Good morning ROCA PARTIDA!! There is just nothing quite like this small but fancy and visually intriguing rock. Seeming to be lonely and deserted from the rest of Socorro islands , yet accompanied by a crazy array of birds topside, and the best of the wildest marine life below.
Waking up anchored a few hundred yards just west of the island, there she be. Rain or shine (its almost always definitely shine) she is a heavenly site. Eating our breakfast while watching Roca as the sun arises from behind the rock hitting it just perfectly, as the beams of sunlight blare the contour. “She is all ours”, Dive Master Juan says as he does the morning briefing. Hopping into the skiffs to zip over to the nice little cove on the East end of the island to do our countdown and backroll in. Crystal clear water, easy 125ft visibility, schools of jacks everywhere. Descending down, spotting all the little ledges and rock balconies that the white tips just love to doggy pile on. But, Its only our first dive in the morning and the sharks are still pretty active. White tips, jacks, and some awesome yellowtail tuna for the most part of the morning, until a curious random Manta, el Solo, comes along. Getting cleaned up, as we finish our dive and safety stop.
Dive two, fingers crossed : hammer heads, hammer heads, hammer heads. Down to the South point my first group and I went. Again, with nearly a solid wall of jacks, we just chill at the point. Suddenly, the jacks rush off. Oh boy. Come on baby. Yes! 30, 40, 50, 60. No less than 70 hammerhead sharks come marching by within 40 ft of us. Not only Hammers though, there are some odd Galapagos, and Silvertips mixed in there as well! We stay huddled together, trying to breathe as softly as possible as to not to push them away. It definitely worked, not alarming them in the slightest, they just meander on by over an elapse of 60 seconds or so. Just as we thought, they all passed. Everyone in the group looked at each other, laughing. Underwater there were high-fives all around, while we danced around all giddy about 80ft below the surface under the high noon sun. And surprise! another small group of about 5 or 6 cruised past us even as we thought the action was over. Seeming to sprint to catch up with their school whom they slightly sidetracked from.
Roca Partida. You are a beautiful thing.
-DM Joel
“Those Hammer heads with nothing but blue behind them is one of the most beautiful things you could ever see”
-Craig
“Roca Partida is like nothing else! More sharks then I ever thought I would see in a single dive”
-Kate
Fingers crossed at Roca Partida. Hammerheads… hammerheads. Trying to visualize hammerheads. YES, YES. There they are. 70 hammerhead sharks march by 40 feet away from us, chased by another group of 5 sharks trying to catch up with the main group
