Location: Roca Partida, Socorro, Revillagigedos, Mexico
Comments: Once again Roca Partida proved why it is considered the crown jewel of the Socorro/Revillagigedos Islands. There were some wind waves on top of the normal swell when we arrived but by the end of the first day all we had was a long easy swell and on the second day even that subsided significantly. Over the two days all of our divers were able to have closer and more intimate interactions with a couple of giant manta rays than anyone imagined. Some divers saw a small school of 10 hammerheads and one lucky group of divers had terrific interaction with a dolphin who played for 5 minutes before taking off rapidly and leaping out of the water. The silvertip and Galapagos sharks were off the northeast end of the rock circling in and out of view. One of the Galapagos sharks looked like it is recovering from a nasty spear wound to the head. He has a large lump with a hole on the top right side of his head and a hole/scar on the bottom left side by his gills. The good news is that we saw him last trip as well and he seems to be recovering nicely.
Everyone had at least a couple of spectacular dives on Roca Partida and the current changed just enough during the day to keep the charismatic megafauna coming in and changing but not enough to create hazardous diving conditions. Our engineer, Bob, also had the great fortune of seeing a young humpback whale swim past him as he was doing his safety stop. On the trip north we saw an intriguingly large number of sea lions sunning themselves with flippers in the air. Not sure why they were so far south and offshore, anyone got any answers?
So we say goodbye to Roca Partida, Socorro and the Revillagigedos for this season. Thank you for some wonderful diving, interesting times and raising our awareness of the environmental issues in the area. I, for one, am really looking forward to coming back for another season in the autumn. And thank you to all who came diving with us in this spectacular place. Without you we would not be here.
–DM Tricia
Weather: 88°F, sunny, light breeze, low swell
Water: Water temp 72°F, visibility 100ft
