Dominance and a large black manta ray

Interestingly, one group of divers reported observing behaviour that reminded me very much of the great white sharks of Guadalupe Island. Last season we would see 2 white sharks swim side-by-side as if they were measuring their respective lengths against each other. The smaller animal would then peel off into the blue. The larger animal presumably being the dominant animal. I “think” we saw the same thing with 2 giant manta rays. 2 animals (a chevron manta and a larger black manta) swam in tight formation in a vertical pattern. The smaller chevron then peeled off and disappeared into the blue. Presumably, just like the white sharks, the large black manta ray established it’s dominance and got to hang out with a human.

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Red hot diving at Roca Partida

Measuring 91 metres by 45 metres by 34 metres high, the island is actually the lava plug from a volcano that gradually eroded away around it. It is an amazing 11,000 feet deep around the volcano and we gingerly anchor the Nautilus Explorer in 245 feet of water very close to the lava tube. Roca Partida is a “magnet” for mantas, sharks of all kinds, wahoo, tuna, dorado and all other manner of sub-tropical fish.

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Spawing surgeonfish at Cabo Pearce

Visibility was variable at the outer cleaning station, but we had good sightings of 4 different mantas, schools of tuna, a couple of inquisitive Galapagos and silky sharks, and small schools of scalloped hammerheads as well as 1 possible sighting of a 12 foot long great hammerhead.

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Variable dive conditions – it’s not always super hot.

We dove both Punta Tosca and Cabo Pearce today with some really mixed experiences. One lucky group of snorkellers were approached by a humpback whale calf until Mum zoomed in (15ft away!) and dragged the calf away. We also had some great dolphin encounters, and about half the divers encountered a very playful giant manta ray.

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NafNaf – the fearless baby silky shark

We all fell in love with a really tiny baby silky that had to be a newborn, and couldn’t have been more than 20″ in length – AT MOST! He was very, very cute and our guests promptly named him NafNaf. NafNaf was certainly a fearless shark, and he kept on getting in the way of the larger sharks to the point of snatching a piece of fish out of the mouth of one of the big guys! All of our hearts went out to him.

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Cleaning station for giant manta rays

I recently noticed that the highest pinnacle at the north end of the ridge sticks up into the current and seems to be somewhat of a “magnet” for giant manta rays – I suspect that it is a cleaning station for mantas. So I dubbed it “manta rock,” and have been encouraging our guests to hang out there as well as the other cleaning station. Everyone has been having very good luck finding giant manta rays there.

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Flat calm seas enroute San Benedicto Island

ow! Yet another flat calm day on the open ocean. We’re on our way back to San Benedicto Island after turning the ship around, and it’s even calmer than our last trip. It was rougher in Cabo San Lucas harbour with all the pangas, dive skiffs and jet skis flitting around than it is out here!

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