Sea of Cortez Archives - Page 7 of 8

Whale Sharks in the Sea of Cortez

Post author By Nautilus Staff
Post date 2007-11-15

By Nautilus Staff on November 15th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Sea of Cortez, Socorro

We saw five whale sharks at El Mogote and our two local pangas were busy dropping off and picking up our divers. A 6 metre whale shark stopped to feed and positioned itself vertically in the water, completely indifferent to our snorkellers. This provided a great opportunity for photos and videos. Pelicans reportedly dive bombed the bait fish that the whale shark was feeding on and thousands of the fish ended up hiding in the exhaust bubbles from the underwater main engine exhaust of the Nautilus.

Tags el mogote, Nautilus Explorer, pelicans, Roca Partida, snorkeling, whale sharks

Giant Manta Interaction with Divers at Socorro/Revillagigedo Islands

Post author By Nautilus Staff
Post date 2007-10-25

By Nautilus Staff on October 25th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Sea of Cortez, Socorro

So, over 200 identified Socorro mantas now with lots of resightings and many thanks to everybody who sent manta images and video in to Bob and Karey over the summer. Karey made one especially interesting comment to me that she was able to positively identify several animals a day or two apart at different islands from images taken by our guests. One wonders if the mantas preceded the Nautilus Explorer or followed us??

Tags Cabo San Lucas, conservation, flying fish, Giant Mantas, manta ID, manta science, Mantas, Nautilus Explorer, ocean conservation, pacific manta research group

Spring Diving in the Sea of Cortez

Post author By Nautilus Staff
Post date 2007-03-30

By Nautilus Staff on March 30th, 2007 in Archive, Sea of Cortez

We had a moderately rough crossing from Isla San Franciscito to Los Islotes (close to Espirito Santo) but were rewarded with an amazing sighting of a baby blue whale. At Los Islotes, we surprised some underwater harvesters fishing illegally. Unfortunately, they took off before we could get a good picture of them. Our divers had a couple of great dives and saw lots of neat stuff including California sea lion pups who came over to play with the divers.

Tags baby blue whale, baitfish, blue whales, california sea lions, illegal fishing, Los Islotes, mangrove swamp, mobula rays, sea lions, seahorse

Exploring in a Mangrove Lagoon

Post author By Nautilus Staff
Post date 2007-03-28

By Nautilus Staff on March 28th, 2007 in Archive, Sea of Cortez

We ventured inside for over a mile and saw amazing upside-down jellyfish and tiny oysters in the mangroves. We also saw osprey, egrets, ibises and herons. We then steamed over to the protected bay at the south side of the small island of San Franciscito where some of our guests went beach walking.

Tags egrets, electric eels, herons, ibises, isla san jose, jawfish, Jellyfish, mangroves, osprey, oysters, puka shells, salt flats, san franciscito island, sea cucumber

Thousands of Leaping Mobula Rays

Post author By Nautilus Staff
Post date 2007-03-27

By Nautilus Staff on March 27th, 2007 in Archive, Sea of Cortez

Our divers had two great dives and saw lots of sea fans, horn sharks, guitarfish, stingrays and yellowfin tuna. Dave went looking for a blue whale that had been spotted nearby and instead, found a huge school of thousands of mobula rays on the surface, jumping and flapping their wings (pectoral fins) and leaping up to 6 feet out of the water!

Tags baby pelicans, blue whale, booby birds, frigate birds, guitarfish, horn sharks, las animas, lizards, mobula rays, mobulas, sea fans, stingrays, yellowfin tuna

Bunny Rabbits in the Desert

Post author By Nautilus Staff
Post date 2007-03-26

By Nautilus Staff on March 26th, 2007 in Archive, Sea of Cortez

Today’s dive sites included the wreck of the ferry Salvatierra and Suwammee Reef with its enormous biomass of fish, sea lions and cormorants. This is where Peter Schalwyk, one of our favourite divemasters, shot his famous sequence of a determined cormorant chasing and finally catching a bait fish.

Tags bunnies, cormorants, desert flowers, espiritu santo, sea lions, suwammee reef, wreck of salvatierra

Sea of Cortez Spring Scuba Diving Adventure

Post author By Nautilus Staff
Post date 2007-03-25

By Nautilus Staff on March 25th, 2007 in Archive, Sea of Cortez

They started the dive day at the tiny little islet of La Reina – famous for the enormous bait ball of scad (mackeral) that hang out around the rock. Up until a couple of years ago, this was known as the best and most reliable site in the Sea of Cortez at which to find giant manta rays.

Tags bait ball, california sea lions, Cerralvo Island, la reina, mackerel, Moorish idols

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