Hi All! Feb 27, 2015
It was an excellent day to be diving at Roca Partida! We are not in the water yet and it looks so blue! Air temperature 25˚C/77˚F, the sky so clear, no wind and the amazing hump back whales still around!
Our first dive started at 8:30 on the East side, as quiet as the morning but lots of big eye jacks and white tips, blue water here means a visibility of at least 30m/100ft, water temp came back to be 25˚C/77˚F. A mild current took us to the southern area along the wall having as a back ground the so loud singing of whales that made us keep looking in to the blue water hopping that this huge shadow of a whale will come out to make itself visible, it didn’t but the singing was still in our heads! At a depth of 30m/100ft we had a combination of green and blue water, it was nice to feel a bit colder water and see also 7 Galapagos sharks that were hanging at this depth, kicking slowly just to stay in the same area 4 silver tips came by as well, here is where the current turns around and all jacks are embracing the rock facing the current making a vertical formations! Creole fish did the same thing retracting towards the rock because 2 yellow fins tunas are in the area! We decided to play in the current a bit to see what we see, it was worth the try because a school of 40 to 50 hammer heads were just there not even too far from the rock, current didn’t stop obviously so soon we had to seek for the wall protecting us against it, the West side was slow in action, still nice blue water, but fish were in the current.
The surface interval was interesting with whales! A couple of them were very interested in surfacing right next to the Solmar V, we saw them coming straight towards us slowly taking their time letting us guess that they really are coming, jumped into the water, their last breath before they went under was just 15m/50ft away from us, water being so clear helped so see them perfectly for 15minutes before coming up for more fresh air! So close that the spout so loud, deft steady for just seconds.
Our second dive was nice and relaxed, white tips are faithful to the rock, always there, no matter how many pictures you have taken of them, you still want more, they have something inviting you go for more pictures, current did the same took us around the rock, just a few Galapagos shark and fish. We were still enjoying of a beautiful sunny day, nice air temperature, whales still around, so u think lunch time or whale time!
Many decided to go looking for whales on the third dive, others opted to scuba dive. The snorkeling was really worth it, about 3 times we dropped in the water to snorkel with them, and each time we did was when they needed to come up for fresh air which was about 15minutes, they were hanging around at the same depth each time, 18 to 21m/60 to 70ft of water. The female steadily hovering, not moving a fin, the male was in a vertical position barely away from her, almost touching her with grooves, so they both doing a ‘’ T ‘’ figure! The Male had to constantly move his tail and pectoral fins ever so slowly open to keep up in position for as long as female stayed there, other time the same ‘’ T ‘’position, sun light rays penetrating in angle, hitting their massive body. Since we are away from the rock some silky sharks were coming up from the depth curious about what’s happening on the surface! Silky sharks around something else can be as well, in fact between the surface and whales a massive school of striped bonitos were covering or almost blocking our view, so we actually behave on the surface not splashing water with fins or hands, that could be one of the reasons they stayed longer with us! The celebrations to end the snorkeling was to eye witness and hear the jump full body out the water and the noise of splashing an amount of water.
While diving had also something remarkable! Current still there from East, lots of fish, white tips and on the south West Point a bigger school of hammerheads as many as about 80 individuals, their dive was done, mission accomplished successfully! Then they catch up with us doing the last part of the snorkeling being also able to eye witness from the zodiac the full jump out the water.
Hopping for more excitement tomorrow at Roca….
Dive Inst
Daniel Zapata, Solmar V.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
We are back at San Benedicto, and what a way to start the trip!
We are back at Revillagigedo and what a good way to start the trip! Yesterday evening we got to San Benedicto Island and this morning we were ready to start diving at el canon. The water temperature was 75f/24C and visibility around 60ft/18m witch was perfect for four dives there! The first dive was the one with the most action, there was mild current but at El Cañon that is good because there are more chances to see hammerhead sharks that way. First we went down to one of the cleaning stations on the edge of the canyon and there were around 20 hammerheads passing in front of us still not that close after 10 minutes of seeing that we started to hear some dolphins and as usual as soon as we heard them we looked a bit and there they were six very playful bottle nose dolphins, they stayed around for a bit until a school of jacks passed by and then they were more interested on breakfast time than the divers! Then it was time to start getting shallower and right before we were going to do our safety stop a school of 25 hammerhead sharks started going around in circles underneath us at 40ft/14m so we extended the dive a bit and when it was time to try to do our safety stop again a giant pacific manta showed up and finished the dive with us!
On the rest of the dives we had lots of hammerheads all day long schools of twenty and thirty, big schools of jack, whales singing, a sea turtle and even one big tiger shark. El Cañon was going off and to end the day just as the sun was setting a baby humpback whale started breaching right next to the boat!
The weather was really good today and it seems like it’s going to stay that way so we decided to head off to Roca Partida to see what waiting for us there!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
SolmarV
On the rest of the dives we had lots of hammerheads all day long schools of twenty and thirty, big schools of jack, whales singing, a sea turtle and even one big tiger shark. El Cañon was going off and to end the day just as the sun was setting a baby humpback whale started breaching right next to the boat!
The weather was really good today and it seems like it’s going to stay that way so we decided to head off to Roca Partida to see what waiting for us there!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
SolmarV
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Once again we leave the islands with the same feeling of wanting to come back!
Today was our last day of the trip and once again we leave the islands with the same feeling of wanting to come back. We woke up in San Benedicto and started with two dives at El Cañon, visibility was about 40ft/12m and temperature 75f/24C. As soon as we hit the water for the first dive you could hear the dolphins but at first we did not see them so we made our way up to the cleaning station on the edge of the canyon too see if the hammerheads were there, there were no hammerheads but we saw four bottlenose dolphins, the were not so playful with us but that was ok because they were two adult ones teaching some juveniles how to hunt some hacks witch was truly amazing to see. After the dolphins left we moved to the other side of the canyon were we saw the hammerheads three of them very close and the rest of the school maybe about ten outside the canyon in deeper waters. On the second dive we did not have so much action until the end of the dive were we had one big chevron manta going around us for the last fifteen minutes.
As the visibility was a bit low and we heard a report that on the other side of the island at El Boiler the water was very clear we did our last two dives there and it was awesome with very clear water around 80ft/24m visibility. There were lots of mantas, at one point we had six of them with the group of divers at the same time and they were interacting so much that at the end we managed to get a group photo with twenty divers holding a flag from their dive shop in Germany with a manta right on top, it was a perfect way to end the trip. Now we head back to Cabo San Lucas with very calm waters making it a very smooth ride, hoping to get there tomorrow and prepare the boat for another wonderful trip out to Socorro islands next week.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
As the visibility was a bit low and we heard a report that on the other side of the island at El Boiler the water was very clear we did our last two dives there and it was awesome with very clear water around 80ft/24m visibility. There were lots of mantas, at one point we had six of them with the group of divers at the same time and they were interacting so much that at the end we managed to get a group photo with twenty divers holding a flag from their dive shop in Germany with a manta right on top, it was a perfect way to end the trip. Now we head back to Cabo San Lucas with very calm waters making it a very smooth ride, hoping to get there tomorrow and prepare the boat for another wonderful trip out to Socorro islands next week.
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Friday, February 20, 2015
Dancing dolphins, friendly mantas, and hump back whale song at Socorro island!
Hello again!
So we left Roca Partida last night and headed to Socorro Island, the crossing took us about 8 hours and it was very smooth. This morning we woke up next to Socorro island with a very calm sea, sunrise was spectacular as it always is on this islands and as soon as we had sun light we went into the water in Cabo Pearce, our dive site of the day.
For our first dive we had a water temperature of 75F/24C, a visibility of 60ft/18m and a quite strong current coming from the north so we went on the pangas to the north wall to make it easier to descend and go into the dive site with the current, so we dropped and as soon as we looked down we had a chevron manta right underneath us, it didn't stay to play, it only kept swimming so we headed east along the wall, we got to the cleaning stations but no mantas... so we went up the rocks and down on the other side to protect us from the current and went to check out the south wall, when we got there we could hear a very very loud humpback whale singing! It was probably very close, but we could not see it, so we stayed there waiting for mantas or the whales, but we got dolphins instead! First 2 bottle nose dolphins came to play with us, they were very very curious and went around the whole group and then started kind of dancing with each diver one at the time, after about 5 minutes they left and a few minutes later they came back, but this time there was 5 of them! Even better! So the dancing kept going on for another 20 minutes! Dolphins will swim up and down around the divers, they came very very close to us, and you can see how they look at you wanting to interact, they are just such smart animals, anyway after the dolphin dance we look at our gauges and obviously we where low on air so it was time to start coming up. Once back on the boat everybody was still very excited and two of the divers could not believe what just happened, they were crying because it was a dream that came true for them.
On our second dive the action was for the mantas, we spent most of the dive on the 80ft/24m cleaning station looking at 3 mantas, 2 chevron and a black manta, getting cleaned for 12 clarion angel fish, they would come and go come and go while we were just holding on to the rocks to avoid fighting the current and again listening to the humpback whales sing, they were so loud at times that we really thought that we would see them but that didn't happen =(.
For the third dive we had to only go down the descent line, kick a few meters away from it and right there we had a very very friendly chevron manta that stay with us the whole dive, it would go from one diver to the next one looking for our bubbles, it would get so much bubbles that it would sneeze from time to time, but after that it wanted more, so it kept us all entertained for about 50 minutes! Just amazing to play with this ocean giants!
On our last dive we had some more manta action and a very very very loud humpback singing, so loud that we even went into the blue looking for it, but we had no luck, but anyway we enjoyed the singing!
Now we are leaving Socorro island and heading back to San Benedicto where we will have our last day of diving of this trip, so stay tuned!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
So we left Roca Partida last night and headed to Socorro Island, the crossing took us about 8 hours and it was very smooth. This morning we woke up next to Socorro island with a very calm sea, sunrise was spectacular as it always is on this islands and as soon as we had sun light we went into the water in Cabo Pearce, our dive site of the day.
For our first dive we had a water temperature of 75F/24C, a visibility of 60ft/18m and a quite strong current coming from the north so we went on the pangas to the north wall to make it easier to descend and go into the dive site with the current, so we dropped and as soon as we looked down we had a chevron manta right underneath us, it didn't stay to play, it only kept swimming so we headed east along the wall, we got to the cleaning stations but no mantas... so we went up the rocks and down on the other side to protect us from the current and went to check out the south wall, when we got there we could hear a very very loud humpback whale singing! It was probably very close, but we could not see it, so we stayed there waiting for mantas or the whales, but we got dolphins instead! First 2 bottle nose dolphins came to play with us, they were very very curious and went around the whole group and then started kind of dancing with each diver one at the time, after about 5 minutes they left and a few minutes later they came back, but this time there was 5 of them! Even better! So the dancing kept going on for another 20 minutes! Dolphins will swim up and down around the divers, they came very very close to us, and you can see how they look at you wanting to interact, they are just such smart animals, anyway after the dolphin dance we look at our gauges and obviously we where low on air so it was time to start coming up. Once back on the boat everybody was still very excited and two of the divers could not believe what just happened, they were crying because it was a dream that came true for them.
On our second dive the action was for the mantas, we spent most of the dive on the 80ft/24m cleaning station looking at 3 mantas, 2 chevron and a black manta, getting cleaned for 12 clarion angel fish, they would come and go come and go while we were just holding on to the rocks to avoid fighting the current and again listening to the humpback whales sing, they were so loud at times that we really thought that we would see them but that didn't happen =(.
For the third dive we had to only go down the descent line, kick a few meters away from it and right there we had a very very friendly chevron manta that stay with us the whole dive, it would go from one diver to the next one looking for our bubbles, it would get so much bubbles that it would sneeze from time to time, but after that it wanted more, so it kept us all entertained for about 50 minutes! Just amazing to play with this ocean giants!
On our last dive we had some more manta action and a very very very loud humpback singing, so loud that we even went into the blue looking for it, but we had no luck, but anyway we enjoyed the singing!
Now we are leaving Socorro island and heading back to San Benedicto where we will have our last day of diving of this trip, so stay tuned!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Today we completed our second day of diving at Roca Partida.
Hi Everyone!!
Today we completed our second day of diving at Roca Partida. Early in the morning was amazing to watch the first Humpback whales of the day playing close to the Northern and Southern tips of the Island and not so far from the Solmar V. Of course the hope was to see them underwater while diving, but this time they hid from our divers and instead they preferred to accompanied us for the rest of the day. A couple of them liked to jump out of the water to the enjoyment of all the people aboard. The weather was nice and warm, not very hot, and the sun gave us a break for a couple of hours when the clouds came in. We started our first dive on the East side of Roca Partida and we went straight to check the ledges located at the 46 ft. /14 m, where the white tip sharks like to rest. There were plenty of them and even the babies white tips sharks were there. We continue going down to reach our maximum depth of 90 Ft. / 27 m, and the first Galapagos Sharks appear right in front of us swimming around the North area, where the current was a little bit stronger and it brings lots of marine life all around, including big eye Jacks, pacific creole fish, pacific trigger fish, trumpet fish , few pelagics like wahoo, more Galapagos Sharks all around and mixed with them white tips Sharks swimming out of the ledges. The water temperature was very nice 75 fº/ 24º C from the surface to the bottom doing a 5 mm wetsuit very comfortable to wear for this waters. We kept the position at North because more Galapagos Sharks showed up, and specially one of them was really big for the enthusiasm of all the divers. We were diving this area when a couple of Pacific Giant Mantas joined us, until we finished the dive! They were the kind Manta Chevron Black and white, they were very curious and playful with our divers. For the second dive the current was strong, especially at North and South, then we began at the East side one more time, where is more protected from the current. The plan was to move at north, but we changed our mind when we found like seven Galapagos Sharks going at South, we swam with them and we found big schools of amberjacks fish, mixed with cottonmouth jacks and trevalley jack fish. We stayed there and from the southeast we moved to the north to find more cotton mouth Jacks, more Galapagos, white tips and a silvertip shark. From the North we turned to the west but most of the action was happening from the north to the southeast, then we returned. When we returned, the current was more challenging adding fun and more, much more marine life than before! When we passed the corner, the current was less, then was the perfect time to take pictures and videos of the white tips sharks resting at the ledges. On top of them and very close to the rock was a big school of amber jacks. The visibility was very clear, 80'/24 m to 100' /30 m. At last of the dive we moved from the Southeast to the Blue because we kept the expectation to find our Humpback Whale, but we weren’t lucky as days before but instead they liked to approach to our vessel to say hi during our surface intervals. After the second dive we took a surface interval and was the perfect time to enjoy the lunch which was prepared by our Chef Antonio, who served a tequila lime chicken with vegetables. Before our third dive we watch the Humpback Whales all around the Solmar V, showing us the tail, blowing air, and swimming around. When we entered the water to do our third dive, we found out that most of the marine life was moving at South, then we headed at south with all the Galapagos Sharks, big schools of amberjacks, big eyes, even a big yellowfin tuna was looking for the smaller fish. Our third dive was very relaxing, no current at south, then was the perfect time to stay there, with all this wild marine life all around us. To finish our last dive we move from the southern tip out into the blue, so we swam trough the blue on the way to our safety stop the Galapagos sharks followed us from depth and we began to say goodbye to Roca Partida, when a Pacific Giant Manta showed up out of the blue! When this Chevron Manta (Black and White) disappeared in the immensity of the sea, and we have our boat on top of us, we had the feeling of waking up, but it wasn’t a dream! In ours divers hearts we knew that was a divers dream made real with our vessel, the Solmar V!
Ignacio H. Leyro
Scuba Diving Instructor
Today we completed our second day of diving at Roca Partida. Early in the morning was amazing to watch the first Humpback whales of the day playing close to the Northern and Southern tips of the Island and not so far from the Solmar V. Of course the hope was to see them underwater while diving, but this time they hid from our divers and instead they preferred to accompanied us for the rest of the day. A couple of them liked to jump out of the water to the enjoyment of all the people aboard. The weather was nice and warm, not very hot, and the sun gave us a break for a couple of hours when the clouds came in. We started our first dive on the East side of Roca Partida and we went straight to check the ledges located at the 46 ft. /14 m, where the white tip sharks like to rest. There were plenty of them and even the babies white tips sharks were there. We continue going down to reach our maximum depth of 90 Ft. / 27 m, and the first Galapagos Sharks appear right in front of us swimming around the North area, where the current was a little bit stronger and it brings lots of marine life all around, including big eye Jacks, pacific creole fish, pacific trigger fish, trumpet fish , few pelagics like wahoo, more Galapagos Sharks all around and mixed with them white tips Sharks swimming out of the ledges. The water temperature was very nice 75 fº/ 24º C from the surface to the bottom doing a 5 mm wetsuit very comfortable to wear for this waters. We kept the position at North because more Galapagos Sharks showed up, and specially one of them was really big for the enthusiasm of all the divers. We were diving this area when a couple of Pacific Giant Mantas joined us, until we finished the dive! They were the kind Manta Chevron Black and white, they were very curious and playful with our divers. For the second dive the current was strong, especially at North and South, then we began at the East side one more time, where is more protected from the current. The plan was to move at north, but we changed our mind when we found like seven Galapagos Sharks going at South, we swam with them and we found big schools of amberjacks fish, mixed with cottonmouth jacks and trevalley jack fish. We stayed there and from the southeast we moved to the north to find more cotton mouth Jacks, more Galapagos, white tips and a silvertip shark. From the North we turned to the west but most of the action was happening from the north to the southeast, then we returned. When we returned, the current was more challenging adding fun and more, much more marine life than before! When we passed the corner, the current was less, then was the perfect time to take pictures and videos of the white tips sharks resting at the ledges. On top of them and very close to the rock was a big school of amber jacks. The visibility was very clear, 80'/24 m to 100' /30 m. At last of the dive we moved from the Southeast to the Blue because we kept the expectation to find our Humpback Whale, but we weren’t lucky as days before but instead they liked to approach to our vessel to say hi during our surface intervals. After the second dive we took a surface interval and was the perfect time to enjoy the lunch which was prepared by our Chef Antonio, who served a tequila lime chicken with vegetables. Before our third dive we watch the Humpback Whales all around the Solmar V, showing us the tail, blowing air, and swimming around. When we entered the water to do our third dive, we found out that most of the marine life was moving at South, then we headed at south with all the Galapagos Sharks, big schools of amberjacks, big eyes, even a big yellowfin tuna was looking for the smaller fish. Our third dive was very relaxing, no current at south, then was the perfect time to stay there, with all this wild marine life all around us. To finish our last dive we move from the southern tip out into the blue, so we swam trough the blue on the way to our safety stop the Galapagos sharks followed us from depth and we began to say goodbye to Roca Partida, when a Pacific Giant Manta showed up out of the blue! When this Chevron Manta (Black and White) disappeared in the immensity of the sea, and we have our boat on top of us, we had the feeling of waking up, but it wasn’t a dream! In ours divers hearts we knew that was a divers dream made real with our vessel, the Solmar V!
Ignacio H. Leyro
Scuba Diving Instructor
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Underwater we found bottlenose dolphins, galapagos, silver tip, silky, and white tip sharks, plus a manta... During the surface intervals we found humpbacks!
Hello!
Today we woke up at Roca Partida, the ocean was a bit choppy and the sky was cloudy but still it is always good to be back here and see this tiny rock in the middle of nowhere it reminds you of how big the ocean is and how much life can be created with just a little bit of a shelter!
The morning started with a sighting of some whales next to the rock, which got our hopes up for a possibility of seeing them underwater again, but unfortunately after that they got a bit further away from it the rest of the day. I guess you can’t always get lucky but that is the beauty of nature.
We did 3 dives with water temperature of 73f/22C, visibility about 70ft/21m and a consistent mild current from north east. On the first dive there was pod of around 10 bottlenose dolphins that kept passing by us and playing around the whole dive. Today the sharks got a little bit shallower than the past few trips there were lots of very big Galapagos and some silvertips cruising by in between 40ft/12m and 80ft/24m. There was also one black and one chevron manta around the rock during the day. And of course the usual residents of Roca white tips, lobsters, jacks and triggers.
Even though the wales were not close enough to the rock to see them during the dives we could still hear them sing and see them out of the water so we decided to try to snorkel with them during the surface intervals. We had 4 encounters with them, in one we saw 4 humpback whales together and they seemed to be males fighting each other maybe to see who was going to be the lucky one to get one of the females that were around. When we were snorkeling with the whales there were always lots of silky sharks going around in circles very shallow underneath us.
In the afternoon the wind calmed down a bit and the ocean got a bit smoother so we decided to stay one more day here and see what surprises Roca Partida will have for us tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Today we woke up at Roca Partida, the ocean was a bit choppy and the sky was cloudy but still it is always good to be back here and see this tiny rock in the middle of nowhere it reminds you of how big the ocean is and how much life can be created with just a little bit of a shelter!
The morning started with a sighting of some whales next to the rock, which got our hopes up for a possibility of seeing them underwater again, but unfortunately after that they got a bit further away from it the rest of the day. I guess you can’t always get lucky but that is the beauty of nature.
We did 3 dives with water temperature of 73f/22C, visibility about 70ft/21m and a consistent mild current from north east. On the first dive there was pod of around 10 bottlenose dolphins that kept passing by us and playing around the whole dive. Today the sharks got a little bit shallower than the past few trips there were lots of very big Galapagos and some silvertips cruising by in between 40ft/12m and 80ft/24m. There was also one black and one chevron manta around the rock during the day. And of course the usual residents of Roca white tips, lobsters, jacks and triggers.
Even though the wales were not close enough to the rock to see them during the dives we could still hear them sing and see them out of the water so we decided to try to snorkel with them during the surface intervals. We had 4 encounters with them, in one we saw 4 humpback whales together and they seemed to be males fighting each other maybe to see who was going to be the lucky one to get one of the females that were around. When we were snorkeling with the whales there were always lots of silky sharks going around in circles very shallow underneath us.
In the afternoon the wind calmed down a bit and the ocean got a bit smoother so we decided to stay one more day here and see what surprises Roca Partida will have for us tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Thiago Mendonca
Dive Instructor
Thursday, February 12, 2015
What a trip! We closed with lots of hammerheads, friendly mantas, and more at San Benedicto!
Hello again!
Last night we left Socorro island after going through the navy inspection and headed towards San Benedicto island to have our last day of diving of this great trip.
After a very smooth crossing with very calm seas, we woke up next to the great volcano of San Benedicto, a nice breakfast, suit on and off we went on the pangas for our first dive at “El Cañón”. We had a mild current coming from the south-east, water temperature of 75F/24C and a visibility of about 60ft/18m, because of that south-east current we decided to go check out the south east cleaning station, so we dropped on the sand and swam out to the rocks on the edge of the site at 80ft/24m, where we positioned ourselves and waited paitently, after not even 5 minutes sharks showed up! A school of about 25 hammerheads came swimming down the wall at about 110ft/33m and slowly made their way up circling right in front of us, we did not move and kept waiting as they slowly got closer and closer, once at 90ft/27m they swam with their bellys almost touching the rocks and headed up the wall straight at us! It was so cool! We just sat there and almost stop breathing so they came closer ha! Some of them turned right on our face and swam out again, but a group of about 6 hammerheads did not care and kept going in between the groups and on to the sandy area, to find the other groups that just dropped in the water. This kept going on and off as they swam away from us and then back again, they passed about 3 or 4 times in front of us, there could not been a better way to start the day!
For our second dive current stopped, as we had some big swell and waves were breaking on the point the visibility dropped down, this time it was about 30ft/10m, on that dive we decided to go check out the other side of the site looking for mantas, at first we did not see much, until we got to the east cleaning station where some white tip reef sharks were swimming around, then a huge solo hammer head came by on top of the rocks, when we got to the end of the site a huge chevron manta came from the deep and started swimming right on top of the group wanting to play, so we started swimming bellow the manta and blowing bubbles on it belly, it seem to enjoy it and kept going from one diver to the next one, while this was going on 2 hammer heads came to check us out, at first they swam very close but then they turned around and swam straight at me...then about a meter/few feet away they turned again, so kept playing with the manta and tried to make her to follow us to the sandy area to see if she would push us down on to the sand as some playful mantas do, and it came with us, once on the sandy area our videographer Adil got underneath it and crawled on the sand as the manta swam about a meter/3ft off the sand, it look so neat, everybody was taking pictures and video of that, then the manta left and we started drifting with the current into the blue when the manta showed up again but it was time for us to start coming up. As we ascended we found a couple of hammer heads swimming around and right at our safety stop 3 silky sharks came by, chasing a little school of fish!
For our third and fourth dive we moved to “El Boiler” due to the low visibility at “El Cañón” and it was a great decision! The water there was a lot better, visibility was about 70ft/21m! So we set the stern anchor and went down looking for the mantas, first we had 2 chevron mantas right off the back of the boat, but we wanted to see if dolphins showed up, so we swam to the west side of the site where we hovered and mantas came to play there, we had 5 different mantas, 4 chevron and 1 black, they kept coming and coming for their bubble bath, after a while of playing with them we went to check out the south and there we found a huge school of big eye trevallies and right underneath them at 80ft/24m there was a big curious hammer head swimming around in circles, we got close to it and it didn't care so we stayed, then another 4 hammer heads came swimming from the deep close to the sand and started circling the same area but closer to the bottom, this show kept on going for minutes, after a while the 4 closer to the bottom left and the curious one stayed, but then it was time for us to get closer to the boat to go up to our safety stop.
On our last dive we had more hammer heads! This time about 12 of them swimming close to a school of jacks on the west side not too far from the rock, so in between them and 2 chevron mantas kept us very entertained for the whole last dive of the trip.
What a trip! We were very very lucky, our guests got to see everything they wanted to see, hammer heads, galapagos sharks, silver tip sharks, mantas,and even whale shark AND humpback whales! And all this of course on board of the Solmar V.
See you next trip!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
Last night we left Socorro island after going through the navy inspection and headed towards San Benedicto island to have our last day of diving of this great trip.
After a very smooth crossing with very calm seas, we woke up next to the great volcano of San Benedicto, a nice breakfast, suit on and off we went on the pangas for our first dive at “El Cañón”. We had a mild current coming from the south-east, water temperature of 75F/24C and a visibility of about 60ft/18m, because of that south-east current we decided to go check out the south east cleaning station, so we dropped on the sand and swam out to the rocks on the edge of the site at 80ft/24m, where we positioned ourselves and waited paitently, after not even 5 minutes sharks showed up! A school of about 25 hammerheads came swimming down the wall at about 110ft/33m and slowly made their way up circling right in front of us, we did not move and kept waiting as they slowly got closer and closer, once at 90ft/27m they swam with their bellys almost touching the rocks and headed up the wall straight at us! It was so cool! We just sat there and almost stop breathing so they came closer ha! Some of them turned right on our face and swam out again, but a group of about 6 hammerheads did not care and kept going in between the groups and on to the sandy area, to find the other groups that just dropped in the water. This kept going on and off as they swam away from us and then back again, they passed about 3 or 4 times in front of us, there could not been a better way to start the day!
For our second dive current stopped, as we had some big swell and waves were breaking on the point the visibility dropped down, this time it was about 30ft/10m, on that dive we decided to go check out the other side of the site looking for mantas, at first we did not see much, until we got to the east cleaning station where some white tip reef sharks were swimming around, then a huge solo hammer head came by on top of the rocks, when we got to the end of the site a huge chevron manta came from the deep and started swimming right on top of the group wanting to play, so we started swimming bellow the manta and blowing bubbles on it belly, it seem to enjoy it and kept going from one diver to the next one, while this was going on 2 hammer heads came to check us out, at first they swam very close but then they turned around and swam straight at me...then about a meter/few feet away they turned again, so kept playing with the manta and tried to make her to follow us to the sandy area to see if she would push us down on to the sand as some playful mantas do, and it came with us, once on the sandy area our videographer Adil got underneath it and crawled on the sand as the manta swam about a meter/3ft off the sand, it look so neat, everybody was taking pictures and video of that, then the manta left and we started drifting with the current into the blue when the manta showed up again but it was time for us to start coming up. As we ascended we found a couple of hammer heads swimming around and right at our safety stop 3 silky sharks came by, chasing a little school of fish!
For our third and fourth dive we moved to “El Boiler” due to the low visibility at “El Cañón” and it was a great decision! The water there was a lot better, visibility was about 70ft/21m! So we set the stern anchor and went down looking for the mantas, first we had 2 chevron mantas right off the back of the boat, but we wanted to see if dolphins showed up, so we swam to the west side of the site where we hovered and mantas came to play there, we had 5 different mantas, 4 chevron and 1 black, they kept coming and coming for their bubble bath, after a while of playing with them we went to check out the south and there we found a huge school of big eye trevallies and right underneath them at 80ft/24m there was a big curious hammer head swimming around in circles, we got close to it and it didn't care so we stayed, then another 4 hammer heads came swimming from the deep close to the sand and started circling the same area but closer to the bottom, this show kept on going for minutes, after a while the 4 closer to the bottom left and the curious one stayed, but then it was time for us to get closer to the boat to go up to our safety stop.
On our last dive we had more hammer heads! This time about 12 of them swimming close to a school of jacks on the west side not too far from the rock, so in between them and 2 chevron mantas kept us very entertained for the whole last dive of the trip.
What a trip! We were very very lucky, our guests got to see everything they wanted to see, hammer heads, galapagos sharks, silver tip sharks, mantas,and even whale shark AND humpback whales! And all this of course on board of the Solmar V.
See you next trip!
Hasta la vista!
Antonio Romero
Dive Instructor
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