Saturday, April 22, 2017

April 14 - April 22, 2017 #TripReport

THE RETURN OF THE FALSE KILLER WHALE

Revillagigedo Islands have always something new to offer to the divers all around the planet and this trip wasn’t the exception with the big surprise we got this week thanks to the visit of the false killer whales around this magical paradise.

Having great weather with sunny days, crystal clear water, mild current and tons of animals around is how we started our journey in San Benedicto Island diving at Las Cuevas for our check out dive, great expectation couldn´t resist to the big Galapagos shark that welcomed us right away at the sandy bottom with a big school of tunas passing behind it and the first manta of the trip hovering close to the surface. The dives at El Cañon where full of sharks, among which the hammerheads, the silkies and the silvertips where the more active coming closer to the divers to pose for the unforgettable moment, suddenly we started to hear a sharp squeak coming from everywhere, the false killer whales where around! We came out of the water and our surprise was huge when we saw them close to the boat, a big group of 50+ individuals jumping and exhaling at the surface, so we took the pangas and snorkeled with them for about an hour, then out of the blue some sailfishes, silkies and black tip sharks where around us trying to figure out what was all that scandal the false killer whale were doing, one of the best moments without a doubt!



After San Benedicto we headed towards Socorro Island and dove at Cabo Pearce, such a beautiful rocky landscape home of tons of different animals. The variety here its outstanding if you put yourself to watch closely to the little details on the rock such as the flounders, octopuses, huge lobsters, tiger snake eels, even we got to see small pipe fishes living on the sea urchins and some nudibranches resisting to the current. The mantas showed up here briefly but they weren’t as playful as we got them in Roca Partida later on, but a group of 7 dolphins did when one of them let the divers pet him for a bit.

Definitely the best diving we got it at Roca Partida, with an amazing 30+ mts / 90+ feet visibility, mild current coming from the north and calm seas made the perfect scenario for easy dives and all kind of pelagic encounters. Along the two days of diving we got around 7 different mantas, one of them, a friendly pregnant female couldn´t resist the bubble jacuzzi and stayed with us for the entire dive coming on and on to show off magnificently.  On the deep zones we got to see big bulky Galapagos, silver tips and a big school of 70+ hammerheads passing by towards the rock and going back to the cold depths. A huge school of thousands of skipjacks surrounded Roca Partida with 5 silkies sharks as shepherds, involving the divers for moments as part of it to the point that you could even loose the dimensions of the huge ball.

Great trip, incredible diving and amazing people on board of the Solmar V.
Happy dives to everyone!

Rodrigo Marroquín, dive instructor.
SOLMAR V.

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

WEATHER
Climate: Sunny
Sea: Calm

CROSSINGS
To San Benedicto: Calm
To Roca Partida: Calm
To Socorro: Calm

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