Today we dived Roca O’neil, a site we don’t often get to go to as it is very exposed to heavy swell. It is located on Socorro island and consists of craggy, black rocks protruding from the surface of the waves, several hundred meters from the islands coastline. There is a shallow plateau which extends out from the rocks which steeply drops off on all sides to over 30m (at it’s shallowest point) covered in large boulders and rock formations. The abrupt change in depth creates violent surf in the shallowest areas, which for obvious reasons are no-dive zones which are easily avoidably but make quite a visual spectacle whilst still on the surface.
“The visibility was good enough to fully appreciate the beautiful archway well enough…”
The conditions were not great today at the site with a lot of algae floating around which had been ripped off the shallow reef and visibility only 20m. We couldn’t really appreciate the true beauty of the site like we can on good visibility days. However the visibility was good enough to fully appreciate the beautiful archway well enough. It is about 10m wide and over 10m high and makes for great photos and a fun little swim through and group photo if you want.
We saw some nice life too with Hammerheads, Galapagos and Silvertip sharks being seen. As well as many Diamond stingrays, Lobsters and a huge Mobula ray for one group. For me one of the highlights is for some reason it is the only site I really see Giant Trevally which are the largest species of Trevally and a reef bully and lightning quick predator. Also a great place to see “Glossodoris sedna” one of the only nudi’s you will see here if you fancy a bit of macro because you’re bored of all the amazing pelagics in Revillagigedo! Not likely!
2 replies on “Roca O’Neil”
So exciting!!! See you all in a couple of weeks!! 🎉🎉🎉
Dear Clare, thank you for reading and for your comment! Glad to hear you are excited and we hope you have an amazing trip onboard! Dive safe.