One of our guests brought along a fascinating trip video from the FOOAAA DXpedition to Clipperton Island. DXer’s are very serious ham radio operators who stage arduous and expensive expeditions to very remote places. The beauty of Clipperton Island from their perspective is that it qualifies as a “country.” So sending and receiving a call to station FOOAA on Clipperton is something of note for amateur ham operators (much like a birder’s “life list”).
Read MoreSpent the morning at the Canyon on San Benedicto. I splashed in on the first dive which was pleasant with a couple of hammerhead shark sightings plus good ol’ Lumpy, our tame and over friendly leather bass putting in his regular appearance at the inner cleaning station. Dive 2 was GREAT with two friendly giant manta rays showing up as well as silvertip, Galapagos and hammerhead shark sightings.
Read MoreLocation: Halfway between San Jose del Cabo (Cabo San Lucas) and San Benedicto Island (Socorro), Islas Revillagigedos Comments: We departed San Jose del Cabo (Cabo San Lucas) last night for FRANCE via San Benedicto Island (Socorro)!!! Yup, Clipperton Atoll is a French territory, and as far as the Mexican authorities are concerned, we are sailing […]
Read MoreWe checked the radar and discovered a large (225ft??) target doing tight circles off Roca Partida and clearly in the Biosphere Reserve. I suspected that it was a large tuna clipper and that they were watching us through their binoculars because as soon as we launched one of our inflatables, all the lights on the other ship blinked off. The illegal boat then started jinking around at high speed (15 knots plus), apparently doing it’s best to stay away from the inflatable.
Read MoreOne of our divers reported seeing extraordinary behaviour with a very large male mobula ray (which is still dwarflike in size compared to a giant manta ray) pursuing a female chevron giant manta. While we have seen a lot more female than male mantas this season, the males are definitely here and we sometimes observe what appears to be mating behaviour with the male pursuing the female from behind and the two of them soaring and dancing through the water. It’s hard to tell if they are both enjoying it (not meaning to anthropomorphize the behaviour too much) or if the female is simply trying to get away from a doggedly determined lustful male!! Anyways, Roberto is quite sure that the pursuing ray was a mobula as its mouth was not located terminally. Soooooo, the question is whether he might have witnessed a prelude to interspecies sex!?!
Read MoreSo there we were, towards the end of our dive, coming around the north end of Roca Partida and swimming through an enormous school of jacks when, HOLY COW, a group of very large Galapagos sharks swam right up to us and started circling around. I had never seen anything like it.
Read MoreAnyways, when a large black manta came in towards our divers, the silky took off towards the manta and hit it really hard in the gill area. Really hard! The giant manta took off and that was the last that anyone saw of it. It’s all very interesting as we’ve always wondered why sharks don’t attack the mantas (it is very rare to see bite marks on a manta). I guess they do!!
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