Then 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 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 MoreBut the dolphin encounters this season have taken a turn and evolved into something quite spectacular and consistent that we have only rarely seen before. The dolphins have been on hand to interact with our divers on virtually every dive day of the season so far. Video to follow and as you’ll see, the dolphins are coming up to scuba divers at their safety stops on the anchor line, hanging beside the divers, mimicking the divers, presenting themselves to be touched, rubbing themselves against the anchor line and just plain hanging out with our guests. It’s truly amazing and almost as if the dolphins have been taking lessons from the giant manta rays on how to behave around scuba divers.
Read MoreWe decided to try a new site on the north point of San Benedicto Island and it was GREAT!! We spotted 5 mantas on the surface before anchoring, and we saw them during the dive also. We also had 3 green turtles who stayed with us. Above us on this ridge we had huge yellowfin tunas and also dolphins. So we decided to do our last scuba dive of the trip here as well. On the safety stop one of our divemasters got his thumb bitten as a goodbye present from a Cortez Chub.
Read MoreThe Boiler site was on fire again! This time we heard dolphins but did not see them. The giant manta rays were with us again! Doing their beautiful dances and seeking eye to eye contact with each one of us (I believe anyways). They were so close that you can see their pupils. It feels like a real, personal, encounter in these moments. Photos and filming of mantas was hot! It is a bit amusing to see when the memory card on the scuba divers’ cameras got full and they would start to delete pictures to make room for more. Everybody came up with big smiles on their lips and everyone had their own private story how these giant manta rays have been coming up and curiously been checking you out, eye to eye. Even on our twilight dive they accompanied us like giant black flying ghosts in the dusk.
Read MoreDivemaster Sten reports that they had a few hammerhead sharks out on the lava flow and bottlenose dolphins came into visit the scuba divers again, staying with the divers and basically surrounding them. The dolphins also came up and let the guests snorkel with them a good while on the back of Nautilus Explorer. Water was very clear and the inside of the bay in Cabo Pearce was beautiful. And it is always nice to go and have a look in the end of the dive at the beautiful endemic Clarion damselfish.
Read MoreSten estimates that there were more than 50 dolphins interacting with the divers. I would have loved to have seen that. Oh yeah, Sten also reports that they saw a big tiger shark in 20 metres of water, a number of hammerhead sharks and a couple of mantas as well as all the regular fish commonly seen at Socorro Island. Sounds like an incredible day!!
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