As we ascended to our safety stops, riding in the mild surge, finally there they were! Two mantas, one black, one chevron, stayed with us on the last 5 minutes of our first dive, and every diver was making the most of their air to stay with these wonderful creatures.
Read MoreAlmost immediately we were mobbed by an enormous school of yellowfin tuna swimming powerfully all around us, with silky and silvertip sharks thrown in the mix. After they passed, a group of hammerhead sharks made an appearance, allowing some excellent photographing opportunites. As we approached the island, a cloud of triggerfish burst into view, with circling silvertip sharks deep below us. The island drew by quickly in the current, and as we passed to the south we were given one last sendoff by yellowfin tuna and some curious wahoo, with some coy passes by hammerhead sharks for an encore.
Read MoreThere was a coldwater current running past the island steadily for the whole two days, and with it came excellent visibility and a great amount of hammerhead, silky, Galapagos, whitetip, and silvertip sharks. That’s on top of the friendly wahoo, the massive schools of tuna, the unique photographing opportunity of a moray eel wrapped comfortably around resting whitetip sharks, and big schools of triggerfish, big-eyed trevally, jacks, and other familiar faces.
Read MoreTypically, we do not see whale sharks once the water cools off during December since they prefer warmer waters however, with a warm current coming through this 20-25 foot animal provided much excitement and photographic opportunities as it swam within feet of the divers on their safety stop. Then, just so that there was no fighting amongst the guests, the whale shark stayed around for dive 4 so that almost everyone got to see it.
Read MoreThen 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 MoreThe upside of this cooling is that the larger oceanic sharks start appearing. We saw a group of 6 silvertip sharks and 4 galapagos sharks patrolling “fish alley” where the large schools of jacks and bonitos hang out. There seems to be a hierarchy in the shark world whereby silkys are displaced by galapagos which in turn are displaced by silvertips.
Read MoreOne group of guests came especially prepared for New Year’s with everyone bringing dinner gowns to wear underwater.
Read More
