ECO SOCORRO RECAP May 2021
Words and pictures by Tim Yeo
Camera gear: Sony a6400, Ikelite housing, 10-18mm lens, dual Sea & Sea YS-D2J strobes
Day 1
We arrived in San Jose del Cabo and took a taxi to the San Jose del Cabo Marina. It was really easy to grab a taxi at the orange taxi booth immediately as you exit the arrivals hall of the airport.
As boarding time was 3 hours away, we left our bags on our home for the week, the Quino el Guardian and walked to the luxury Hotel El Ganzo for lunch and a few drinks in their outdoor restaurant overlooking the marina.
We boarded the boat at 5 pm and departed at about 6:30 pm, with dinner served as we made our way down the peninsula towards Cabo San Lucas. There was still cell service for a good few hours until about 8 pm before we were finally disconnected for 9 days to enjoy our vacation.
Day 2
It was a lazy morning with people getting out of bed at their leisure on the transit day.
Todd Kortte, an instructor with Bluewater University, held a GoPro seminar after breakfast as there were a number of divers who brought GoPros with them. The divemaster did a general dive briefing after that, with some history of the archipelago and shark identification for the 7 different species of sharks that we might see on the trip. After lunch, most of us indulged in a siesta while we continue our journey toward the Revillagigedo Archipelago. At one point, a couple of humpback whales seemed to be escorting us to Socorro across the wide-open ocean.
After dinner, we watched a BBC shark special, and then it was off to bed after a nightcap, excited for the diving to start the next day.
Day 3
We arrived at San Benedicto Island at 2 am with only one other boat in sight. As there were no more than three boats at any one dive site, we would be able to do four dives a day. If there had been more than three boats, we would only have been able to do three dives a day to reduce congestion at the dive sites. The only exception to this rule is at Roca Partida where three dives is the maximum.
We did our first two dives of the trip at the Canyon. Visibility was a mediocre 30ft but we still saw silky sharks, silvertip sharks, Galapagos sharks, white tip reef sharks, and had some hammerheads pass overhead. We flew a drone over to the Boiler and saw blue water and better visibility there, so we decided to move over to the Boiler to take advantage of the better visibility. Moving to the Boiler was a wise decision as we were greeted with 80ft visibility and lots of mantas. We also saw yellowfin tuna and hammerhead sharks during the second two dives of the day.
After dinner, we started on an 8-hour crossing to Roca Partida.
Day 4
Today we dove one of the most famous dive spots in the world... Roca Partida. We awoke in the morning and, very much to our surprise we were the only boat around! We had the entire dive site to ourselves! During the three dives, we saw hammerhead sharks, large 300+ pound yellowfin tuna, dozens of silky sharks hunting a massive school of bonito, large Galapagos and silvertip sharks, wahoo, and the much-photographed shark caves filled with white tip reef sharks.
The wind was forecasted to pick up overnight, and without a place for the boat to shield from the wind, we had to move locations and made our way to Socorro Island.
Day 5
The Quino arrived at Socorro Island at 3 am and dropped anchor next to Cabo Pearce. This is another great dive site but the first dive was a shock! Visibility was about 30ft and the water temp was a cold 69oF. Even so, we spotted some mantas and hammerheads. The second dive was a lot better. The water was warmer and the current flushed away the dirty water allowing viz to increase to 60ft. On top of the giant mantas, silky sharks, and hammerheads, a pod of bottlenose dolphins also swam by, pausing to play with us for a while. After the dive, we motored to the naval base to check-in. The check-in was done over the radio this time as the navy didn’t want to board the boat due to covid concerns.
We returned to Cabo Pearce for the third dive and were again fortunate to see a large school of hammerheads and mantas.
Day 6
We stayed for another day of diving at Cabo Pearce and what a great decision that was. Visibility had cleared up, and over the four dives, we had very interactive mantas and also saw bottlenose dolphins, silky sharks, and yellowfin tuna.
The original plan was to head to San Benedicto Island overnight, but winds were forecasted to be strong. That meant the volcanic ash from the crater would blow into the water and affect visibility. Since the diving was so good at Cabo Pearce and we were the only boat there, we decided to take advantage and stay another day.
Day 7
Our third day at Socorro Island, and we had another four great dives at Cabo Pearce. There were lots of mantas again, dolphins, and silky and hammerhead sharks all day. On the last dive, the two groups met underwater and were treated to a large school of pompano near the surface that allowed us to swim in and around them.
After four dives, we moved to San Benedicto Island for the last day of diving, which is the closest island to Cabo.
Day 8
Our last day of diving started off with a bang! There was good hammerhead action at Canyon, along with silvertips and silkies. Then a school of bottlenose dolphins joined us on the surface. Group 1 jumped back in the water to free dive with them while Group 2 was doing their safety stop with the dolphins playing all around. The family of six or eight dolphins made their rounds amongst everyone and we all got excellent playtime with them.
After two dives at the Canyon, we decided to head over to the Boiler to end the trip. The visibility was excellent but there weren’t too many mantas and sharks so we headed back to the Canyon for the penultimate dive of the trip. We were rewarded with lots of silky, silvertip, and Galapagos sharks, and even had a school of five hammerheads swim through the cleaning station. All the photographers got excellent shots of the hammerheads and many divers had never been closer to a hammerhead shark. At the end of the dive, a massive 20ft black manta came over to the cleaning station and stayed with us for 10 minutes before we had to, unfortunately, start heading up for our safety stop.
What a great way to end our diving for the trip!
A big thanks to the amazing crew of the Quino El Guardian.
This is our 4th charter to Socorro and she never disappoints!
Benji – Divemaster
Cinco – Steward
Jaime – Panga driver
Julio – Captain
Miguel – Chef
Peter – Divemaster
Pollo – Panga driver
Tigre - Engineer
