1945hrs
We’ve just departed Socorro Island for our annual Clipperton expedition. We spent the last two days diving at San Benedicto and Socorro of the Revillagigedo chain of islands. The diving was a little disappointing with minimal big animal activity. A few hammerhead sharks here and there and one giant manta for a couple lucky honeymooners. Not as dramatic as it should be but occasionally these slow periods do happen. Our main destination for this expedition however is Clipperton atoll which is the lone island in this part of the world forming part of the Republic of France.
This is the Nautilus Explorers 5th expedition to Clipperton, and my 4th personally after Captain Mike took the first exploratory trip down. We can expect water temps to increase from 22C at Socorro today, to around 28 or 29C when we reach Clipperton. The island is surrounded by a barrier reef covered in mostly hard corals, reef fish, pelagics, and of course the infamous Clipperton Morays (more on those critters in a future installment). Our encounters with sharks at Clipperton has varied greatly each of our times spent there, and we are hoping to find a healthy population of adult hammerheads, silkies, and galapagos sharks.
Last year was disappointingly slow for sharks, while the year before almost every dive featured schooling hammerheads and silkie sharks. I will keep you all in the loop with daily updates.
– Captain Gordon Kipp
Current weather: winds 7-10 kts from the north, swell NW 3-5′ with an underlying southerly swell of 5-6′ with a long 15 second period.
Huuhhh?? After our best season ever for big animals at Socorro Island, the last couple of days have been slow.
