Posts Tagged ‘giant manta’
Monday, April 30th, 2012
Hi,
It was a real great Day in Socorro at Cabo Pierce, the best Dive at the Trip, so far. At the first dive on this day we saw a school of Hammerheads, and it was a really fantastic experience. Three Mantas passed by playing in the bubbles, awesome. Also a lot of Octopus, Morrays, and Jackfish..
Best regards,
Anja and Christian
—-
Hallo Tauchfreunde, mit der Nautilus Explorer ist es eine wahre freude zu reisen, momentan auf Socorro. Die Bedienung, sei es der Koch oder die Crew ist auf einem hohen Niveau ausgerichtet, sehr freundlich und zuvorkomment. Das Essen vorzueglich (1 ˆ 2 kg pro Woche Mehrgewicht). Die Tauchgaenge gut vorbereitet und viele grosse Fische, Mantas, Hammerhaie. Einfach super.
Regula,
Tanja, Malte und Gilbert
—-
Today was a beautiful day at Cabo Pierce. We were greeted by the dolphins as we rounded the point and immediately during the first dive there were 3 mantas just waiting for us. I was dropping off and retrieving divers and during the entire process a giant, all black manta stayed near the surface and played with the divers during their safety stops. I had a chance to go on a swim along the wall and as I was admiring the colorful fish and the contours on the rocks, 2 all black mantas appeared as if out of nowhere. They circled me and came up to the shallows to greet me and I continued my swim as they swam just under me. It is special to see an all black manta but to see 3 different ones in the same day is definitely a treat!
Lauren, Deckhand Nautilus Explorer
Tags: dive, explorer, giant manta, manta, mexico, nautilus, scuba, Socorro
Posted in Animals, Destinations, Giant Mantas, Guest Blog, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, Socorro | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
One of 4 islands that make up the Islas Revillagigedo. A forbidding looking island with its gray volcanic cone of hardened ash rising up at the south end of the island and black ridges of solidified lava from an eruption in the mid 20th century, what it lacks in life on its shores it more than makes up for beneath the ocean surface.
For the first 3 days of this expedition we were confined to the south end of the island tucked in out of the gusty winds and choppy seas. Confined to some great diving as well. As with all our big animal diving at these islands, sometimes the animals just don’t cooperate. Sometimes we actually have a boring (I prefer to call them relaxing) dive. Therein lies the beauty of diving here though, you never know what you are going to see on that next dive, or in the next minute of your current dive for that matter.
So far this week, in between our 3 or 4 more quiet dives, we’ve experienced schooling hammerheads of 40-50 sharks on 3 occasions, a whaleshark for a couple lucky divers, a tiger shark spotted a few times on one dive by a couple divers, big galapagos and dusky sharks circling and approaching divers to within a few feet on several dives, and I’ve lost count of how many Giant Pacific Mantas we’ve had circling and interacting with all of our divers.
Today the wind and swell abated and allowed us to sneak over to “The Boiler”, our infamous Giant Manta site on the north end of the island. At least half a dozen giant mantas were counted on a single dive, all of them circling and interacting with our divers. All 4 dives today had some good manta interaction and during a couple dives several divers reported hammerheads. The soundtrack to our diving today was provided by our local population of humpback whales. Listening to the powerful sounds of whale song while swimming eye to eye with a giant manta is really a unique and moving experience. For our surface intervals the humpbacks continued to entertain with numerous breaches, at times as close as a boat length away from us.
Visibility has varied with most dives being below avg viz, between 20-40 ft. We’ve had a few dives with increased visibility at 50-70 ft. Water temp around 23-24C. Skies mostly sunny and air temp today 28C, 19C overnight.
Captain Gordon Kipp
Tags: dive, giant manta, humpback whales, liveaboard, manta, scuba, shark, Socorro
Posted in Animals, Captains Log, Destinations, Giant Mantas, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, shark, Socorro | No Comments »
Monday, March 19th, 2012
It was thrilling to hear whales‚ music on our first dive. And giant mantas on our second! With graceful wings he hung over me, letting my breath bubble across his belly claspers and all!
Great! Huge schools of yellowfin tuna, wahoo, and jacks. Galapagos and hammerhead sharks. Oh yeah, and the mantas wouldn’t leave us alone. Bummer…
Today at the Canyon at San Benedicto Island we saw what seemed like a herd, rather than a school, of hammerhead sharks! Great big guys, powering along the bottom just below us. What a thrill! We saw the usual cast of other characters as well: whitetips piled up like logs, cruising silvertips, and mantas hovering above, seemingly enjoying the tickle from our bubbles. Great day!!
A giant manta, dressed in Prada jet black with white stripes, flying solo, apart from the two shark suckers above her eyes. She was curious like a cat. Unrolling her cephalic lobes, dipping her wing toward my hand as if she had an itch that needed scratching.
Tags: diving, giant manta, hammerhead, liveaboard, manta, Mantas, mexico, scuba, Socorro
Posted in Giant Mantas, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, shark, Socorro | 1 Comment »
Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
HOW WAS YOUR DIVE DAY?
Roca Partida day #2
Another beautiful day at Roca Partida! The sun finally came out for us this morning and has been shining bright all day. While driving the skiff during the second dive, the humpback whales started putting on a fantastic show just forward of the bow. Since yesterday the humpbacks have come to visit us in full force. It‚s been one big whale show on the surface and this is just the beginning. It‚s so exciting to see the first whales of the season especially knowing there are still a few months of their migration to enjoy. I had a chance to swim between dives and took off from the boat and did a lap around the small island. On the North Point I was greeted by 8 silky sharks, who curiously swam around to see what this strange creature on the surface was. Also a small school of yellow fin tuna swam by and of course the usual assortment of fish were active and present!
Lauren, Crew Nautilus Explorer
We are now leaving Roca Partida after two days of awesome diving. Sharks on every dive. Big galapagos sharks, silvertip sharks, hammerhead sharks and not to forget zillions of whitetip reef sharks everywhere. Add a good dolphin encounter and breaching humpbacks and you have a cocktail that is hard to beat. This is what dreams are made of. We are on our way to San Benedicto Island for the last 4 dives of the trip. So far we have seen either manta rays or sharks (or both) on every single dive. We wonder if the statistics will hold for tomorrow. Can‚t wait for another day in the company of the great crew of the Nautilus Explorer, new friends and the great animals of the ocean.
Christian Nielsen, Denmark
Humpback Whales are officially in Roca Partida!!! Great breaching show and the calf was very active as well. Pam, Dennis and I spend a lot of time just checking the Rock looking for Eels and crabs, it’s amazing how many diferent kinds of Eels and how colorfull crabs can get. While we did that there where at least 12 galapagos and some silvertips passing behind of us!!
DM Joel IHO
Tags: dive, dolphin, giant manta, humpback whales, Mantas, mexico, scuba, silky sharks, Socorro, yellow fin tuna
Posted in Animals, Giant Mantas, Guest Blog, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, shark, Socorro | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Our first day diving at Roca Partida was excellent. Great visibility, good dives and lots of sunshine. We had dolphins on our first two dives of the day. I now believe that a dolphin who I have named Shorty because the tip of his right pectoral fin is missing, is definitely the ring leader of the whole pod. He is the first one to come visit the divers and the last one to leave. The dolphins here have a habit of hanging out deeper than the divers and trying to lure them down! If you stay at the same depth and don’t go deeper to visit them, then they realize their ploy is not working and will come up to swim around everyone, with the usual cheeky dolphin grins. Shorty is a master at this sport and once the game is up he swims past with a wicked glint in his eye, well that is my take on it anyway. Who knows what they are really thinking?! It is very unusual to see wild dolphins on dives so this type of interaction with them is truly amazing. We had happy divers all around.
There were the numerous sharks we see here which always makes for good dives too. The visibility on the dives we had for the first couple of days was not the best although we did see lots of mantas at the Boiler and everyone got the eye to eye contact with them that makes these islands such a spectacular place to see them. More dives still to do here, watch this space!! Water temp at Roca Partida 22C, at San Benedicto 24C
Belinda – Divemaster
Ein Super-Tauchtag! Haie satt und Delphine (fast) zum anfassen! Und dazwischen Wale an der Oberflaeche. Was will man mehr?
Tom
Tags: diving, giant manta, liveaboard, mexico, Roca Partida, scuba, Socorro
Posted in Giant Mantas, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, shark, Socorro | No Comments »
Monday, February 6th, 2012
I’ve been to Roca Partida before but the first dive of the day was one of these dives that are simply magic. Leaving you with that special feel only a few dives over the years will give you to remember forever.
We dove in only two of us and had the ocean all to ourselves. Water was clear and visibility being the best of this Socorro trip giving us instant view of all the whitetips cuddling in the three crevices on the east side of the rock. Moving on from there we made it to the north point just in time to watch a school of sixteen-seventeen silvertips passing by slowly and effortlessly. No more than a couple of minutes after they’d passed we heard the dolphins and saw them moving in as well. Mimicking them, and vice versa, we spent quite some time with the largest of them, clearly in play mood, and so close by that I felt hugging him: an epic moment.
Li from California/Sweden.
As you’ve heard, we arrived at Roca Partida this morning about 7AM. The weather is excellent and the seas calm with 2-4 ft rollers. Very manageable. Roca Partida did not disappoint and presented the usual variety of pelagic critters such as Galapagos, silvertip and hammerhead sharks, tuna and wahoo. The rock itself was also full of life with the biggest lobster I have ever seen nestled in with a bunch of snoozing whitetip sharks. Moray eels were always yawning right about where you want to put your hand to take a photo of some other critter. It is a very hard dive to beat. Some folks were lucky enough to cavort with dolphins as well.
None of this would be possible without the wonder organization and attention of the excellent multinational crew and the very able luxury live-a-board dive boat NAUTILUS EXPLORER. The cook, Juan Carlo spoils us with hearty food and the hostesses Mundie and Sylvia as constantly waiting us, sending us off well hydrated and greeting us after each dive with warm drinks and towels. Our dive masters, Belinda and the Juan and only, show us all the good stuff and Capt Gordon, Chief Mate Karl and Engineer Marv make sure that the ship is where we left it when we return. Hernan is Herculean as he pulls us aboard the inflatables and ferries us back to the boat. The water temp is a comfortable 71-72 F. and finally I am with the best group of divers, ever!
If you have not done this trip be sure to put it on your list..soon!
Jim Smith, Maine, USA
Tags: diving, dolphins, giant manta, liveaboard diving, manta, mexico, scuba, Socorro
Posted in Giant Mantas, Guest Blog, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, Socorro | No Comments »
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
Routine check in with the Navy base. A happy meeting and New Years hugs in between the navy guys and us. After the years here we have established a good relationship. They are also the guys that has been helping us in medical emergencies or have responded when we have reported illegal fishing activities. (Though today they just have two small pangas…)
We chose Cabo Pierce and we did not need to get out far on the lava arm until we spotted a good group of Clarion Angelfish. So we thought we would stop here and just see what happens. Well two full dives with mantas on 5-10 m 15-30 ft coming from all direction and getting cleaned by the Clarions. We just could sit and hover and watch how the mantas stopped and slowly sank and had to move to not sinking to much or stall and getting swarmed by the clarions. Over and over again. In one moment we could count 7!
It become a manta day and we did not even reach the shark cleaning station cause this was just too good! Right now we are heading to Punta Tosca to snorkel with the silkie sharks.
Surface conditions a bit windy in the morning that slowed down towards the after noon. Temp 25 C.
UW conditions Viz from 15-22 m 50-70 ft. Temp 24-26C 74-76 F.
Dive guide, Sten Johansson
Tags: Dive Mexico, Dive Socorro, giant manta, liveaboard diving, scuba, Socorro, socorro island
Posted in Captains Log, Giant Mantas, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, shark, Socorro | No Comments »
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
Socorro Island. One-two-three, Go! We all backroll together and begin to descend onto the dive site, as I clear the bubbles off my lens and adjust my strobe, I see the dark manta shaped shadow out of the corner of my eye. Quickly I take a test shot to check my exposure and start lining up the approaching manta. After I get down to the dive site the action just keeps on going. Two or three mantas going around in circles – it was fantastic! Moving up the ridge I found a big canyon which allowed me to get out of the current as I waited there for several minutes I snapped some Peacock Flounder, Spanish Hogfish, and a variety of puffers. Then the first manta swam overhead and began to circle. Then several more joined in for a total of three!! I was in manta heaven and taking pics as fast as my camera would recycle. Then a school of about 100 large Tuna swam thru and made several passes. After about 15 minutes I worked my way down the ridge back to the down line. The action there was even more intense with 3-4 mantas circling in and out of the cleaning station. Even on our safety stop on the line, we were buzzed by the mantas up to when we got back on the Zodiak!
The only time I had a more intense dive with mantas was the day before at The Boiler!
Dave Kinney, Vienna, VA USA
Tags: Baja California, diving, giant manta, liveaboard diving, Mantas, mexico, scuba, Socorro
Posted in Giant Mantas, Guest Blog, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, shark, Socorro | No Comments »
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Hammerhead sharks, huge schools of yellow fin tuna, a pack of 17 stacked silvertip sharks, napping white tips. A great day of diving around the rock.
Derek Bamonte, Denver, Colorado USA
As one of the dive masters on the boat I am used to having great dives at all our dive sites around Socorro, however, the second dive we did at Roca Partida was simply phenomenal. We hung out at the North Point, where we waited patiently for things to swim in to view. Hanging out in the midst of all the Creole fish we waited. First we saw a big school of black jacks (I have never seen them school before) after which we moved slowly away, keeping the rock in sight. We had a school (yes, a school, which I have never seen before as they are usually in small numbers) of Black jacks. Then, wham 20 Galapagos sharks swam past in formation. We were looking at them when we saw the hammerhead school just behind them. Not too bad. After that we drifted down the East wall, surrounded by fish whilst 4 large Silvertip sharks swam around us. Wow! It was like being in a fish bowl. I could go on and on about what we saw and how fabulous it was, however it would take several pages. The only thing left to say is that at 40 feet we saw another school of hammerheads! Oh, yeah What a dive. Enough sharks for now and we are off to San Benedicto tomorrow for another manta fix.
Belinda – Dive Master
What a rock. Saw Silvertip, Galapagos , Hammerhead, and Whitetip sharks on most dives. Swam and played with Dolphins on 3 different dives. They wanted to interact and on one dive stayed and played for over 5 minutes. The jacks schools where dense and the Tuna was plentiful. We had a wall of Galapagos sharks on one dive that had 20 plus sharks in view at one time. Again, what a Rock.
John Reading Mount Laurel, NJ
Schools of hammerheads, silvertips, Galapagos and whitetip sharks, dolphins providing entertainment at safety stops. What a dive site! Sharks on every dive the schools of jacks were so dense that I couldn’t see past the wall of fish at times. Whitetips resting on the ledges piled on top of one another, perfect photo op! Trumpetfish and eels swimming up the crevices of the rock. Nonstop entertainment!
Eriko T. of Tokyo, Japan
Tags: diving, giant manta, liveaboard diving, Mantas, mexico, Socorro
Posted in Captains Log, Giant Mantas, Guest Blog, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, San Benedicto, shark, silvertip reef shark, Socorro, Socorro Island | No Comments »
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Today was our final day of diving for this Socorro Expedition and for our grand finale we spent the day at the infamous Boiler. The Boiler is a submerged pinnacle on the north west side of Isla San Benedicto and is famous for it’s Giant Pacific Manta Rays and the incredible interaction that divers can have with the mantas there. What sets the Boiler apart from some of our other great Manta dives here at the Socorro islands is the beautiful clear blue water that we usually experience there. Today was a textbook example of why we love the Boiler. The airs were light and seas calm as we dropped anchor just as the sun was rising this morning around 0630. Several dolphins could be seen at the surface around the pinnacle. A large splash signalled a breaching manta as we were eating our first breakfast of the day. On the very first dive of the day we had 5 giant mantas with us and they didn’t go anywhere for the rest of the day. The following 3 dives featured loads of great manta interaction, or manta lovin’ as we like to call it, with at least 5 individual mantas. The water today was typical Boiler, clear and blue with visibility of around 80 ft and a temperature of around 74F. A beautiful day and a great way to end the diving this week. We are currently north bound for Cabo San Lucas and enjoying a very comfortable ride over a calm sea.
Captain Gordon Kipp
Surface conditions: light winds with a calm sea (about 1m wave ht), air temp 78F, sky mostly clear.
Water conditions: visibility 80 ft, water temp 74F, moderate current.
Tags: diving, dolphin, giant manta, scuba diving, Socorro
Posted in Captains Log, Giant Mantas, mexico, Nautilus Explorer, Revillagigedos, Socorro | No Comments »
