Diving is always a fun and amazing activity, more so if you are surrounded by sea creatures that you had never hoped to see in your lifetime. But when you do, it becomes an exhilarating and amazing experience.
Socorro Island, Among Sharks and Mantas
This day is one that I will cherish forever. We were diving at Socorro San Benedicto and the Canyon close to the reef so that we could swim out to the cleaning station. Immediately after we were dropped off, a big grey shadow turns up. At 4 meters, it was a beautiful Tiger shark, and he just swam away without a second look at us.
We continue our dive toward the cleaning station. Since the current here was quite strong, we needed to work a bit harder, but sometimes when you do that, you get rewarded for it. Sure enough, at the cleaning station, we saw Galapagos and Silvertip sharks, and on the way to the station a few White tip reef sharks.
Our goal was to be up close with some hammers, but unfortunately, there were none at the cleaning station though there were a lot of other sea animals. We continued in between the reefs and to our great luck, suddenly out of nowhere a hammerhead shark comes to say hello. He is very shy – he checks us out shortly, turns his beautiful belly toward us, and then says goodbye. This happens a couple of times, even one time with two more friends of his.
We were enjoying the moment, but unfortunately, the air was running out so we had to start ascending to finish the dive. A bonus was that on the shallower part of the dive, a few mantas too came to say bye to us.
All this fun and excitement would not have been possible if the guide had not provided personalized attention to each of us. Back on the boat hot chocolate awaited six happy and fully satisfied divers. A perfect day in Socorro paradise comes to an end and I cannot wait to dive with these guys again.
In Cabo Pearce with the Mantas – The Ballet Dancers of the Oceans
Our trip was not finished yet and next was our dives from the south side of Cabo Pearce. As we floated down, we immediately saw the local Nudibranchs at about 10-15 m depth. Following the Lava finger, we descended to 20-22 m and soon the larger specimens came into view.
Starting with the White Tips, we came upon an explosion of Oceanic Mantas, both black and chevron. There were so many around us that we ultimately lost count. Not much later, a solitary Hammerhead Shark came over the lava finger to show off its powerful body glistening in the sunlight and its characteristic head. Proceeding further, a group of 9 Hammerheads passed twice in front of us and swam gently into the blue. Another forever moment to imprint in our memory banks!
At the end of the dive, the Mantas were back. These ballet dancers of the oceans put on a show that I will never forget in my life. They kept coming back constantly to make sure that they were being filmed and photographed from all angles like true photo models.
Finally, a big thank you to all the staff and crew who made this trip such a success for us. Their attention to detail, the excellent food and facilities, and the warmth in their voices are some of the memories that we will be carrying back home, not to forget the sharks of course.
