Country: Mexico

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Socorro Islands in a Nutshell

Diving the Socorro Islands is a wide-angle adventure filled with giant manta and shark encounters, schooling fish, and other large pelagic marine life.

Intro to Socorro

The Socorro Islands are a group of 4 islands in the Pacific known as the Revillagigedo Archipelago. Socorro and Roca Partida are the most popular for diving, accompanied by San Benedicto and Clarión. The islands lie 240 miles (386km) southwest of Cabo San Lucas in Baja, Mexico, and are often called Mexico's "Little Galapagos" due to their unique ecosystem and attraction of large pelagic animals. Searching for large pelagics leaves divers with a choice between the Socorro, Galapagos, Cocos and Malpelo. Socorro is the closest destination for those in the U.S. Because the Socorro Islands are volcanic and rise out of the open ocean, the only scuba diving options are liveaboards.  

Check out Diane Randolph's video from our 2016 Socorro Photo Workshop below!

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Diving Information 

Marine Life & Photography Subjects

Socorro is known for its manta cleaning stations, where underwater photographers can often spend many dives with the gentle flying giants. They're regularly found when the water is warmer in the late spring. When the water cools during winter months (December - March), divers are treated to humpback whale sightings. Galapagos, silky, oceanic whitetip and hammerhead sharks are common at Socorro, as well as dolphins, whale sharks (best in November) and schools of pelagic fish like jacks and barracuda. Divers often see large gamefish like tuna, wahoo and marlin, something few other destinations can offer. Those interested in shooting photos of some smaller creatures will find eels, octopi, nudibranchs and more. Another "signature experience" at Socorro: swimming with a group of bottlenose dolphins that often visit divers and typically make several close passes.

This outstanding Socorro video was taken on one dive trip, and shows many mantas, dolphins, and hammerheads, all up close 

Diving Conditions

• Water Temperature: Water temps range from 21-23C/70-74f during the winter and 24-28C/76-82f during late fall and spring. Usually, a 5mm wetsuit with optional hooded vest works well at Socorro. Note that dive gloves are not permitted at Socorro by law
• Depth Range: 33 - 100ft (10 - 30m)
• Visibility: varies depending on the dive site, season, currents and other conditions. Roca Partida often has the best visibility, reaching over 100 feet. There are sometimes reports of lower visibility in November/December (when whale sharks are found feeding on plankton).

Typical Socorro Dive

We recommend Socorro for experienced divers due to the exposed nature of the diving. The islands often see choppy seas and strong currents (which attract the rich pelagic life). The diving is correspondingly rugged, with rocky structure and some huge walls. Liveaboards will typically run 3 to 4 dives per day, diving the best sites at Socorro Island, Roca Partida and San Benedicto.

Dive Sites

• SAN BENEDICTO ISLAND - EL FONDEADERO
• El Fondeadero is often dived first. It's generally pretty calm and not too deep so its where some boats go checkout dive. There are three large pinnacles full of lobster, fish, eels and occasionally shark.
• SAN BENEDICTO ISLAND - THE BOILER
• A large pinnacle rises to about 20 feet from the surface, so you can't see it from topside. The surf and swell running across the top sometimes making the water look like its boiling. The pinnacle is small enough to swim around during one dive and it's very majestic looking from all angles. The bottom is at around 160' so getting your weights right and not being too heavy is very important. This area is a popular cleaning station for the giant Pacific manta. They gather here to be cleaned by the Clarion Angelfish.
• It is usually just a matter of a few minutes in the water before the mantas started to show up. As they approach, they look you right in the eye, and you DO feel like you are communicating with them. On a past trip in March we were fortunate enough to see a humpback whale underwater here, and shortly after, a Tiger shark.
• SAN BENEDICTO ISLAND - THE CANYON
• "El Canyon" is on the south end of the island. It was here that we had seen many mantas, dolphins, Galapagos sharks, 
• silky sharks, and schools of hammerheads off the point.
• SOCORRO ISLAND - CABO PEARCE
• Cabo Pearce is located on the east side of Socorro Island. You can expect to see dolphins, humpback whales and mantas.
• SOCORRO ISLAND - PUNTA TOSCA
• Punta Tosca is another site on Socorro Island. There are often playful, sociable dolphins here, and sometimes Silky sharks.
• THE AQUARIUM
• The afternoon dives were done on the other side of the island at a spot called "The Aquarium". We could see whales just offshore the entire time we were there and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
• ROCA PARTIDA
• Roca Partida is a guano-covered pinnacle about 85 miles from San Benedicto Island. About 100' high and as long as a football field, the pinnacle is in the middle of nowhere and is a magnet to pelagics. This is where you can see many sharks, mantas, huge schools of fish, and whale sharks (you must be very lucky). A diver on a recent trip saw Oceanic whitetips and Scalloped Hammerheads here in January.

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Travel Information 

How to Get There

Divers fly into Los Cabos International Airport (SJD). Once through immigration, you'll meet a shuttle provided by your liveaboard to its departure point at either San Jose Del Cabo (15 mins) or Cabo San Lucas (40 mins). Most boats take about 24 hours to reach Socorro from either city.  

How to Dive Socorro

The area can only be reached by liveaboard. There are no hotels in on most the islands no place where you could get off the boat and walk around. Liveaboard boats sail out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The journey is 24-28 hours each way, and can be rough, so take sea sickness precautions.  

Weather

November - May is the best time to dive Socorro, and the liveaboards' itineraries correspond. During these months all the mantas and sharks are plentiful.

Topside & Non-Diving Activities

Cabo San Lucas, and to a lesser degree San Jose Del Cabo, offer a range of non-diving activities, including golf, fishing, village visits and various other options. Once you're at sea, however, topside activities are limited to standard liveaboard entertainment: catching up with fellow divers, editing photos, reading, etc. There is not much else to do there!

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Other Useful Information 

Practical Information

• Currency: Mexican Peso
• Language: Spanish is the official language in Mexico but most people today learn English as a second language
• Time Zone: UTC-7
• Electricity: 127 V 60 Hz

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