Socorro Island Diving
Diving the Isla Revillagigedo has always been on my bucked list. I was finally able to cross it off in early December 2013. A short flight from LAX brought us to Cabo San Lucas. We overnighted in Cabo, and the next afternoon boarded theboat for the 22 hour ride to the islands. Our first stop was Isla San Benedicto. The boilers had a few manta rays circling us. Our next stop was Roca Pardita. A rock in the middle of the ocean, known for lots of pelagic fish cruising by. But not when we were there. I did see a group of hammerhead sharks deep. The pile of white tip sharks in the crevices was worth the ride. Then off to Isla Soccoro. Cabo Pearce had dolphin, turtles, schooling fish, lobsters and manta rays. Finally back to San Benedicto, and The Canyon. Dolphins and more mantas. Our final destination was The Boilers once more. And, more mantas.
This trip was basically Manta Madness. We had up to 7 flying carpets on one dive. I was told to make lots of noise. Apparently mantas like that sort of thing. I tested it. A manta would come by, I sang and screamed, it circled and circled. Same manta would swim by later in the dive. I was mute. It slowly glided by. Even later in the dive, said same manta approached, I sang and screamed (some say it's the same). Said manta circled and circled. I was perplexed why are the mantas approaching us bubble breathers? We don't offer food, nor cleaning. We aren't even allow to touch them. I think they're just as perplexed at the insane bubble breathers. A behavior I thought interesting, they would unwind their cephalic lobes in my face, and wind them back up. I wasn't sure what was proper reply was, so I just sang and screamed. Also, a manta with no tail, would come straight at me (and others), shoot straight up. Then like a stalled biplane, drop back down. Recover and do it again. I had always thought that mammals only did things for FUN. I was wrong, these guys may have had more fun the we had.
I would consider this a fairly advanced sort of trip. Long bumpy boat ride (bring your meds). Help is a long way away. Large ocean swells, and currents. But the reward is great big animal encounters. I tend to do macro videography. I even brought my macro stuff along. Save luggage weight, leave the macro stuff at home. His is a wide angle adventure.
My video of can be seen at http://youtu.be/jpvltm_n1i4 Please give it a like.
