Happy new year to everyone at home, we hope your 2011 has started off as well as ours here on the Nautilus Explorer! We have just completed our first dive day of this 8 day expedition to the famous Islas Revillagigedo, better known as the Socorro Islands, with 3 very successful dives.
We departed Cabo San Lucas yesterday morning and had a great transit for the entire 220 nautical miles with favorable sea conditions and mostly sunny skies. We were greeted this morning to a beautiful sunrise of red streaks over the pacific as we arrived at the first island on our itinerary, San Benedicto. Leaping bottlenose dolphins escorted us in the last few miles before we dropped anchor at our first divesite, the Canyon, a great spot for the checkout dives. Besides for it’s sheltered location, the Canyon is also a great spot for both Giant Pacific Manta Rays and schooling hammerhead sharks. On our very first dive of the day we had at least 4 individual giant manta rays making the rounds giving everyone a chance to enjoy their graceful dance. On dive 2 the giant mantas were still there, waiting patiently for us to return to them, and most divers also had a couple hammerhead shark sightings.
On dive 3 things had quietened down a little, but a couple more hammerheads were sighted cruising stealthily by, as well as a few small silver-tip sharks, plus several octopi, and the ever-present and very colourful Clarion Angelfish.
A great first day and only the beginning of the big animal sightings in store for our guests this week!
Captain Gordon Kipp
Surface conditions: Wind N’ly 10 kts, seas calm in anchorage, skies partly cloudy, air temp 75f (24C)
Diving conditions: Visibility 30-50ft (9-15m), current mild to moderate, water temp 76f (25C)
Captain Gordon back at the helm – Socorro Island – 06 JAN 2011 – hammerhead sharks stealthily cruising by.
