The Nautilus Explorer is back on the water and looking brighter than ever! It is her first trip since we had to stop operations in March. We are sailing into the Sea of Cortez for a journey that I know all the guests will remember it. On our way out from La Paz, we were escorted by a pod of common dolphins, and we saw a couple of Mobula rays jumping around. The sea is calm as a lake, and the temperature is hot, the hurricane that went through Los Cabos did not affect us in La Paz.
We had our first day of diving on that site I love so much, La Reina, off of Cerralvo Island, We were greeted by loads of turtles, big school of green jacks and Trevalleys hunting, beautiful packed school of Mexican yellow goatfish, large snappers on the wreck. There are rests of ships with the stern and propeller and the boiler, all full of life. Then we headed north to Las Animas for the second day of diving. I dove this site a month ago, but the conditions have drastically changed; clear 60 to 90 feet visibility, 74deg water and thermocline at 70feet.
We woke up to the sound of the dozens of Californian sea lions and Guadalupe fur seals, playing in the water and lazying on the rocks. The dives did not disappoint: we had turtles, big snappers, schools of colourful butterflyfish and juvenile damselfish and, as we hit the current we encounter Hammerheads! A school of 5 to 7 hammerheads, such a great sight. We were a relieved to see they’re still some sharks around despite the fishing. And of course, we spent a great amount of time playing with the sea lions, they are so curious and cute, and by the end of the day, one younger one seemed to have fallen in love with the divers and spent 20 minutes playing with them. These encounters were such a great start to this trip, we are now sailing north of Loreto and our goal in the coming days will be to snorkel with the Whalesharks in Bahia de Los Angeles!
DM Yann, onboard Nautilus Explorer
