Our voyage started from Cabo San Lucas on a clear winter night. We have welcomed aboard with champagne and a professional briefing from Alberto the Captain about safety and our upcoming journey. Our vessel, the Nautilus Undersea, lay alongside one of the pontoons at the Marina Del Rey (Cabo San Lucas), which was a recently rebuilt and upgraded __ foot marine exploration vessel with a colorful past.
After settling into our staterooms, we prepared ourselves for a 24+ hour leg southwest towards the Revillagigedo Islands. The Undersea moved amiably over the Sea of Cortez at an average of 9.6 knots, her bow cutting gracefully through the waves. The crew had prepared our beds and there was a definite feeling of old-world luxuriousness with the wooden panels and brass fittings.
Our hostess Maria was always attentive to our needs and made living on a boat a pleasant experience. The food was excellent which was prepared by our very capable chef Felipe.
Before each dive, our experienced and enthusiastic Divemasters JC, Arturo, and Esteban made concise and professional briefings that included colorfully illustrated drawings (by the artist Esteban) which made the site easy to understand. We had a manta specialist aboard (Arturo) who shared an informative presentation about different types of mantas, their behaviors, and how to identify individuals, as well as how to contribute to the global effort to understand these creatures. It was also great that they all had a great sense of humor!
All our equipment was taken care of, and the crew did most of the heavy lifting and made it easy for divers to focus on enjoying each dive. They quickly identified problems with equipment as they came up and problems were quickly remedied. They were also very patient and willing to share their skills and help divers improve.
On our trip, we were very luckily treated to a unique and magical experience of swimming with oceanic mantas, watching a juvenile whale shark cruise by, seeing schooling scalloped hammerheads in the distance, mysterious and standoffish. As a bonus, dolphins also visited our group of divers and treated us to a playful and seductive interaction.
In conclusion, I highly recommend Nautilus Liveaboards and would happily dive with them again.
- John Lok, onboard the Nautilus UnderSea
