Archive for the ‘The Canyon’ Category
Monday, May 31st, 2010
Yesterday we left the marina at Cabo San Lucas for our final Socorro Islands trip of the season, another 12 day expedition which will end with 4 days of diving in the Sea of Cortez. All was calm and serene as we pulled away from the dock and I was anticipating a relatively smooth 220 nautical mile crossing south to the Revillagigedo Islands (Socorro). As I turned south and left the protection of the cape, however, a very stiff 25 kt wind hit us beam on and decided to make a liar out of me. Often times off of Cabo San Lucas we do experience strong winds created by the local effects of the peninsula which are not in the forecast. Yesterday these winds made for a crossing that wasn’t quite as comfortable as I had hoped and we did have a few guests who were a little green in the face. It’s really unusual to have bigger seas 2 trips in a row as the pacific ocean is usually quite benign in these latitudes. It’s not unusual to get up to 2 weeks of calm seas. The wind did drop off as we got further from Cabo and the ride improved throughout the crossing.
On approaching Isla San Benedicto we had a great performance off the bow from our resident bottle-nose dolphins and the sea smoothed out nicely upon arriving at our sheltered anchorage and first dive site, ‘the Canyon’. Conditions at the Canyon had improved since our last trip here, with visibility around 60 ft (18m) on dive 1 and a mild current. I’m hoping that it will get back up to 100 feet of blue water within the next couple of days. The hammerhead shark cleaning stations that make this divesite so good were, unfortunately, clean of hammerheads, but were alive and quite beautiful with a lot of colorful fish. Schools of Jacks and tuna were in the area as well as a lone silver-tip shark, who was our only ‘big’ animal spotted here today. Dive two was more of the same but with reduced visibility and a moderate current flowing through the site. So, a relatively quiet start to this one, but with Roca Partida coming up tomorrow and the next day I am anticipating a much more exciting read for you on my next log. Divemaster Jessie has promised us to do her shark dance in the morning which she assures us definitely might work 
Captain Gordon Kipp
Surface conditions: Winds around 10-15 kts on location with up to 25 kts on the crossing, seas 1-2 ft on location with swell 5-8 ft on the crossing, today mostly cloudy with some sunny periods, air temps a little cool at 72F (22C)
Diving conditions: Visibility 20-60ft (6-18m), current mild to moderate, water temp 75F (24C)
As the sun sets today in a glorious riot of colour and the ship rocks gently in the swells, I take a deep breath and look back over the last year. You see, today is my 21st birthday. Achieved my Bridge Watchkeepers Certificate, and took all the relevant safety courses (Marine Emergency Duties, First Aid, etc.). I lived in another city for several months for the first time. And to top it off, I began working on the Nautilus Explorer. Today began much like any other day. Up early enough to see the sunrise, pink and gold fading into a brilliant blue. We were in transit to the Soccoro Islands, so I did a quick walk around to check nothing had come loose with the movement of the boat during the night. We began with a dive briefing, both on safety and on today’s site, the Canyon. This was followed by finishing tank and station set up, which is always a wonderful opportunity to connect with the guests.
We arrived at San Benedicto around 1330-1400, and promptly began discharging guests into the water. The report upon surfacing was great visiblilty, lots of fish, but no mantas. When the guests had cleared the deck, Sandy (the first mate), and I went for a dive. As promised there were lots of fish. Moorish Idols, Jacks and lots of Moray eels. A Mexican Hogfish decided he really liked how my hair looked- he was determined to get a bite. Eventually he went away without mishap. We also saw a silvertip shark!
As this is my first birthday away from home, I anticipated a small amount of homesickness – however the day is always so busy and exciting and so different from home, there really is nothing to remind me that I’m not there. Now time to go eat my birthday cake!
Tess Szostakiwskyj
Deckhand on the Nautilus Explorer April – June 2010
The second day of diving in the Socorro Island, today we are in Roca Partida, this morning we have a big school of dolphins close to the island,and I decide go for one of my last dive of the season, sad because is the last trip of the season, but exacting, because that mean Guadalupe island with the White Great Shark is coming…anyway…the visibility was great!!! no, even after five minutes that I was there a WHALE SHARK show up!!!!! That was really great!!!!!!!!he is being there since the first dive of the morning, I”m glad that I went today because I was thinking go tomorrow,so I say, don’t wait for tomorrow if you can do it today!!!!!!!
The whale shark stay the whole dive, going back and forth, SUPER HERMOSO…. Is so nice to be in his world….can wait for my next dive adventure!!!!!!!
Hostess
Silvia:)
Tags: bottlenose dolphin, Jacks, Moray Eel, Revillagigedos, San Benedicto, silvertip sharks, Socorro, socorro island, The Canyon, Tuna, whaleshark
Posted in Captains Log, Destinations, Jacks, Moray Eel, Revillagigedos, San Benedicto, Sea of Cortez, Socorro, The Canyon, Tuna, Whalesharks, bottlenose dolphin, silvertip reef shark | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
We started of with our first day in San Benedicto after a smooth ride down from cabo San Lucas. canyon did not get so much so we moved over to the Boiler and had both better vizibility and one big black manta that got interest of us , but went off after an 10 min. It was a female and we recognice her from before.
As weather is staying calm we moved over night to Roca partida and got into the water and had a baby whale shark! We did not get as much shark as usual , but a bit better then last trip. Last trip we had tousands of yellowfin Tunas houndreds of Wahoos and the false Orcas. This time so far the whale shark, and as well a group of dolphins that came by spinning around us and then left us. There are still a good number of wahoos around. We wispered in a couple of silver tips and Galapagos sharks. We spotted hammerheads , but very deep at ca 160-180 ft. The animals are there just did not get in real close to day. We are staying one more day tomorrow so let us see how it goes then.
Surface conditions: 15 knot wind, wind waves , but very shalloow swell/surge. Mostly cloudy. 26 C
Underwater conditions: Weak to medium current, not much of surge 24 C ca 75F Good viz ca 30 m , 100Ft No real termaclime.
Dive guide Sten
Hostess Blog
The first day of a new trip is always exciting for me. A brand new group of divers from different backgrounds with different stories to tell. 25 smiling faces walk through the door – 25 new names to remember! Everyone buzzing with anticipation of the adventure that awaits them at the Socorro Islands. Everyone is excited to see and interact with our “Friendly Giants”, the mantas. One woman has already told me that she is most excited to see the sharks. This is great news because we have 6 different species of sharks here at Socorro, including hammerheads which you can often see in large schools. In fact, just last week I was enjoying a dive at ‘The Canyon’ when I came upon a school of hammerhead sharks that was easily 40-50 strong!! I love watching them move through the water – stealthy and effortless – even though their head seems to be so awkwardly shaped! haha! Oops! Time to go bake today’s snack – cherry crumble! ’Till next time.
Hostess Ashley
Before I started working on the Nautilus Explorer the last dive I made was 15 yrs ago in Campbell River, BC. Last week I made my first dive since then, at Roca Partida, Mexico. I saw lots of white-tip reef sharks, my first sharks ever seen underwater! I also a 10′ Galapagos shark! That got my adrenaline going. We saw big schools of wahoo, and a lot of other fish I’ve never seen before. I’ve been working here almost 2 months now and have enjoyed all aspects of the job immensely. The crew (especially Captain Gordon <–inserted by Captain Gordon), have been great to work with and I’m learning about a whole new work experience. A little different from the tow boats back in BC. Chief Engineer Larry
This is Gabriele from Germany:
This is my first trip to Socorro and my first trip with the Nautilus Explorer. Within 2 days I had everything You could wish for: Starting with the Marine Life: 2 Baby Whalesharks, 1 Giant Manta, lots of sharks (tiger, grey, white tips, silver tips, longimanus), lots of swarm fish, makrels, tuna, You name it. But: This would not be possible without the help of this perfect ship: There is hardly a vessel that can match with the Nautilus Explorer: the expirience of the staff is excellent, the service is extraordinary. You always feel welcome and looked after, the courtesy and friendliness of the staff is unmatched, I enjoy every minute on board (and I only checked in two days ago….;-)))) ) Thank you very much.
El viaje ha sido espectacular. Estamos en el segundo dia y ya hemos visto tiburon ballena juvenil, mantarayas, tiburon martillo, miles de tiburones puntas blancas, tuna, makarelas. La vida marina de las islas del archipielago es impresionante, aun es posible ver predadores tope algo que es dificil encontrar en lugares costeros. El staff es muy atento y te ayudan en cualquier problema (van mas alla de lo necesario para hacerte sentir bien, GRACIAS!!); el barco es bastante comodo y es mas amplio de lo que se pudiera pensar. Uff, pensar que aun faltan 10 dias mas en este paradisiaco archipielago y barco!!! Laura Escobosa
Tags: Cabo San Lucas, dolphins, galapagos sharks, giant manta, Hammerhead shark, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Orca, Roca Partida, San Benedicto, shark, Socorro, The Canyon, whaleshark
Posted in Animals, Cabo San Lucas, Captains Log, Destinations, Galapagos Shark, Giant Mantas, Guest Blog, Hammerhead shark, Nautilus Explorer, Orca, Roca Partida, San Benedicto, Socorro, The Canyon, Tiger Shark, Tuna, Wahoo, Whalesharks, dolphin, mexico, shark | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
We have had our last two days shooting at the Boiler at San Benedicto Island and it has been a lot of time in the water. Our normal day is to start to get a few divers in the water at around 09:00 and wait for the mantas getting in to the Boiler to get cleaned by mainly Clarion Angel fish and Cortez chubs.
When the light and the giant mantas arrive and have been getting more and more interessted in the scuba divers we take out the freedivers and put the film team in the water. It is hectic. The camera just takes 1,5 min and then need to get changed. It is a 35 mm film so very high quality. While the film camera is getting loaded we work with two still cameras and one HD camera. The film team holding the cameras under water are 3 and then two models and one of us from the crew of nautilus as a snorkeler and free diver. On the surface there are two skiffs. One serving the divers and one serving the cameras and two extra camera crew loading the film for the 35 mm film camera. All this might sounds ok, but with 6 ft and current and wind as the 1 of may. It can get quiet of a hassle and hard work. We never come back to the Nautilus Explorer to eat lunch. Our hostesses Ashley and Silvia and Chef Enrique serves us with food packages that we take aboard the skiffs.
We work just with ambient light so we try to squeeze out of it as much as we can. It is also not all the mantas that are so cooperative, so of what I counted about 6 days in the water an average of 8 hrs non stop a day and a lot of swimming!! I got around 20- 25 individuals of them. there where 3 that where extremly curious . One small female chevron manta visited us 5 days of 6 and a big black female Obama visitided us 3 days in a row. An other 5 that approaches us repetedly and the rest stayed circuling us on a bit of a distance.
Other things that you see while sittiing 7-10 hr in the water around the boiler was many big Wahoos, and Yellow fin Tunas. Two mobulas that I cant say wich kind. While diving. 1 Tiger shark, a few galapagos sharks and silky sharks and white tip sharks. A big group of big eyed jack is always somewhere close to the rock. And I think we heared the last humpback songs for this year! They have almost all gone now.
It has been a fun week, the filmteam are happy of the images that they got and it was a brake in the routine for us as crew. Also to spend so much time at one site is interessting. I named a cortes chub with one yellow dot on its head for smudgy, as it was seen every day all the time…
A few of us actually even a bit exhausted went for a last dive before dinner at the canyon and we got a beautiful dive with a few hammerhead sharks getting in close on the cleaning station. Good way to finish the week.
Dive guide Sten
Surface conditions: 1 may windy and very choppy and lot of clouds and current on top of that. 2 may much calmer, sunny temp 26-27 C
Underwater conditions: May 1 current and some big breakers on the boiler. may 2 sunny weak current ok surge both days 25-26 C ca 76 F Viz good ca 100ft
Photos by Sten Johansson
Tags: galapagos sharks, giant manta, Hammerhead shark, humpback whales, San Benedicto, silky shark, silvertip sharks, The Boiler, The Canyon
Posted in Animals, Captains Log, Destinations, Galapagos Shark, Giant Mantas, Hammerhead shark, Humpback Whale, San Benedicto, Silky Sharks, The Boiler, The Canyon, Tiger Shark, Tuna, whitetip reef shark | No Comments »
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
So back to the Boiler again! Today it was a bit windy and current was quite strong for being the boiler. But soon we had giant mantas again. Today a chevron male manta turned up first and followed by a huge Chevron female that was very curious and stayed a big part of the day. But our manta that followed us today was a black manta called Obama, though it is a she.
I’ve seen her several times before and she has a funny behaviour. She comes in close to you and just when you think she almost will hit you she makes a loop and lays with her beautiful anchor patterned belly letting the light catch it and very photogenic so to say. She followed us for long time today over and over. We stopped filming early today cause the light was a bit poor cause of clouds so we went for a fun dive at the canyon. At a moment we saw just a couple of silver tip sharks and then for a sudden a wall of hammerheads. We went hiding by the rocks , but they never came back.
Surface conditions: Windy and choppy and cloudy. temp 25 C
Underwater conditions: 25 C , 75 F Good viz ca 70-100ft. Current , not much of surge.
Dive guide Sten
Tags: giant manta, Hammerhead shark, Socorro, socorro island, The Canyon
Posted in Animals, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Hammerhead shark, San Benedicto, Socorro, Socorro Island, The Canyon, hammerhead, silvertip reef shark | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 2nd, 2010
Well back again to the land of the giant manta rays after 36 hours alongside in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to replenish, restock and refuel. For the second straight week, the 220 mile transit south from Cabo to the Socorro Islands was perfect, with a nice long swell on our quarter making for a very comfortable ride. The sky stayed clear after a great sunset to give us a spectacular view of the night sky, a view that can only be fully appreciated far from the lights of the city. As we approached our first stop at Isla San Benedicto, our regular welcoming party of Booby birds and bottlenose dolphins joined us on the bow to escort us in and provide the morning entertainment. On arrival at San Benedicto we dropped the anchor in the sheltered bay at “the Canyon”, our usual spot for the checkout dive, and started gearing up.
A very strong current this morning however made this checkout dive a little more challenging than we wanted, but we came to dive so that’s what we did. Hand over hand down the line to the anchor chain we went, followed by what we like to call vertical rock climbing along the bottom, making our way to the volcanic ridge that is one of the best places at these islands to see hammerhead sharks. After a short wait hanging on to the edge of the ridge, the sharks showed up, 3 or 4 hammerheads coming in real close to us, with several more further out in the background. A few divers also got to enjoy a Giant Manta Ray hovering nearby as they waited for the hammerheads. A challenging but rewarding checkout dive!
We did two more dives here at the Canyon today and despite the persistent current both were great with hammerhead shars and one or two Giant Manta rays on each. Heading to Socorro Island tonight in search of more friendly manta rays and hopefully some underwater humpback whale encounters! I’ll even break out my humpback whale dance if I have too. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
Captain Gordon Kipp
Surface conditions: Mostly sunny, air temp 75F (24C), calm seas in anchorage.
Diving conditions: Strong current, visibility 30ft – 70ft (9m – 22m), water temp 75F (24C)
We just started our trip with a truly international group. Countries represented include the US, Mexico, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy. Diving is our universal language so communication doesn’t seem to be a problem. All of the scuba divers are enjoying the first class service and ammenities of the Nautilus Explorer and its hard working staff. A few giant mantas and hammerhead sharks were spotted on our first day as we listened to the haunting songs of the nearby humpback whales. We are all eagerly anticipating more big animal sightings in the days to come.
John D.
Un dia impresionante buceando con dos maravillosas mantas que nos deleitaron con su baile y nos permitieron acariciarlas con nuestras burbujas, en una sensual danza de majestuosidad. Susana B.
Tags: bottlenose dolphin, giant manta, Hammerhead shark, humpback whales, mexico, San Benedicto, Socorro, socorro island
Posted in Animals, Cabo San Lucas, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Hammerhead shark, Humpback Whale, San Benedicto, Socorro Island, The Canyon, bottlenose dolphin, hammerhead, mexico | No Comments »
Friday, March 26th, 2010
This is our third day of diving on this trip, and the weather has been great since leaving Cabo San Lucas. It is good to see old faces back with us again. The first day of diving at San Benedicto Island, at the dive site “the Canyon” the scalloped hammerhead shark came to the date and so close that even with the poor visibility (10 ft), we were able to see them. Water temp great, 76 +/-1F, if you wear a 5mm full suit with hood no problem. Current was mild. Next day visibility improve a lot, 40+ feet at the “boiler” and made our Brazilian guests dance Samba after seeing our magnificent giant Manta Ray dancing around them. They told me they never saw one even they tried about 13 times to see them in a place called Laje de Santos, Brazil, with reputation of manta encounters. It was great to see their big smiles from ear to ear.
Roca Partida, my favorite place where the shark fanatic can make their dreams come true, were in 30 minutes bottom time you can see scalloped hammerheads, galapagos, silkies, white tip reef sharks. That is what happened today, not to mention the playful dolphins that greeted the vessel on arrival and waited patiently for us to get in the water to play with all the divers, and the powerful 100lb++ yellowfin tuna hunting. Visibility great 70ft plus, temp 77F with no thermocline above 100ft. A great day, sunny with light breeze from the North that refreshed our noon day. A fantastic day and of course, tonight for those who still have the energy we will learn how to dance Samba with our Brazilian friends, what a day! Don’t get jealous, get onboard!
Hasta la vista,
Divemaster Pedro
Surface conditions: swell mild to moderate, winds light (5-15kts max), skies mostly clear, air temp 74-78F.
Diving conditions: water temp 76F, current mild to moderate, visibility 40-70ft+
A note from Captain Mike:
Mother Ocean gives us an enormous amount but she also takes away. Our 2009/2010 season on the Nautilus Explorer had been our most outstanding Socorro diving ever including more sharks than before and rapidly evolving amazing interaction with bottlenoise dolphins as well as the regular cast of characters.
We’ve logged the experiences online. Our guests have written blog entries about it. Our “fan” base on facebook is fantastic. And then we had your trip of last week with much lower visibility than normal, less animals than normal and some pretty tough weather. For the first time in a long time, we are only able to offer 1 day of diving at Roca Partida. Yes it’s Mother Ocean but we still feel really badly for everyone onboard. Accordingly, we would like to extend to those who were onboard our March 13 trip, a $750 credit towards any future Nautilus booking of your choice. That’s our way of saying that it’s not fair that you were on the only “less than excellent diving” Socorro trip this season and we hope this will help make up for that.
Sincerely,
Captain Mike
Tags: giant manta, Hammerhead shark, Nautilus Explorer, Roca Partida, San Benedicto, shark, Socorro
Posted in Animals, Cabo San Lucas, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Hammerhead shark, Manta, Nautilus Explorer, Roca Partida, San Benedicto, Socorro Island, The Boiler, The Canyon, dolphin, hammerhead, shark | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Location: San Benedicto, Socorro Island, Baja California Mexico
Every once in awhile, we are lucky enough to get conditions so perfect for the 218 mile crossing to the Socorro Islands that it is like cruising across a lake. Of course for an open ocean voyage it is pretty rare, and when it does occur my first instinctive thought is, “I wish it could be like this everyday out here”. Then I think, no, if it was like this everyday everyone would want my job. We left Cabo San Lucas, at the southern end of Baja California Sur, Mexico with virtually no wind blowing and the sea as calm as a sea can be. To our delight these conditions persisted throughout the 24 hour voyage, and we arrived at San Benedicto under a blue sky and ready to start our week of diving in search of Giant Manta Rays, hammerhead sharks, dolphins, humpback whales and more.
We spent our first day in the sheltered bay at the south end of San Benedicto at a divesite called ‘The Canyon’, in the shadow of an impressive volcanic cone last erupted in the 1950’s. The first dive of the trip, or the checkout dive as it’s called, served it’s purpose as the dive to work out any gear issues, fine tuning buoyancy, and shaking off any cobwebs that accumulated since the last dive trip. Current was slack but visibility was a little below average, the result of a southerly swell washing ashore and stirring up the ash along the beach near our divesite. Nonetheless many scuba divers surfaced with stories of several hammerhead sharks passing nearby, not bad for a checkout dive.
Conditions for dives 2 and 3 didn’t change much, but once again most of our guests had some good encounters with 8-10 big scalloped hammerheads, and a few divers had a black Giant Manta Ray cruise slowly by, apparently not quite ready to play yet. No worries, we’ve got another 5 days of diving and we’ll be ready for some of that good Manta Lovin’ when they’re ready. A beer in the hot tub while enjoying another gorgeous sunset was a great way to end day 1. Talk again soon,
Captain Gordon
Weather: Seas calm, winds light, skies clear, air temp 78F
Diving conditions: Visibility 20 ft, current mild to moderate, water temp 75F
Tags: dolphins, giant manta, Hammerhead shark, humpback whales, mexico, Revillagigedos, San Benedicto, socorro island
Posted in Animals, Baja California, Cabo San Lucas, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Hammerhead shark, Humpback Whale, San Benedicto, Socorro Island, The Canyon, dolphin, mexico | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
This two first days in San benedictos canyon was…ashy! The vizibility went down to some times 10ft!!! we went around trying to find clearer water the first day, but it was all the same. Probably cause last weeks bigger waves that have ripped down the volcanic ash from San Benedicto Island which last erupted in 1952. We could see a hammer head shark..and it was gone, we could see a giant manta ray .and it was gone, and hear dolphins and hump back whales. And the humpback whales gave us a show at least on the surface!
Next day we took Nautilus Explorer to the Boiler and the viz was great..but then no animals, not a single manta and one hammerhead. The best dive we did this two days was probably last dive a bit more away of canyon on a new discovered cleaning site. We got loads of fish and whitetipa and mantas was seen at the surface but not under water.
Well honest to say it was one of the worst results I had from dear San Ben.
We are back after two months as the Socorro island was closed. It was nice to recognice the faces from the officer from the Navy and see how things has been down here. After the inspection we headed for Cabo Pearce.
And it was giving a lot to us as well from hard current to none. and 4 spieces of sharks whitetip , silvertip, galapagos and hammerheads sharks. A giant manta finally came up and went nose to nose with the divers. But the most spectacular was this group of 6 bottlenose dolphins spinning around us and watching us disapearing and coming back again. In a moment the just stayed still and went face to face to us that close that we could admire their beautiful eyes and tiny sping of its pupil. the colour of its eye is hazelnut redish couloured with a lot of kind of wrinkels..very had to describe but it hits you when you discover it. Not often you have the chance to investigate an eye of a wild dolphin, i never will get tired of them! Diveguide Sten
Surface condition: windy mostly sunny and not bad chop. 30 C
Underwater condition: Viz 15-25m up to 90 ft. temp 24C Lots to none current.
—————– GUEST BLOG ——————-
We have been to San Benedicto and did the Canyon and the Boiler. Animal life has not been kind to us, but we have seen giant Mantas, hammerhead sharks, and white tip sharks underwater and plenty of humpback whales above water. The Boiler was very exciting, and dealing with the surge was exciting. The last dive of the day featured Sten (the Dude) playing Pied Piper. Hard to describe but it worked. This dive also featured new dive computer going on vacation while underwater.
Jeannette, keep up the therapy in Chicago.
Jorge
Dos primeros dias en San Benedicto. Estan ahi, estan todos ahi: las mantas, los tiburones, los delfines y las ballenas. El problema es que es mas facil verlos desde el barco que desde el agua. Que visibilidad tan mala. El segundo dia estuvimos en The Boyler; mucha mejor visibilidad, pero los animales fueron esquivos. La resaca y el oleaje ayudaron a que todo fuera mas divertido. La parada de seguridad y la vuelta a bordo fue lo mejor del dia, todo un ejercicio de buceo. Si no ves lo que buscas, al menos es bueno entrenarse un poco.
Manana, Socorro. Great expectations.
Saludos,
Chus Barrientos.
Tags: bottlenose dolphin, dolphins, giant manta, Hammerhead shark, humpback whales, Nautilus Explorer, San Benedicto, socorro island, The Boiler, The Canyon
Posted in Animals, Cabo Pearce, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Hammerhead shark, Humpback Whale, Nautilus Explorer, San Benedicto, Socorro, The Boiler, The Canyon, bottlenose dolphin, dolphin, silvertip reef shark, whitetip reef shark | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
After a bumpy ride back home on the last trip the wind had abated and seas calmed enough to allow for a very pleasant crossing from Cabo San Lucas to our first stop of the Socorro Island, San Benedicto. The seas were rough on the ride in with very unusual weather. No associated fronts or low’s or anything like that. Just a general uneasiness throughout the Pacific basin with the biggest seas we have seen in quite a few years. 31 hours of steaming to get home using reduced power to make for an easier ride which meant we got into Cabo in the middle of the night.. The Nautilus is a beautiful ship and the most guests slept through most of it. Nice to revert back to a typically smooth crossing southbound. Whale spouts and dolphins greeted us as we approached the island and the mild rolling of the vessel abated as we rounded the southern tip of the island and dropped anchor in the lee of the volcanic shore. Our first dive site of this trip was the Canyon, a popular spot for schooling hammerhead sharks, humpback whales, and giant manta rays.
Visibility beneath the surface today was unfortunately quite low, probably due to the inclement weather of the previous days stirring up the volcanic ash which makes up the shoreline here. After a quiet check-out dive with no big animals spotted the visibility did increase a little and allowed for two good dives in the afternoon. Two giant manta rays were spotted on dive two, although interaction was limited, and many of the divers encountered a small school of hammerheads who approached quite close. Overall a very good day and a good start to this week of diving.
Captain Gordon Kipp
Surface conditions: skies clear early, clouding over in the afternoon, air temp 74-78F, seas calm in the anchorage.
Diving conditions: Current mild, visibility 3m – 15m, water temp 74-76F.
Photo on the left – Divemaster Pedro apologizing that we only have 38 different micro-brew beer to choose from on this trip
Photo on the right – “no kidding, the giant manta was this big –>> evening cocktail hour before dinner on the Nautilus Explorer”
Tags: giant manta, Hammerhead shark, humpback whales, Nautilus Explorer, San Benedicto, Socorro, The Canyon
Posted in Animals, Cabo San Lucas, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Hammerhead shark, Humpback Whale, Nautilus Explorer, San Benedicto, Socorro Island, The Canyon, dolphin, whales | No Comments »
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Swam with manta on every dive site, giant manta very friendly….
DAVID SPALDING, KY
Aujourd hui, 3eme journee de plongee, San benedicto island sur la chaudiere (the boiler) Le bleu du pacifique n est pas une legende, plongees avec le chant des baleines et le bolchoi des mantas… Antipalier avec les baleines en visuel dans une eau a 39 C (jacuzzi sur le pont du bateau ) HLM de langoustes et de cigales…, Requins marteau , des galapagos (1), pointes blanches faisant le sieste (comme nous…). On a connu des moments plus durs…
les frenchies a bord
desole pour les accents ;mais clavier qwerty et americain,
San benedicto,aujourd hui: premiere plongee, defile de requins marteaux, j ai arrete de compter a 30… Deuxieme plongee, bcp de courant +++, manta et safari photo sur une pauvre raie torpille, Troisieme plongee, chants de baleines, baleines sans doute tres proches mais trop timides… par contre ballet de mantas sur la fin de plongee, courant +++4 eme plongee: seulement , 2 mantas, 1 requin marteau, 1 requin pointe blanche, langoustes et avec la bande son des baleines… cookies excellents….
mais qui ?
Location: The Canyon, San Benedicto Island, Socorro. Mexico
When the Nautilus Explorer goes looking for Hammerhead sharks and keeps finding Giant Mantas can you really complain?
Well it was a party at the Canyon today! We arrived at San Benedicto Island (Socorro) this morning under blue skies spotted with only a few clouds. We had briefed the dive and everybody was ready to go and see the Hammerhead sharks that the Canyon is so well known for. I was in the water first with a group of about 10 guests. We approached the cleaning station slowly and low so as not to frighten away the sharks. With the visibility pushing 100 feet (33 meters) I figured the guests were going to be in for a good Hammerhead shark show but alas no sharks met us at the cleaning station. Plenty of colouful fish and Morays and Stone fish but no sharks. Disappointed and with bottom time dwindling, we turned to leave the cleaning station and head back to the descent line. As soon as we turned around three beautiful Giant Manta Rays came sweeping past in a row as if to say “welcome back, we were waiting for you”. 2/3rds the way through the season I thought I knew what a friendly manta was but these Mantas exceeded my expectations yet again (and I think the guests’ too!) They were so curious in us. They gracefully circled back over and over again, closer and closer, visiting each diver individually and getting within inches sometimes of the divers. Wonderful!
We did three dives in total today and both the second and third we went looking for Scalloped Hammerhead sharks. Twice more we didn’t find Hammerheads (except for one or two well in the distance), and twice more we had all the Manta company we could hope for.
Tomorrow I am going to go looking for Giant Mantas. Maybe then I will see some Hammerhead Sharks.
Dan
Surface conditions: Slight breeze and slightly cloudy. Mostly sunny and 28 C in the air.
Tags: giant manta, Hammerhead shark, San Benedicto, socorro island
Posted in Animals, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Guest Blog, Hammerhead shark, San Benedicto, The Canyon, shark | 1 Comment »
