Roca Partida is probably one of the best diving sites in the world. You will never be short of sea animals to be with at a handshaking distance. Here, I have been through dives that can be rated the best in my life, and mind you, I am no novice, rather I have been diving for over 20 years now.
The rock itself, the visibility, and the schools of fish are great but without any doubt, the highlight is the shark action. And you are blessed if you can locate a giant school of silkies around the rock. What a thrill it is to float among maybe a hundred or so silky sharks, swimming around us and watching us closely. On a good day, you will also find hammerheads but they often appear at a depth that is too much for the divers.
The Roca Partida experience is always hard to beat and so many wonderful memories are made here. I am looking forward to coming back to these pristine islands in the Pacific for another wildlife adventure!
But let me elaborate on the dives we have had at Roca Partida currently on this trip. It is what dreams are made of!
Up Close With Sharks at Roca
Our day started with a bang – just imagine on our first dive itself, we saw a juvenile whale shark! It was a beautiful creature but we were saddened to see deep scars from a propeller on its upper body. Our attention now moved to large numbers of Galapagos, silver tips, lots of different types of jacks, a big yellowfin tuna, and chevron manta! And to cap it all, on the last dive during the safety stop, a group of 25 to 30 silky sharks came super close to the rock on the north side!
And this was just a start for the day. For us divers, Roca Partida was heavenly today as it was very crowded with more sea animals than we could possibly want. There were a lot of sharks around the rock and large numbers of Whitetip Sharks, silvertips, Galapagos, and even some hammerheads swimming around as well as laying down on the ledges.
The icing on the cake was a Whaleshark casually swimming around. The conditions were perfect, the visibility was amazing with almost no current. We could not have asked for more. Let us see what tomorrow – the last day of our trip holds in store for us. Such a great day!
Eye-to-Eye Encounter with Whale Sharks at Roca Partida
If yesterday we had our fill of whitetips, hammerheads, and Galapagos, today we gathered wonderful memories of whale sharks. As usual, Roca Partida did not disappoint us today either, from taking home glorious memories of our undersea adventures.
This day, we had some amazing dives around this rock. On the first dive, we started heading towards the north point of Roca and suddenly, out of the deep blue waters, I saw a big mouth coming right towards us. I could tell right away that it was a Whale Shark. A good 45 feet of gentle giant swimming straight for us. She did a slow pass super close. We saw it twice on the same dive.
Again, when we went down for the second dive, we could see a Whale Shark again swimming below us. At first, I thought that it was the same one. However, when she did the second pass, I could tell that it was not the same Whale Shark as this one was a female and slightly smaller.
On the third dive, we again saw the same one.
When we came back to the boat after the dives, a massive surprise awaited us. We saw the first Whale Shark hanging out around the Belle Amie. Who would let such an opportunity pass by? Some of the guests and crew immediately went into the water and were able to snorkel with it for almost an hour!
We will never forget Roca Partida, no matter how many dives we go through in our lives later in any other part of the world.
