All blogs from Nautilus. Get inspired before your trip.
Typically, we do not see whale sharks once the water cools off during December since they prefer warmer waters however, with a warm current coming through this 20-25 foot animal provided much excitement and photographic opportunities as it swam within feet of the divers on their safety stop. Then, just so that there was no fighting amongst the guests, the whale shark stayed around for dive 4 so that almost everyone got to see it.
Read MoreThen off to Socorro to check in with the Mexican navy and dive Punta Tosca with the manta, tiger and hammerhead sharks on dive day 2 followed by Cabo Pearce on dive day 3. Our first dive at Cabo Pearce had great visibility and almost no current. It was a relaxing dive with a few sightings of dolphins and sharks off the outer point along with a group of Barberfish patiently waiting for something to clean. At times they even moved over to the scuba divers to see if they needed a clean.
Read MoreThe upside of this cooling is that the larger oceanic sharks start appearing. We saw a group of 6 silvertip sharks and 4 galapagos sharks patrolling “fish alley” where the large schools of jacks and bonitos hang out. There seems to be a hierarchy in the shark world whereby silkys are displaced by galapagos which in turn are displaced by silvertips.
Read MoreOn the trip out to the last dive guests were treated to the sight of a manta feeding on the surface at the dive site. We observed two separate incidents of interesting shark behaviour during the day.
Read MoreOne group of guests came especially prepared for New Year’s with everyone bringing dinner gowns to wear underwater.
Read MoreOver the last 4 years of operating around Socorro/Revillagigedos Islands, we have had the occasional problem with giant mantas swimming into descent, ascent and anchor lines. This is obviously upsetting to us so today I implemented my idea for a “manta rope.” We took a length of 3/4″ bright yellow 3 strand anchor line and spliced short chunks of horizontal streamers of yellow, blue and green rope into it. The idea being that the descent/ascent/anchor line will be so brightly coloured and “big” that the mantas can’t help but see it. In a perfect world, our highly intelligent manta friends may even be so fascinated by the manta rope that they will want to swoop, loop and fly around “their” rope. Fingers crossed.
Read MoreOn a different note, our great thanks to the Mexican Navy for their help today. One of our guests started feeling ill last night and was diagnosed this morning with acute pancreatitis – which is extremely serious and potentially life threatening. A number of evacuation options were considered including a chopper medivac flight right to the boat, which is possible because the Nautilus Explorer has a rated helicopter deck. No options are easy or simple on a small ship anchored in the lee of a volcano, 250 miles out into the open Pacific ocean.
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