San Ignacio Gray Whales
Extraordinary Interaction & Experience
The west side of Socorro Island has beautiful rolling hills with low green vegetation that is gradually turning brown as the residual moisture from last summer’s hurricane season drys up. Divers lucked out with a large and very friendly giant manta ray that stuck with them for a great interaction during one dive. Humpback whales were all around and spent their day breaching, fluking and singing whale songs that could be heard underwater.
Read MoreThe outer cleaning station (one of our favourite dives at Socorro Island, first recommended to us by cinematographer Bob Cranston) had very good dive conditions with calm seas and mild current, five scalloped hammerhead sharks and one Galapagos shark. One giant manta ray cruising by didn’t seem interested in interacting with the divers. And, of course, the ever-present silky sharks shadowed the divers, curious but not aggressive.
Read MoreThe really cool thing was that the currents of cold water brought crystal clear visibility with divers able to see the bottom 240 feet below them!! Divers reported the usual groups of white tip reef sharks hanging out in various caves and oblivious to divers around them. Two of the divers saw a 5-foot long silky shark hunting at very high speed with the “lunch fish” been eaten right in from of them. A Galapagos shark came in very close to the divers and the incredible visibility made it possible for them to identify one great hammerhead and two scalloped hammerheads swimming along the bottom!!
Read MoreCaptain Dave reports that on their first morning dive at El Canyon at San Benedicto Island, divers saw two hammerhead sharks swimming alongside a school of silvertip sharks. Some of the Silvertips were very small, measuring less than 2.5ft. Meanwhile, one of the hammerheads was huge for a scalloped hammerhead – an estimated 12 feet!
Read MoreVery, very exciting news on our end is the enactment of new legislation in Mexico designed to protect shark populations. I couldn’t be more ecstatic about the news. Is my pleasure inform you that the “Mexican Official Standard Rule NOM-029-PESC-2006, Responsible shark and ray fisheries” was published last February 14, 2007 in the Federal Gazette of the Mexican Government. This set of regulations will improve the management of all shark fisheries (artisanal and offshore) in Mexico and will promote the conservation of shark stocks and vulnerable shark and ray species.
Read MoreThe magic of Socorro Island is that these resident mantas actually choose to approach divers on their own terms. We’ve always felt that there must be “something” in the water around Socorro, as a number of resident animals choose to approach and even initiate physical contact with divers. Not just the manta rays but dolphins, Lumpy our favourite leather bass, and even some of the Socorro lobster.
Read MoreCaptain Dave reports that humpback whales were singing so loudly today that guests could hear the song inside the lower deck staterooms on the Nautilus Explorer!!! It was quite something for our guests while on their dive. In-water visibility was down on the east side of Socorro Island, with lots of phytoplankton in the water column. While this made it hard to spot big pelagic animals off the outer cleaning station at Cabo Pearce, the guests were rewarded with a great show of feeding behaviour by the giant manta rays.
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