cleaning stations ,and disappear in the blue .For our second dive we moved from the canyon to the blue at east ,then a big hammerhead comes very close ,and anothers hammerheads showed up in school .We had 4 to 5 hammerheads below us ,and more hammerheads were at the limit of the visibility which was like 40 ft / 12 m .We followed the hammerheads which were around 70 ft / 21 m depth ,and they  were coming to us from the south ,closer and shallower each time , in front of us ,below us .Hammerheads everywhere !! we count at least 8 hammerheads very close to us and the rest were at the limit of the visibility ,anothers hammerheads below us .everybody was happy !! The rest of dives were very nice too .The water tempèrature was 77 ºF / 25 º C .we had more hammerheads , silvertips sharks ,big schools of amberjacks , whitetipsharks ,3 silky sharks .A Manta chevron showed up for the last dive of the day !.now we are heading to Socorro Island after a day plenty of action ! see you soon !!
                                                                                                                       

 Ignacio H.leyro
                                                                                                                       
 scuba instructor

Dec 29, 2016

The first day of diving on this trip. We were in San Benedicto and the dive site El Boiler. The water temperature was 77F/27C and the visibility for the first two dives around 50 feet; for the third and fourth dives the current brought murky water so we didn't have the best conditions, 20 feet visibility more or less.
For the first dive we had mantas and small group of dolphins. The current was strong so we drifted away from the rock and ended the dive in the blue with a couple of mantas, one chevron and one black. The second dive was great too, dolphins again and three mantas; one black and two chevron. On the third dive we saw only one manta just for a few moments and Thiago the videographer saw a tiger shark.
Probably the best dive of the day was the last one, because we were swimming against the current when we found a big school of hammerheads. Nacho's group also saw a group of yellow tail tunas when they were tracking the hammerheads.
The people were very happy for this first day of diving, and they were celebrating at the end of the day dive with a delicious margarita made by Manolo.

Pablo
DM Solmar V