Day three of diving but my first day of diving because of poor planning on my part. We arrived at Roca Partida early in the morning. We joined three other boats and probably 100 dive buddies. Great coordination between the boat Captains meant we didn’t get our first dive until after 0930, but it meant that we didn’t have to compete with all our dive buddies.
I learned a new term today – Mexican Snow. A non-pc term that describes the white on the Roca Partida, which looks like snow but is really bird doo doo. We hopped onto the Zodiacs with cameras in-hand and anticipation of making Darwin-level discoveries.
The Roca Partida is one of the more difficult dives because Roca Partida is so small and the current runs around both sides. It is important to pay attention to the currents and blue water. It is a new type of diving experience since you need to look up, out and some down. The practice of looking down for all the fish will leave you without the good shots of the day.
We were less than 15 min into our dive and our guide, the Boat Captain, had his rattle going and pointing. And slowly out of the deep a whale shark came up to cruise by. It was missing the top part of its’ tail fin. Exciting, great drive by, and it wasn’t the end. The Captain had us pick up pace and turn. I was glad that we didn’t chase the whale shark because I couldn’t catch it. What the Captain did was predict where the whale shark would go next, and we saw it again.
After the second encounter, we saw other sites including the various sharks, eels, and much smaller fish (smaller in comparison). The we began our ascent and safety stop. Hovering at 20 feet, I turned and once again the whale shark was approaching. I ascended about 10 feet to stay out of its’s way and get some video.
Very exciting for my first day diving. As the saying goes, you should have been here in the calm seas and 77-degree water and about 80 feet of visibility.
– Wrekreation D.C.
