Diving at San Benedicto was an amazing experience. We decided to go west side of San Benedicto to visit a dive site that we had not visited in a long time. Some divemasters call it the Zoo, others Western Manta Highway! It was a remarkable couple of dives – a school of hammerheads, the Galapagos, many mantas, and even a Tiger Shark. The topography of the Zoo is simple: a plateau with pinnacles that ends on a sandy patch where we spot the hammerheads and the tiger sharks. It’s great to have alternatives to the popular sites in San Benedicto. Hope we can go back to the Zoo on the next trip.
Sometimes, though, things do not go as we plan on the dive briefings. This morning we had planned to jump at manta rock and navigate nicely and easily to the cleaning station of the Canyon. But on the way, the captain suggested that we jump outside the reef. The current was stronger than we expected but it was the best decision that we could have made. We jumped right on top of a school of hammerheads, what a way to start a dive! By the time we arrived at the cleaning station, we were the only group there and it was full of Galapagos and silver tips. Sometimes having a flexible plan can make for a highly rewarding experience.
An Unexpected Scene
Even though the best places to encounter sharks and mantas are cleaning stations, can you even in your wildest dreams think of the two cleaning each other? Well, here in Revillagigedo, we saw this crazy behavior right before our eyes. I would like to call it a Nat geo moment!
A Galapagos shark came with a strange attitude, swimming fast in the direction of a female black manta. In the beginning, I thought the shark was going to bite her but he started rubbing its body on the ventral area of the manta. She did not like it and swam away but the shark continued scratching itself on the manta several times. It was incredible and proof that nature throws surprises at us when we least expect it. It also shows how inadequate our knowledge of wild sea creatures is.
