Today was our second full day at sea and our first day of diving (I only waited 18 months for this moment!) at San Benedicto. I found myself teamed up with a diverse bunch of fun folks and we were called the Chevron Mantas. This made us the third group to leave the boat which suited us fine as none of us were in any kind of rush.
So dive number one put us in El Canyon where we had a giant Chevron Manta (our namesake) stick with us nearly the entire dive. It was absolutely amazing – this is what I (we) came here for! It was absolutely magical and I actually got some nice stills and some video. This first dive already made my entire vacation worth the long and challenging trip. I skipped the second dive as I was not feeling up to it but the third dive put us on El Boiler.
El Boiler is named so as it’s a pinnacle that stops about 5 meters below the surface and the waves crest and break around and on top of it so it resembles a boiling ocean. And man, was it wavy today. It was a rough ride from the boat in the zodiac but we made it and backrolled on three. I was somewhat disappointed with this dive however as we didn’t see much in the way of big animals; no mantas and just a few silky and galapagos sharks. There was a lot of life around the rock though which made for some photo opportunities. As El Boiler was so rough Captain Gordon decided to bring us back to El Canyon.
On the last dive of the day we had a scorpion fish, some close up silver tip sharks, lobster, pipefish, box fish, clarion angels, butterfly fish and just a tremendous diversity of subjects who were all quite happy to pose for us. This dive and the manta on the first dive just made today a great day at sea aboard the Nautilus Belle Amie.
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to the wonderful crew of this vessel. The entire crew from the divemasters to the hostesses, to the chef and his help, to the captain, captain-in-training and the first mate (I’m not naming them as I may have forgotten a few names and wouldn’t want to leave anyone out), just bend over backwards to make sure the guests are all well cared for and pampered. You guys are the greatest. Oh – and the vessel itself is absolutely elegant.
Adam Cohen, US
Team Chevron meets a Giant Chevron Manta
