Giant Manta Rays Interaction and Hammerhead Sharks

By on January 29th, 2008 in Archive

To our great fortune, we were greeted almost immediately by a pair of chevron giant manta rays! They stayed with us the entire day, waiting patiently under the Nautilus until we re-entered the water, and graced us with some intimate interaction and eye-to-eye contact. The mantas may have dominated the centre stage at The Canyon, but that’s not to say that other pelagic animals didn’t get their time in the limelight, as we were also treated to a couple of close passes by a school of hammerhead sharks, and had some excellent sightings of a small group of silvertip sharks.

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Calm Seas, Variable Currents, Giant Mantas, Sharks and Humpback Whales

By on January 18th, 2008 in Archive

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.

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A Fishing Net and a Dying Shark at San Benedicto Island

By on December 9th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Socorro

So it was a great surprise and very upsetting to find an 800-metre fishing net draped across the southwest San Benedicto wall. Some bloody fishermen must have snuck in here, knowing that the best fishing is, of course, in Biosphere Reserve. Our divers discovered the carcasses of a couple of hammerhead sharks, a dead dolphin, a turtle and most disturbing of all – a barely alive silky shark caught up in the net and still twitching and spasming. One of our guests asked me what the green stuff was that was streaming out of the silky shark’s mouth – which was of course blood which appears to be green rather than red underwater. Some divers tried to free the shark but to no avail.

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Great Hammerhead Shark??

By on December 3rd, 2007 in Archive

Divemaster Sten reports that the swell made it impossible to stage scuba dives at The Boiler but that did not matter as they found giant mantas at El Canyon. They also got the Hammerhead sharks going in circles. Some thought one shark was a great hammerhead shark as it was 12 feet long  (and passed very close by the divers)!! Sten and divemaster Tricia confirmed that it was just a very large scalloped hammerhead shark however. An unusual sighting was when on a surface period a pod of False Killer whales passed by.

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Bottlenose Dolphins Come by to Play

By on December 2nd, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

Divemaster 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.

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Full Inspection at the Navy Base on Socorro Island

By on December 1st, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

A couple of Hammerheads and two curious mantas came by the ascent line. Our third dive of the day was a so called “washing machine” dive. Lets just say that some did not appreciate it so much and others had fun playing with the current, finding the slacks and using it to their favor. Not easy with current. But learning it and reading it you can find a lot of benefits with considerably more activity in marine life.  Last dive in the day we went inside and had a bit of meditation dive. The biggest surprise of all was the unafraid lobsters we found in every little crack.

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Dive of a Lifetime with 50 Dolphins at Socorro Island

By on November 20th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Socorro

Sten 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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