Words can not describe my first dive at The Canyon. The first day was at The Boiler and it was manta ray galore. The next two days were at Roca Partida with huge schools of fish and sharks, sharks and more sharks. The fourth day was at Socorro Island with manta rays, hammerhead sharks and dolphins. To be honest, I didn’t think the fifth day could have been better, but boy was I wrong…
Divemaster Ivan dropped us onto the perfect part of the dive site. Here we had the best interaction with manta rays on the entire trip! There were three of them that just wanted to play and put on a show. Several times they did a dance just for us, lifting themselves up vertically and then dropping back down horizontal before gliding on with the most graceful fly-bys, only to repeat it over and over again. All you have to do is stay in the same spot and they will keep coming back to you. Words can not describe being within 10ft of these gentle giants. Having them pass by directly overhead and to be eye to eye with a giant manta is an experience I will never forget. And then, of course, there were the hammerhead sharks – a school of about 16 dropped by for a visit and one of them gave me the perfect hammerhead silhouette against the sun. It was simply amazing! Sad to be on our 24 hour passage back to Cabo San Lucas, but thankful for this trip and grateful to the outstanding crew on the Nautilus Explorer for making this an experience of a lifetime!
- Lori Morales, Texas, USA onboard the Nautilus Explorer
