Since we have 18 Brazilian on board we decided to celebrate the the Brazilian new year which conveniently fell at 7 pm. Burning little notes with “what we want to leave behind” was part of it.
Today this first day of the year we spend back at Socorro Island. giant Mantas, dolphins and Sharks all around to bring us the best wishes. Every time I dive at this place the Mantas seam to get closer, they seem just as exited about meeting us as we are about meeting them. Divers get exited and so get the Mantas ending up doing acrobatic loop overs.
At the moment it’s 8 pm, our guests are having dinner. We have anchored in a very special place that Sten and Captain Mike discovered many years ago. It’s one of our best secrets at Socorro Island – lots of silky sharks, flying fish and dolphins around the boat at night but calm enough behaviour and not too many animals that we can’t jump into snorkel with them. Although Sten told me a story about one night when he and Mike misjudged and things didn’t go very smoothly. I remember my first time snorkeling with them, not really knowing what to expect. They are curious fellows those silky sharks. They like to swim up to the snorkelers and have a look. I found out quickly that they were easily intimidated when making a move towards them as if they wonder if they are in this case the hunter or the pray. On the other hand, not moving for a few minutes will make them come closer and closer until they end up brushing them selves up to you to test things out. In many ways it reminds me of the behavior of a young dog. Run to the dog and he will run away, Run away and the dog will come after you.
When I got back to land I googled the Silky shark, yeah I like googeling. I red about some places where silky sharks harass divers to a point that the dive had to be aborted. Luckily here they don’t seem to be that bold. except for that one time 6 years ago!!! Alright, dinner is served, I got priorities!
Jeroen dive guide on the Nautilus Explorer.
Ola meus queridos,
Quando comecou nossa viagem tudo era um sonho. Os tubaroes, as mantas gigantes, os golfinhos, e tudo mais.
Aos poucos esses sonhos foram se realizando, um a um como num livro onde o final e feliz.
Tudo comecou com um pequeno mergulho, como tudo na vida, e aos poucos vamos nos apaixonando pelas pessoas, pelo lugar … o que vi jamais vou esquecer.
Conheci lugares, mergulhei muito e senti coisas que jamais sentirei outra vez
A forca da natureza exposta na figura do Viking (Stan), a gentileza do Jeroen, sem contar a boa comida, a presteza das garotas do Nautilus, o bom humor dos meninos do Mexico Joel e Pedro. Enfim, boa companhia, excelentes mergulhos, muitas risadas e lembrancas que vou guardar no meu coracao para todo o sempre!
Adorei cada minuto que mergulhei com pessoal da Scuba Point.
Carla Donadelli
Snorkelling at night with silky sharks at Socorro Island – divemaster and guest blog – 02 JAN 2011
