Tunas are more present than ever around the islands of Revillagigedo and particularly around our favourite piece of rock in the middle of nowhere, Roca Partida! There, as you slide in the water, you will often be greeted by the master of the place, a giant piece of yellowfin tuna that is just as big as you and weighs a lot more! These older individuals are usually coming up to the divers, investigating what could be a potential prey, as you are diving in their meal buffet. They have nothing to fear from the sharks around, as they belong to the top of the food chain – they are equals with the Galapagos, silvertips and the hammerheads around the rock. As you swim away from the rocks, passing the first curtains of creole fish, the huge schools of bigeye jacks and cottonmouth jacks, and as the crystal-clear blue waters of the pacific open before your eyes, you will soon distinguish hundreds of bullet-shaped fish circling the rock on its outer waters: they are younger yellowfin tunas, travelling in schools of hundreds, preying on the smaller fish and trying to make it to the top of the food chain one day. They are usually followed by sometimes shy, but nonetheless highly looked-for stars of the trip: the scalloped hammerheads. My favourite time to dive there is the first and the last dive of the day, when all these predators and prey are the closest to the rock, with the tornado of whitetips swimming out of their little caves (they rest in balconies on the wall). At these times of the day, you can feel all the tension of the hunt and it is thrilling.
Divemaster Yann onboard the Nautilus Belle Amie in Socorro.
