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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Beautiful Dive Among the Coral Heads on a Lava Flow Looking for Turtles

By on December 31st, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Socorro

One group of guests came especially prepared for New Year’s with everyone bringing dinner gowns to wear underwater.

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Shark Fin Soup??

By on December 16th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike, Socorro

Since the discovery of an illegal fishing net draped across a reef at southwest Benedicto wall, there has been some heated and emotional discussions onboard the Nautilus Explorer regarding the abhorrent practice of shark finning, shark fin soup and the whole issue of illegal fishing – especially in a protected biosphere reserve such as Socorro/Revillagigedos. These are huge issues and there are no easy answers.

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California Channel Islands Maiden Scuba Diving Voyage

By on May 13th, 2007 in Archive, Captain Mike

Our guests dove “Octopus Gardens” and “Fishhook” at the south end of San Clemente and the diving conditions were reported as very good. “Fishhook” was especially good, with reportedly interesting terrain, numerous sightings of bat rays, eels and more lobster (“bugs”) than anyone could count.

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Tail lobs and competitive humpback whale behaviour

By on March 17th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

A group of guests also went out in a skiff to get a closer look at four adult humpback whales and one juvenile and were rewarded with 15 minutes of dramatic tail lobs (smacking their tails on the ocean surface). While tail lobs can be a “back off” message directed at humans, or a “let’s get together guys and stay close,” it seemed much more likely that there was some male to male competitive behaviour going on here. ‘Tis the season at Socorro Island for humpback whales to mate and breed!!

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Interesting bottlenose dolphin behaviour at Socorro Island

By on February 25th, 2007 in Archive, Socorro

Divers saw the usual complement of electric rays, Socorro lobster, silky, Galapagos and hammerhead sharks, but their most spectacular encounter was with a single bottlenose dolphin who adopted the divers. We’ve been seeing similar behaviour from the dolphins all winter, where they hang out and literally imitate the divers. If a diver hangs on to the ascent line, the dolphin will rest the underside of his head on the line. If a diver blows bubbles, the dolphins will blow bubbles. If a diver does a 360-degree roll, the dolphin will do a full roll (well actually, they tend to be somewhat playful and will often do a 720-degree roll or even a triple barrel roll).

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