The Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, is a biologically rich body of water located between the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland. The region is home to a wide variety of marine wildlife, including several species of whales. The most commonly seen whales in the Sea of Cortez are […]
Read More
What is the most charismatic (bony) fish in the Northeast Pacific? This is of course a subjective question, but in my opinion, the striped marlin wins. It is challenging to capture the essence of this fish on photo or video, but the passengers, crew, and captain of the Gallant Lady were up for the challenge on our trip Thanksgiving week 2022.
Read MoreWe woke up today to more perfect conditions. almost no wind or seas at all. We made our first dive at Roca Solitaria–right at the entrance to the bay–and it went very well. Lots of ref fish of many varieties, as well as some colorful invertibrates. Both groups saw spotted eagle rays and one group got a glimpse of a mobula. It was a good dive overall. Dive two took us about 4 miles south of Agua Verde into the bay of San Marcial. There are some submerged rocks there in the middle of the bay that we wanted to dive. As soon as we got in the water I could hear dolphins in the distance but nothing ever came close to us. On the dive, we saw a few jawfish, one large southern stingray, and more cortez anglefish than I have ever seen at once. When we surfaced from the dive we were surrounded by dolphins, still at a distance, but everywhere. We got all divers into the RHIB and we set off to get a closer look. We had a group of at least 100 moving south along the coast so we got into a good position and put the group back in the water with fins and masks. Over the course of about 20 minutes, almost everybody got a very close look at them as they passed around and under. And there was some amazing acrobatics on the surface. I saw one leap at least 20 feet high over and over. It was incredible. After the surface swim we got back on the RHIB and made some fast passes by the pod, which by then we could see stretched almost to the visible horizon –I would easily estimate 1000+ individuals—and got some good bow and wake riders before turning back toward home.
Read MoreWe completed two more dives yesterday afternoon at Punta Perico. Both had good conditions and the guests enjoyed them. All but two of the guests made the dive and everybody came up happy with the day. We got underway right after dive three to run up to Espiritu Santo and anchor close to Los Islotes. Once we got north of Ceralvo the winds were blowing pretty hard out of the WSW and tossing us around a bit. I had hoped to get protection tucked up along the NE side of Isla Partida for the night, but there were enough wrap-around seas to make that unpleasant so we ended up anchoring about three miles south of Los Islotes on the east side.
Read MoreWe were able to jump right from the back deck over a bottom at about 60 feet. The group had some kinks to work out with weights and other equipment, but they seemed to get things dialed during the dive and everybody came up pretty pleased with things. There were a few eels spotted as well as a good assortment of reef fishes.
Read MoreWe had a nice family vacation. The crew is super friendly and attentive. The best part of the trip was swimming with the schools of fish.
Read MoreThis is our first liveaboard dive trip. The sea life in the Sea of Cortez was amazing and I am glad we decided to come last minute. So many sea lions to play with… The rooms were very nice and clean. We went in October and brought out 5mm wetsuits but did not need them due to the water temp being above 80F. It was also amazing to watch the stars at night. Nautilus is a great company to dive with and the crew has taken good care of us. I cannot wait to go to Socorro and Guadalupe in the future.
Read More