Author: Noon Reports

We woke up today to more perfect conditions. almost no wind or seas at all. We made our first dive at Roca Solitaria–right at the entrance to the bay–and it went very well. Lots of ref fish of many varieties, as well as some colorful invertibrates. Both groups saw spotted eagle rays and one group got a glimpse of a mobula. It was a good dive overall. Dive two took us about 4 miles south of Agua Verde into the bay of San Marcial. There are some submerged rocks there in the middle of the bay that we wanted to dive. As soon as we got in the water I could hear dolphins in the distance but nothing ever came close to us. On the dive, we saw a few jawfish, one large southern stingray, and more cortez anglefish than I have ever seen at once. When we surfaced from the dive we were surrounded by dolphins, still at a distance, but everywhere. We got all divers into the RHIB and we set off to get a closer look. We had a group of at least 100 moving south along the coast so we got into a good position and put the group back in the water with fins and masks. Over the course of about 20 minutes, almost everybody got a very close look at them as they passed around and under. And there was some amazing acrobatics on the surface. I saw one leap at least 20 feet high over and over. It was incredible. After the surface swim we got back on the RHIB and made some fast passes by the pod, which by then we could see stretched almost to the visible horizon –I would easily estimate 1000+ individuals—and got some good bow and wake riders before turning back toward home.

We completed two more dives yesterday afternoon at Punta Perico. Both had good conditions and the guests enjoyed them. All but two of the guests made the dive and everybody came up happy with the day. We got underway right after dive three to run up to Espiritu Santo and anchor close to Los Islotes. Once we got north of Ceralvo the winds were blowing pretty hard out of the WSW and tossing us around a bit. I had hoped to get protection tucked up along the NE side of Isla Partida for the night, but there were enough wrap-around seas to make that unpleasant so we ended up anchoring about three miles south of Los Islotes on the east side.

We were able to jump right from the back deck over a bottom at about 60 feet. The group had some kinks to work out with weights and other equipment, but they seemed to get things dialed during the dive and everybody came up pretty pleased with things. There were a few eels spotted as well as a good assortment of reef fishes.

We had to abandon our anchorage around 0100 due to increasing west winds, but the mate was able to keep us comfortable and set us up for a sunrise arrival to La Reina. The conditions here are really good, and the in-water conditions are great. Very little current, wonderful visibility, and loads of fish. After the first dive, the group came back very excited for the second. The second dive was even better, with a manta swimming by both groups right at the very beginning. from there the dive continued to be great. Juan David found a small frogfish, and three turtles were seen as well. The sight turned into a bit of a zoo this morning with divers from La Paz. Probably 60 total divers on dive two, but our groups were able to avoid the crowds. We think some of the local operators will move on for the afternoon.

Around 0700 this morning we got underway and anchored closer to Los Islotes to wait for our pangas for the sea lion dives. Pangas arrived right at 0800 and we were able to get our divers into the two boats by about 0830. And the dive was great. Very good visibility with a huge ball of sardines in the area and lots of playful sea lions. Guests came back raving about it. The second dive left the ship around 1130.