Diving Revillagigedo is adventure diving at it’s best. With the possibility of giant manta rays, many different kinds of sharks and other marine life, the only thing we know we will see is water and rocks.
Our trip had a promising start at San Benedicto, the closest island to the mainland. We saw a variety of fish, white tip sharks and had our first giant manta ray encounters. We were confident that we would continue to see more than just water and rocks!
On day two we moved to Socorro. Here sea conditions on the surface were easy but the current below was ripping. Besides small fish we only saw a few white tip and silky sharks breeze by in the current. Because of the strong current some spent one dive under the Belle Amie photographing silky sharks.
On day three we moved to the most off shore island Roca Partida. We are now literally in the middle of nowhere. With no other place to feed this is where a variety of marine life should be found. Surface conditions started out tough in the morning with the wind blowing and high seas. Some divers still boarded the skiffs to explore this Pacific outpost. Entering the water they were greeted by a pod of dolphins but they did not stick around for long. White tip sharks and jacks were also observed. As the day progressed sea conditions worsened. With seas over eight feet and the lack of marine life we decided to skip the dives.
That evening we sailed back to San Benedicto to dive the boilers on day four. Here we had better sea conditions and had excellent interactions with mantas.
For day five we moved back to Socorro to dive Cabo Pearce. Here visibility was pretty bad. For the last dive of the day we dove a new site with a small cave. Many fish called this cave home and it provided many photo opportunities.
On Day six we went back to San Benedicto and we dove the Canyon. Conditions were good but the dives were uneventful.
Day seven we went back to the boiler and all four dives made this trip a success. Each dive had three to six giant mantas swimming around us. You could really tell the mantas were as excited to see us as we were to see them. They would swim by getting closer and closer. At the end of the third dive it was just us and our dive guide Pedro. One manta followed us up to the surface.
On the last dive of the trip there were mantas in every direction you could look. They were in an extremely playful mode. Doing spins and flips you would see two or three together doing acrobatics for our enjoyment. After a very quick hour it was time to surface and say good by to this magical dive site. Back on the skiff we could not believe our eyes as a giant wing broke the surface and appeared to wave good by to us. You just cannot make this stuff up!
You just cannot make this stuff up!
