Silvia writes in with our first ever "hostess log". January 7 2010 Guest blog

This is my sixth year of working on the Nautilus Explorer and while I love working with Captain Mike and meeting many great guests and having good times, scuba diving still rocks.  I have my first nice dive from this trip, as soon I was in the water in the dive site called “The Boiler” on San Benedicto island I saw a white tip shark.  And then in more than 5 minute a big beautiful  black  giant manta showed up and stayed with me for a  while…a lot school of fishes…..lot of lobsters,so much life!!!!!  That’s why I love what I do, good guests, good crew,good diving!!!!!
Hostess, Silvia:)
What a great day! We started off with an early morning dive at The Canyon off San Benedicto, it was a bit dark and murky but we soon bumped into a group of meaty looking hammerhead sharks – that livened things up a bit! We had calm seas so set off for The Boiler and have spent the rest of the day moored here. The next dive was phenomenal – my buddy and I spotted a very large tiger shark soon after we dropped in and the whole group was then accompanied by a lovely, friendly giant manta for most of the dive. She shared the love around – repeatedly touring around the whole group to check us all out. What an incredible experience! We had another manta on the third dive – this one sporting a tag that the scientists who are on the Nautilus managed to attach yesterday. Again, it was totally unafraid of us and repeatedly circled slowly around the group, approaching many people. Some of us also got a good look at a silky shark that was surrounded by smaller fish. The last dive of the day – as we were losing the light – yielded less big fish action (although some people spotted a Galapagos shark) but all the other fish seemed to be out hunting and there were one or two octopi and lots and lots of big lobsters. We watched the sun go down with cold beers (served by the skipper) while sitting in the hot tub. Does life get much better than this?? Lisa N – UK.
A great days diving, warm water, good visibility and lots of cool marine life – Mantas and Sharks to mention a few – the last dive of the day on the Boiler with Sten was awesome especially to see lots of fish and big sharks attracted by a plastic bottle!  Off to Roca Partida tomorrow for more Mantas and sharks. Ian B UK.