A phenomenal start to our Socorro season on Day 10 of our combo Guadalupe-Socorro trip!

Hello friends!
Day 10 on our combo Guadalupe-Socorro trip! After navigating for 39 hours from Bahía Magdalena to Roca Partida, we are finally at Socorro's Islands and what a way to start this Socorro season! We started our day with a nice breeze and very calm seas, everybody was very excited to go in the water and see what Roca Partida had for us, but we were also a little uncertain of what we were going to find as we haven't been here for about 4 months.
Anyway, by 7:45 am everybody was suited up and ready for Dani's dive briefing, and by 8 am we were off in the pangas! First dive we went in the water and a mild northwest current was present and temperature was  27C/82F what made our diving day very comfortable, so after a few minutes into the dive we found a WHALE SHARK!!!A huge pregnant female of about 40ft showed up along with a pod of bottle nose dolphins that played around it to say welcome back to Roca Partida! They came for a few minutes and then they disappeared into the blue, on this first dive we also had a couple of hammerheads, silver tip sharks, one silky shark chasing a school of bonitos, and of course the local residents of the rock like white tip reef sharks, lobsters, green morays and also as a plus to our first dive a chevron manta that swam under our divers at about 35m/115ft.
Second and third dive didn't disappoint, mantas kept showing up, we counted in total 3 mantas, 2 chevron and a black manta that is been hanging out at Roca Partida since May! Galapagos sharks swimming at around 40m/130ft, few hammerheads and the whale shark was still there and actually at the end of the day after looking at the pictures and videos we saw that there were actually 3 different 40ft/12m whale sharks, the 3 of them females and pregnant!
Now time to enjoy a delicious dinner prepared by our excellent chef Tony, look at todays pictures and recharge batteries for tomorrow's dives at Roca Partida again as we expect nice weather and ofcourse we are all crossing our fingers so this 3 huge whale sharks are still around!

I don't think there could have been a better way to start this Socorro season...stayed tuned and happy bubbles!
Dive Inst.
Antonio

Day 2 at Isla Benito!

 Oct 26/2014
As early as 7:30 we were divinv the pinncale off of the west side of Isla Benito del Este, it reminds us of Roca Partida in the Revillagigedo Islands because of the depth and the sort of wall diving, but this one is covered from bottom to top with kelp, making it a spectactular dive.  The seals were there again, along with lots of yellow tail jacks, and no current making this an easy enjoyable dive, the visibility was clear enough that we could see the sandy bottom clearly, which was down at 150'.
A second dive took place on the northern side of Benito del Este, in the kelp forest attached to rocks from 70' to the surface, we dove with more seals who let us know we were in their territory!  It was a good 55 minute long dive, watching the kelp move, other fish, and acrobatics from the funny seals.
To end the day we returned to Benito del Oeste for more fun dives with seals due to wind starting to hit the area.  It was funny to do one dive that we got to an area so shallow, we actually were actually in waist deep water, watching elephant seals on the beach, just like navy seals approaching the shore!
The last dive of the day was divided into two gruops, one went scuba diving, the other went to find a juvenile snapper bait ball, a huge one, we also did some snorkeling really close to some massive elephant seals!  We had a big time here making great memories and experiencing diving at Islas San Benito!
Dive Inst.
Daniel Zapata

We had a blast with playful elephant seal pups at Isla Benito!

Hola Everyone!
Around 7:00 am we spotted Isla Benito off the bow of the Solmar V, the sun was rising behind it turning the sky into intense colors overlooking 3 barren rocky islands!
We explored all over Benito del Centro, where we found an amazing colony of elephant seals just laying out on the beach!  Not far from this first spot, we found a gang of 30-40 playful baby elephant seals, sticking their head out of the water to check on us!  They were very curious and this seemed like a great place to do a dive!  We ended up spending over 50 minutes with these playful pups, they were acting like a very friendly gang of youngsters, coming from every direction, swimming around us, making faces at our cameras, posing head down tail up, sometimes we had as many 20 or more of them right in front of us!  These playful  graceful pups would swim right at the camera, twisting and spinning around, swimming circles around our divers! They were all so graceful and agile, and boy are the fast!  A bit of surge at this shallow dive made for a bit of fun, watching the kelp sway side to side, and an extensively purple hydrocoral bed added some color to our dive!  Our first dive was so good we had to come back for another!  We ended the day diving at Benito del Oeste, here we did a bit more swimming in comparison with the first dive site!  Visibility was extraordinary, with water temp in the mid 70's, no current, and lots of yellowtail jacks, sheep head, kelp bass, cone shells, and some nudibranchs! Swimming through the kep forest is a unique experience although the kelp was not fully grown, and just to remind us that we were still in seal territory, our pinniped friends would pop by and stay Hi to our divers!
  
Dive Inst.
Daniel Zapata

Awesome great white action on our 2nd to last trip to Isla Guadalupe!

Hello friends!
Our last regular Guadalupe trip of this season before we head down south on our Guadalupe-Socorro
Islands combo trip! As always everybody arrived to the boat extremely excited to go get in the water with the apex predator of the ocean, the Great White shark! All of our guests were ready to go and after doing our safety drill at about 1:45pm we left Ensenada harbor, off we go! This time some whales on the distance said good bye to us as we left Ensenada and headed towards Guadalupe island!
The crossing was very smooth with very small swell, air temperature on the mid 70's and a light breeze that made our way out to the island very pleasant. Next morning we woke up to a cloudy day and at about 8:45am we got to the island! By 9am bait was in the water and after a short while to set the surface and submersible cages and do our dive briefing we had our first divers in the water by 10am!! It was not until 12:30 when the first shark showed up, a 12ft male, that came straight to get the bait! Action kept going as it stick around and about 40 minutes later a big 14ft female showed up to keep going with the show! Everybody was super excited and the surface cages and the submersible cage stayed full of divers until about 4:40pm when sharks decided to take a break until the next day and the wind made us stop the fun on the submersible cage, so after 6pm quick shower, guests had some nice cold cervezas and then everybody enjoyed a delicious BBQ prepared by our chef Tony to finish the first great day of the trip!
Second day we had the bait in the water at 6am and everybody was so excited that they were already
asking “when can we go in the water?” so at 7am first few divers went in the water! Some of them even skipped breakfast to be the first ones in the water! Skipping breakfast was worth it, because at 7:40am first shark showed up! A 12ft male came by, a few minutes later another male came to say good morning  and both of them stayed all day long with us giving us a great show especially in the submersible cage where they swam very very close and slowly checking us out! Then it got very exciting when the big male breached out of the water getting the bait and splashing our diving platform! By the end of the day it got quite windy so again submersible cage had to come to an end   and sharks went away doing only a few passes in about 40ft of water several times before the end of the day.
Last day of cage diving on this trip and again at 7am we had our first divers in the water! It took only 45 minutes this time for our first visitor to come by a 12ft. male great white started the show and every body started asking us about the submersible cage today... And the answer was YES! At 8:30 we started the rotation on that cage and it didnt stop until 3pm! We had a lot of action down at 25ft., not as much at the surface but everybody was enjoying themselves! The crossing back was a little rougher specially at night and the next morning was little better, and we spotted hundreds of white side dolphins coming back into Ensenada what made everybody run outside with their cameras...a great end for our GREAT trip!
Dive Instructor
Antonio
Solmar V

9 different great whites on our latest trip to Isla Guadalupe!

Trip report October 5,14
We arrived to Guadalupe Island around 8:30 am. After we anchored the boat, Erick one of the Dive masters, started with the briefing for the cage diving. In the meanwhile the rest of the crew were preparing the cages and the wrangling platforms. The first two groups of four divers jumped in the water at 9:30 in the stern cages. At eleven, the submersible cage went down with the first couple and one Dive master. The water temperature was 75F at the surface and 73F at 30 feet of water; the visibility the first day was 45 to 50 feet. After forty minutes the first shark showed up at the shallow cages and she stayed around for a while. In total we saw three sharks the first day, coming and going all day long!  The second day Emma, a 15 feet female shark showed up in the morning; she gave us a good show throughout the day. The divers had the opportunity to see her in the submersible cage as well as at the surface.
The last day was very exciting, one male shark came very close to the shallow cages a couple of times, our guests had numerous chances to get some that perfect shot!  We had some guests that got a photo with their jaws wide open, others got a few with the sharks biting the bait. Overall, we had a good trip, we saw nine different sharks over three action packed days with sharks breaching and coming very close to the cages!
Pablo DM onboard

Isla Guadalupe Trip #11!

Hi friends!

Here we are on our trip number 11 of our Guadalupe season!

Day 1, we had all of our guests on the boat ready to go and after doing our safety drill at about 1:30pm...off we go!...saying good bye to the marina sea lion colony and starting our crossing once again to the blue water island!

The crossing was a little rough with medium to high swell, air temperature on the low 70's but that didn't change the mood on the boat, the crew was joking and laughing as always and the guests where very excited and couldn't wait for the next morning to come and get in the water with the magestic Guadalupe great whites!

We woke up the next morning to a nice sunny day, air temperature was on the medium to high 70's and at about 8:30am we saw the island!...everybody started asking at what time we would be in the water and it was at 9:30 when we anchored at the island and at 9:50 the first diver hit the water!...after 40 minutes of throwing bait in the water the first shark showed up!...a big female of about 14ft. came to say hello to our divers and take the first peace of chum!, while clouds would come down from the top of the island like a cloud waterfall...excellent show!

After that people started going into the submersible cage with Instructor Dany, who was happy to take our GoPro camera to show everybody on the saloon TV what was happening down at 25ft.! There the water was pretty warm, 73F, whats made us think maybe action was not gonna be so good, but the rotation kept going all day with some on and offs on the shark action. That day we saw 4 different sharks, 3 males and the big female that kept coming around until 6pm exciting everybody in the cages!

After all that excitement we finished our day with a great mexican BBQ that our chef Tony prepared for us!..excellent tacos and off to bed!

Next day in the morning we woke up to a windy day, what made us take the decision of not going in to the submersible cage that day, putting our guests safety first as always on Solmar V!

Anyway the back cages had rotation all day until about 4:40pm, when sharks stop coming by, in total we had 7 different sharks, 1 of them a big 14ft female and the rest were all about 10-12ft males, a stripped marlin that swing by the cages and also a California sea lion that made everybody think...What are you doing here??? Don't you see the great whites???....after dancing around the cages and trying to get the chum that hangs from the boat on a plastic box, with no success, swam away unharmed.

Last day of cage diving on this trip and again 8am...first diver in the water!

It took only 25 minutes this time for our first visitor to come by...a 12ft. Male great white started the show and every body started asking us...submersible cage today???...and the answer was YES!...at 8:30 we started the rotation on that cage and it didn't stop until 3pm!...we had a lot of action down at 25ft. Where the 2 12ft males came around several times swimming really close to the cage and giving our divers a great show!

At the end we think the high water temperature is giving us less shark action but once again another great Guadalupe Solmar V trip!

Antonio

Dive Instructor

Solmar V

Isla Guadalupe Trip #9!

HI all!

Finally Odile Storm is giving us a break so we are heading out of the Marina in Ensenada for more White sharks at the isolated Guadalupe Island, Mexico.

Life is abundant here in the Ensenada Harbor, as we made our way out to sea, we see sea lions laying down on the channel bouys watching us as we go by!  They don't bother to move a flipper, barking loudly,  you see them, then you smell them or maybe it's the other way around!

Our crossing was nice and pleasant, air temp was in the upper 70's with a little bit of wind and mild swells.  We were watching the horizon when we spotted some jumping off in the distance!  Bottlenose dolphins were heading our way, and as we got closer to the dolphins we noticed something was a bit different.  Yes yes yes!! A small group of short-finned pilot whales on our starboard side!  Then we had another small group on the port side!  Then more of them spread out into smaller groups, there were 30-40 of them crossing along in no hurry!  We slowed down to get a closer look, and Captain Gerardo made circles to get us more time with them!

Several times we had both dolphins and short-finned pilot whales riding the bow together!  Dolphins are more rolling on their sides, belly up, doing a half breach, we could hear them chirping if you listen closely.  

We arrived to clear blue water amongst the shelter of Guadalupe Island, dropped the anchor, and everyone was getting excited during our dive briefing!  Conditions were good, it was a warm sunny day, there was no wind, water temp in the submersible was 71F.  The day started off slow, we didn't see any sharks as quickly as we have on the other trips so far this season.  In the afternoon a large male shark showed up, we got a great view of him from the submersible, and he made a pass around the surface cages, and then swam away!  Right after this male left, another shark showed up, made a similar pattern aroudn the submersible, to the surface cages, and then disappeared into the blue!  A 3rd shark showed up shortly there after, and hung around the submersible cage until light got low and we had to call it for the day! All of this action is viewable on the surface in real time via GoPro connection to the boat on the surface. After the diving was completed, we had a delicious dinner below a gorgeous sky full of stars!

Day 2 we awoke to a gorgeous dark orange color and pale orange sunrise as it progressed!  The island itself is unique, cloud formations on the highest north eastern point drop as a curtain covering the island, underwater it is a whole different story!  A temporary home for the majestic and powerful great white shark, we went to a new location this morning called prison beach, and it offered much better visibility than yesterday!  The water temp remained the same, we had a mild current from the north.  Our first diver got in the water at 7:00 am, and the rotation didn't stop all day! The hope to see a high was high, seagulls were witnesses to our activity trying to find these giant creatures, we spotted some dolphins, and a sea turtle, but the great whites were unfortunately elusive!

Dive Inst,

Daniel Zapata