Diving in Revillagigedo, aka Socorro Islands is a once in a lifetime experience. You are never sure what might crop up the next moment, the place is full of wonderful sea creatures that keep you mesmerized and thankful for God’s blessing all the time.
While diving into this incredible site, you might at some point be engrossed with a few giant mantas only to be suddenly confronted with a pod of dolphins with their babies passing by. Then you move your head and have a school of hammerheads in sight, a mobula ray, and many more animals. It is as if you are watching a high-class documentary on sea animals but then you realize that you are looking at it with your own eyes. This can only happen at Socorro Islands, a place where magic happens every day.
Living it Up With Dolphins Schools at Socorro
I always tell people that diving at Revillagigedo is an exclusive experience, you never get bored, never get tired of the sightings, and never have the same type of interactions twice – you are assured of something new and exciting every time you plunge below the surface.
Usually, divers get to see a lot of sharks at Revillagigedo but our trip was a wee bit different from what we had expected. We did not see the same number of sharks that are usually around the place. We had lots of Mantas during the trip but the interaction wasn´t as intense as it usually is. But as I said, you are never without your quota of fun at Socorro and what we missed out on shark sightings was more than made up by the dolphins.
There were dolphins all over the place and we were at close quarters with them on over half of our dives. It was as if we had jumped into Dolphin Land without knowing it. It was crazy – dolphins at the Canyon, dolphins at The Boiler on both the days we dove there, and dolphins at Cabo Pearce. It was so much fun, dives that we had only dreamt of before.
A Surreal Interaction with a Dolphin
Since planning my trip to Socorro, I had been praying for close interactions with dolphins, among the friendliest of sea animals in the world lurking below the ocean depths. And I got what I wanted at Cabo Pearce.
We were into the third dive with mantas all around when after 30 minutes there was a lull in the action and so, we decided to check out the shallow reef on the upper cleaning station. The rock is dotted with pretty green and red corals and there are many species of fish swimming around – barber fish, Cortez rainbow wrasse, sunset wrasse, and Moorish idols. There was also an abundance of free-swimming green Morays which are always fun to watch.
At one point I had just finished watching a manta pass and had turned around to see what the other divers were doing when I saw them clustered around something on the reef. I thought it might be another eel, or perhaps an octopus, so I swam over to check it out. As I got closer, I realized that it was a dolphin and my group was petting it!
I stopped about 10 feet away so as not to take away the focus of the group but eventually, the dolphin saw me and swam over. I stayed motionless with my hands cupped in front of me as the dolphin swam closer and closer and eventually put its nose in my hands! Then it let me pet it all over!
The skin felt rubbery, to the touch as if I was caressing an inflatable innertube! The experience was like scratching a cat or a dog because I could tell which place it liked to be touched – its belly and sides – and which it did not like its tail fluke. So cool! We were with it for nearly 10 minutes.
What an unforgettable experience! This is one thing that I am sure will remain etched in my memory for a lifetime.
