Another great day of diving at Roca Partida. This dive site is pure magic. If I ever had to choose one dive site to dive for the rest of my life, Roca Partida would easily be my choice. In the morning we had a very light current coming from the north and as we jumped in close to the rock wall where there were lots of the whitetip sharks swimming around.
As we turned around the northern point of Roca Partida, we came face to face with a massive bait ball of bonitos and of course, we went to swim straight in the middle of them. Then to see the Galapagos sharks and silkies swimming through the school of fish – it’s better than National Geographic!
On the second dive, one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever witnessed at Roca Partida happened: hammerhead, Galapagos and silky sharks swimming together in a coordinated school. Not randomly bumping into each other but actually forming an unconventional “family”, a mixed shiver of sharks of different species wandering through the water with the same purpose.
On the third dive, the current picked up and took us by surprise; pushing us along the west side of the rock and forcing us to stay in the sheltered area closer to the south. We came across a male whitetip shark courting a female – right in front of our eyes! The male was repetitively biting the female, trying to grab her pectoral or dorsal fin to flip her over. As the female was not particularly keen, the male was biting even harder and then began landing bites all over her back.
We are now making our way towards Socorro Island and confident that we will find the rockstars of the islands: the giant mantas rays!
- Divemaster Yann onboard the Nautilus Belle Amie
