February 28th - March 8th, 2018 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

HAMMER TIME

The diving started this trip at Fondeadero in San Benedicto Island with strong current going down the line, with the occasional silkies swimming closer to the boat and the quick glance of the first tiger shark of the trip were the welcome to our journey.

For our next day we had mild current hitting towards the north with great hammerhead action, over 3 different groups of 20+ sharks gliding on the outskirts and closer to the sandy bottom, some of them were quite big while other group was a juvenile one. Some silvertips at the cleaning station, mantas swimming in the blue and 2 different tiger sharks over 3 meters came closer to us to disappear in deep water.

At Boiler the action was great with the 7 different mantas along the day getting their usual doze of bubbles, some dolphins early in the morning with a couple of calves hunting in shallow water, more hammerheads on the deep west point where around the same area we could spot over 5 Galapagos and another huge tiger shark.

One of the highlights this time has to be the big amount of tunas at Pariente´s Rock in San Benedicto Island mixed with big school of huge hammerheads and mantas; also big schools of tunas hunting at Roca Partida and just a few sharks there, not as many as usual but this time we got to snorkel with a big group of 40+ false killer whales.

At Socorro Island we dove at Cabo Pearce with easy conditions, no current at all, where we had more hammerheads in the deep outskirts, some mantas, a couple of dolphins and mobulas closer to the surface.

Rodrigo Marroquín, dive instructor.
SOLMAR V.

Current: Mild

Visibility: Good, 25-mts/75-ft. average.

Swells: Good

Crossings: (Scale 1 calm - 5 rough)
Cabo to San Benedicto: 3
San Benedicto to Roca Partida: 2
San Benedicto to Cabo: 1

February 16th - February 26th, 2018 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

Hola amigos! 

We had an 11 day trip this time and event though the weather conditions were not ideal, mostly overcast, windy and a little rough, but the diving rocked!

The highlights of this trip were the insane dolphin action at "El Boiler" in San Benedicto Island and "Cabo Pearce" in Socorro Island where we had up to 23 dolphins interacting with the divers for most of the dives, specially at Boiler we had so much action that was hard to decide where to look at when we had dolphins, mantas and hammerheads at the same time, just a mind blowing experience!. The other highlight was Roca Partida with its crazy shark action, we had lots of Galapagos, Silver tip and Hammer head sharks specially on the north side of the rock where the current was hitting the rock must of the time, and where a bunch of creole and trigger fish gathered and where being hunted by a huge tuna that pass by many many times and gave us pretty cool action.

While at Roca Partida we had a humpback whale that sticked to the area for the couple of days we were there so we decided to sacrifice one dive to go try to get in the water with it, but unfortunately it was just cruising to fast and we had no luck...BUT then 2 male Orcas showed up and we got close enough that we jumped in the water and a few of us had an amazing few seconds of watching this beautiful creatures in their element!

The manta action was a little slow this trip but we still had come good days like at "El Cañón" where we had up to 5 mantas dancing around us for quite a while!

Hasta la próxima!

Trip Conditions:

Temperature
78 F / 26 C
Visibility
80 feet / 24 mts
In scale 1 to 5
Seas: 3
Current: 3
Crossings
To San Benedicto: 2
To Socorro: 1
To Roca Partida: 1 

Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor 
Solmar V

February 6th - February 14th, 2018 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

Hola!


This trip started in San Benedicto Island where we stayed for two days. The first day we dove in “El Cañón” and “Dos Hermanas”; where we saw mantas, hammerheads, silver tips, Galapagos a whale shark and a big school of skip jacks. The second day we dove in “El Boiler” where we saw dolphins early in the morning, mantas during the day and at the end of the last dive two more juvenile whale sharks!

The next stop was Socorro Island where we dove in “Cabo Pearce”. We saw dolphins in the morning and some of the divers had the opportunity to interact with them! The rest of the dives we saw mantas, hammerheads, Galapagos and silvertips sharks.

After being in Socorro we headed to “Roca Partida”. We found the school of hammerheads but in water too deep to follow them. Galapagos, white tips and silver tips were the other sharks we saw. On this trip our clients decided to stay only one day in Roca and return to San Benedicto, because they wanted to dive in “El Boiler” one more time. We started early the last day, for a better chance to dive with dolphins. A pack of nine
dolphins were hunting and chasing jack’s fishes; a mama teaching the calf how to hunt included. For the rest of the dives we saw lots of mantas all over the dive site, a few hammerheads and a couple of Galapagos sharks.

Thanks’ to our friends of “Aqua Hut” for this great trip in Revillagigedo Islands. “Best trip ever!!!”

Pablo
Dive Instructor
Solmar V

January 27th - February 4th, 2018 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

Trip N º 9 (January 27th – February 4th)
 

Las Cuevas, in San Benedicto Island was our very first check dive. Was amazing to watch 3 whitetips sharks resting into the caves and lots of tropical fish. The day after we have a great encounter with bottlenose dolphins at The Boiler. 6 to 10 dolphins at the western corner, when the first Manta Chevron showed up, and after  that we had an spectactular  interaction with 3 Mantas Chevron and 1 Black Manta. 

For the next 2 days we crossed to Roca Partida. Once there we found  Galapagos sharks (7)  and silvertips. Also big schools of cotton mouth jacks, trevalley jacks, bigeye jacks, 1 manta chevron and massive yellowfin tunas. The whitetips sharks were resting at the ledges  and few hammerheads were around! Wonderful  experience at this isolated volcanic Island in the Pacific!!

 Next stop was Socorro Island and we did 3 dives in Cabo Pearce. The visibility was 20 to 30ft and the current was very strong, specially the down current, challenging dive but very worthy! During the day was fascinating to watch 3 Chevron Mantas within the cleaning stations and a hammerhead in the blue. We saw whitetips sharks, lots of tropical fish, barberfish, trumpetfish, flounders and lobsters. What a beautiful reef!!

We headed back to San Benedicto Island to do 4 dives at El Cañon and we can say that we had a great diving. The action was increasing more and more!! A Manta Chevron at the first dive and at the second dive we found 4 to 5 hammerheads patrolling the area and around the schools of jacks. The rest of the day a couple of groups move to Dos Hermanos to find curious silky sharks and in El Cañon we saw a big Tiger Shark of 4 m/12 ft  circling the reef to disappear in the blue to come back, and once arriving to the Solmar V to complete our safety stop a beautiful Black Manta was passing by,  schools of amber jacks and 3 to 4 silky sharks were circling around the divers.

 Great experience at the Revillagigedo Archipelago, well recognized as Heritage of the World by UNESCO, because of its Biodiversity. And recently declared National Park!! 

See you soon!!!

Ignacio Hernan Leyro                                                                                                                
Scuba Instructor                                                                                                            
Solmar V

Crossing : Cabo San Lucas to San Benedicto 25 hs

Water temperature : 75 Fº / 23 C º to 79 F º / 24 Cº

Visibility : 20 Ft / 6 M to 80 ft / 24 M depending the sites

Weather : cloudy

January 17th 2018 - January 25th, 2018 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

Hi All!


Las Cuevas in San Benedicto Island, our first dive of the trip offered a nice swim through dive with lots of white tip reef sharks, green sea turtles, sting rays, lobsters, eels, electric rays, a dive to get comfortable with everything!

El Cañon dive site in San Benedicto island also offered nice diving with schooling hammerhead sharks, silver tip, silky sharks, Galapagos, lots of white tip reef sharks and even a tiger shark besides number of fish decorating the whole area.

Dos Hermanos dive site was also a place for a second encounter with tiger shark for a bit longer time than usual, colder water temp made fish more active, nice slow drift made possible the manta encounter at the safety stop.

Roca Partida for one day was the place for our shark dives and even Whale shark! The North end was packed with all type of fish due to colder water temperature(74℉/23.3℃) coming from depth, schooling hammerheads, silver tips, Galapagos and white tip reef sharks all together in just one area, current coming from North East made the diving interesting here! Schools of Yellow fin tunas, Bonitos, Rainbow runners, Black Jacks, of course we had the graceful company of mantas in the area.

Cabo Pearce in Socorro Island was our place for two days of diving with schooling hammerheads, mantas so friendly and dolphins encounter every dive! A dolphin petting dive put smiles in our faces!

El Boiler in San Benedicto Island, what a fantastic place, dives that can’t forget! Vis was constantly changing from 30ft/9m to 80ft/24m, water temp 79℉/26.1℃, no current made each dive enjoyable, at times even 5 mantas together a long the day, hammerheads sharks randomly appearing here and there, fish all over the rock! During second dive of the morning a group of 15 to 18 dolphins showed up for the entire dive, 50 minutes dive! mothers with calves, adult and juvenile ones, all together with mantas, so El Boiler became a cleaning station not only for mantas but dolphins too!

Dive Inst Daniel Zapata, Solmar V.
Current speed from 1 to 5, 2
Vis average 60ft/24m
Warmest Water Temp 79℉/26.1℃
Coldest water Temp 74℉/23.3℃
Crossing times:
Cabo San Lucas to San Benedicto Isl: 24hrs
San Benedicto to Roca Partida: 7.5 hrs
Roca Partida to Socorro Isl: 7.5 Hrs
Socorro Isl to San Benedicto Isl: 4.2 Hrs
San Benedicto to Cabo San Lucas: 26 Hrs

January 6th 2018 - January 14th, 2018 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

Trip report 7
From January 6th to 14th.

The first stop on this trip was in San Benedicto Island, where we dove in “El Cañón” and “Dos Hermanas”. The dives were great on both sites; with mantas, silver tip sharks and two big schools of hammerheads.

After being in San Benedicto, we headed to Roca Partida for two days. The dives there were spectacular! We saw tunas probably over two hundred pounds of weight, around 30 Galapagos sharks swimming together with some silver tip sharks, all on the north side of the rock. On the south part, we found the school of hammerheads in deep water.

In Roca Partida the highlight was a bait ball that we spotted at the end of the day. We jumped in the panga with mask, fins, snorkel, wetsuit and camera ready! When we arrived to the site we saw dozens of silky sharks and tunas hunting. This was an incredible experience for us.

After being in Roca we did our fourth day of diving at “Cabo Pierce” in Socorro Island. Here we saw six or seven dolphins on the first two dives. They were hunting and chasing the jack’s. We also had a nice encounter with three mantas and a few hammerheads and silver tip sharks.

The last day of the trip was in San Benedicto, this time we dove in “El Boiler”. On the first dive of the day we saw dolphins, but they didn’t stay longer. In all the dives we saw mantas; up to six of them on the third dive, and hammerheads here and there.

This was another great trip of scuba diving in Revillagigedo Islands.

Pablo
Dive Instructor
Solmar V

December 27th 2017 - January 4th, 2018 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

Hola amigos!

First of all happy new year to everybody from the Solmar V/Pelagic Fleet family!

We celebrated the new year doing what we do best: diving with the fantastic sea-life of the Socorro Islands! And the islands did not disappoint, the crossing from Cabo to San Benedicto Island was very smooth with very calm seas and took us 24 hours from the time we left port until the time we jumped in the water for our check out dive at “Las Cuevas” and the conditions couldn't been better for a check out dive, calm seas, warm water, 25C/77F, very slight current coming from the north and a visibility of about 24m/80ft. Lobsters, electric rays, whip tail stingrays, white tip reef sharks and a chevron manta at the end of the dive kept us entertained.

The first full day of diving we stayed in San Benedicto Island and we dove El Boiler on our first dive and Pariente’s Rock/Dos Hermanas for the last 3 dives of the day, bottled-nose dolphins, mantas, schooling bonitos, a few hammerheads and tiger sharks gave us a great start to our trip.

Then we crossed to Roca Partida, which took us 10 hours, the rock gave us some pretty good action with mantas, schooling jacks and bonitos, silky,white tip, Galapagos, silver tip, hammer heads and even a couple of juvenile oceanic black tip sharks on the 3 dives we did there before we crossed to Socorro Island where we dove “Cabo Pearce” and there we enjoyed of a little dolphin action and mantas looking for our bubbles to tickle their bellies. Our last crossing was back to San Benedicto island where we did our two last days of diving at “El Boiler” and just like on the first dive we did there the dolphin action was amazing! The very first dive we had dolphins for about 30-40 minutes and also hammerheads and mantas!...mind blowing dive site!...the rest of our dives there we had more schooling hammerheads of up to 30 individuals, tiger sharks, Galapagos and lots of manta action specially in the last couple of dives of the trip!

The crossing back to Cabo was perfect, flat seas And if that was not enough we finished the trip with a high note spotting 4 orcas, we put one of the zodiacs down in the water and went out to catch them, they were moving very fast but we were able to jump in the water and look at them...we have video and pictures to prove! Ha!...what a way to start the year and finish our trip!!!

During this trip we also had on-board a group of Mexican scientists that were tagging mantas and sharks for their research. Excellent treat that Pelagic Fleet got for us, supporting Mexican scientists and giving us the opportunity not only to watch them work but to be able to talk to them and listen to some very interesting presentations.

And as always, another great trip on the Solmar V!

Antonio Romero

Dive Instructor

December 13th - December 22nd, 2017 #TripReport (Socorro Islands)

MANTA'S DANCE AT BOILER

We are almost at the end of the year, and the Somar V Liveaboard keeps on with
the surprises at Revillagigedo, this time as usual, we departed on our 5th trip with
great weather and high expectations for a ten days trip.

The journey began with our check out dive at “Fondeadero” on San Benedicto
Island, as we arrived quite late to the island we had a dusk dive with lots of jacks
gliding on the current, two silky sharks swimming on the shallows and as the dive
continue the visibility got dark so the astonishing colors of the fishes glittered on
the reef giving a sense of sparks and shiny stripes all over.

On the second day we unloaded the boats early in the morning and prepared the
gears to get in the water, this time the chosen site was “Cañon”. Here we got to see
some hammerheads on the outskirts of the platform, lots of white tip reef sharks
swimming here and there and due we had no current we could dive the whole site
looking for the small stuff like moray eels, tiger snake eels and the big school of
burritos grunts that usually gathers at this site. We dove another great spot called
“3 hermanos” which lately has been a great surprise to us, so one we got there we
could encounter a tiger shark ambushing the fishes in the deep crest of the wall,
suddenly the current started to rise and hammerheads showed up in the blue, a
group of 20+ swimming along 3 mantas that started diving among the divers
getting their common bubble bath. As the dive continue we suddenly heard the
squeaks of dolphins and out of the blue 8 dolphins started sinking and swimming
up circling the divers, one of them was a baby dolphin that stick to the mother all
the time. In San Benedicto we got the best diving at Boiler, where as is a tradition
for the people that come here everyone waits for the very first dive due the best
dolphin and manta interaction takes place at this amazing pinnacle, so one we got
in the water big groups of 30+ dolphins started swimming among us al over the
place, then the mantas took the control of the dives and we had 4 amazing dives in
here, with divers blowing bubbles at their bellies, the highlight definitely were 3
huge chevron mantas and a small black one extremely friendly that stayed with us
along the day. We could spot Galapagos sharks in the deep zones next to the
elusive hammerheads and even a couple of black tips swimming with the big
school of jacks that usually could be found on the west side of Boiler.

After San Benedicto we got to Roca Partida, where we were expecting the great
whale sharks but we didn´t get to see any of these, so we focus most of the dives on
the big schools of jacks, the ambushing tunas and the eventually hammerheads
that kept swimming in the deep parts of Roca. We got to see more Galapagos
sharks and silvertips quite deep too. No mantas at Roca this time but anyhow such
a great place full of white tip reef sharks gliding in the current making and
exquisite spectacle.

At Socorro Island we got great diving with dolphins at Cabo Pearce with some
mantas in between too, having what we called the “manticure” at the cleaning
station with the Clarion angelfish. Suddenly when we were waiting to spot more
mantas, a big school of skipjacks shade the site and started moving along the rock
with two silkies patrolling the ball. We dove to more sites here at Socorro, one of

them was Roca O´Neil where we had a great view of 30+ hammerheads and the
other site was Punta Tosca, where we spotted another tiger shark and mantas plus
the great variety of tropical fishes, electric rays and the tiny nudibranches.
This trip has been an amazing experience as usually Socorro is, but every time is
getting better and better so lets wait for the next journey to see what is waiting
underwater for the lucky divers in turn. Until next time!

Rodrigo Marroquín, dive instructor.
SOLMAR V.

TRIP CONDITIONS (scale 1-5)
Swell: 3
Current: 2
Visibility: 4
Crossings
To San Benedicto: 2
To Roca Partida: 3
To Socorro: 2