Location: Cabo San Lucas Harbor, Baja California, Mexico
Comments: Had a great run from Roca Partida straight back to Cabo San Lucas. Sometimes it is a rough crossing with 6 – 8ft seas. Most of the time it is pretty nice, with the ship gently pitching up and down and an easy roll from side to side. And sometimes it is flat calm. This crossing was so calm that it was as if we were already tied up to the dock!
So folks often ask me how many mantas we see in the Revillagigedo Islands. It is highly variable, and the manta sightings change from trip to trip. The following is what we observed on this last trip (voyage 202 of the Nautilus Explorer).
Dive Day 1
The Canyon (San Benedicto Island)
1 black female manta. 3 chevron mantas (1 female, 1 male, 1 unknown).
The Boiler (San Benedicto Island)
No sightings.
Dive Day 2
The Canyon
1 small black manta ray. 1 chevron manta ray.
Southwest San Benedicto
No sightings and no visibility.
The Aquarium (Socorro Island)
No sightings on the night dive.
Dive Day 3
Cabo Pearce (Socorro Island)
1 chevron giant manta at the outer cleaning station. 4 chevron mantas and 2 black mantas patrolling (feeding??) back and forth along the wall inside the bay.
Dive Day 4
Punta Tosca (Socorro Island)
1 “hybrid” giant manta ray (colouration of a chevron manta but the “chevron” marking was a longitudinal white slash), 1 chevron manta.
Dive Day 5
Roca Partida
1 small black manta ray. 3 chevron giant manta ray.
Dive Day 6
Roca Partida
1 black manta ray. 2 chevron mantas.
As a matter of interest, we log all this information and harvest as many identification images as possible to pass along to Dr. Bob Rubin in his continuing efforts to learn as much as possible about this extraordinary population of giant manta rays.
–Captain Mike.
Weather: Sunny. 1 puffy little cloud in the distance. Winds 10 knots from the north. Calm seas.
Water: Water temperature and visibility unknown.
