Tail lobs and competitive humpback whale behaviour

By on March 17th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

A group of guests also went out in a skiff to get a closer look at four adult humpback whales and one juvenile and were rewarded with 15 minutes of dramatic tail lobs (smacking their tails on the ocean surface). While tail lobs can be a “back off” message directed at humans, or a “let’s get together guys and stay close,” it seemed much more likely that there was some male to male competitive behaviour going on here. ‘Tis the season at Socorro Island for humpback whales to mate and breed!!

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100 schooling silvertip sharks at the Canyon, San Benedicto Island

By on March 16th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

They started the day out at the Canyon dive site at San Benedicto Island, and on the first dive, two guests took some fantastic images of an adult female humpback whale and her calf. Divers also saw five Silvertip sharks at the main cleaning station. One closed circuit rebreather diver had the fantastic good fortune of sighting something that none of us had ever seen before – a verified school of approximately 100 juvenile Silvertip sharks. Incredible!!

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Open ocean swim in transit to San Benedicto Island

By on March 15th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

Because it was such a hot and calm day, Dave decided to make way off the ship and open the pool up for open ocean snorkelling and swimming. Given that they were in 10,000 feet of water, it was fairly certain that nobody would see the bottom! However, guests did see lots of different kinds of jellyfish as well as some pelagic tunicates. We figure that open ocean splashes are always a good bet, time permitting, as you never know what you might see. On the last trip, our guests actually saw a giant manta ray swim past in open ocean!

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Calm transit from San Benedicto Island to Cabo San Lucas

By on March 12th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

Captain Dave reports that their transit from San Benedicto Island back to Cabo San Lucas has been beautiful and calm with virtually no movement on the ship. Guests are relaxing, sunbathing and packing their gear away. Dave is planning on getting into Cabo San Lucas early enough for adventuresome guests to be able to see a different type of wildlife…spring break in Cabo is something that has to be seen to be believed!!

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Friendly giant manta ray interaction with divers

By on March 11th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

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.

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One giant manta ray cruising by divers

By on March 10th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

The 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.

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Crystal clear visibility at Roca Partida

By on March 8th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

The 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!!

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