20 – 200 Silky Sharks Swimming Around the Nautilus Explorer

By on February 29th, 2008 in Archive

Sten and I divemastered the 3rd dive today and had a lovely time. Lots of fish including great schools of jacks and even a school of triggerfish. Not a lot of giant manta rays though. Super visibility in very blue water. My only disappointment was creeping along the west side of the rock against some localized current, poking my nose around a corner, and going face-to-face with 3 very large silvertip sharks. My disappointment stemmed from realizing that my dive buddies had given up on the current, slid back around the other side of the rock and missed seeing these sharks. The 3 big silvertips were terrific even if nobody else saw them.

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Night Snorkelling with Silky Sharks at Socorro Island

By on February 27th, 2008 in Archive

It’s all good fun but it is mandatory that everyone in the water remain close to the dive ladder, calm and watchful, and ready to get out of the water if needed. We once experienced a flying fish darting right through our divers and boinking itself on the head against our steel transom.  I can tell you that a fluttering and stunned flying fish on the surface is like a dinner bell for silky sharks – even if they have to charge right through all of our divers!!

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Humpback Whale and Calf Sharing a Safety Stop with Scuba Divers

By on February 20th, 2008 in Archive

The visibility and surface conditions were excellent today, and the sharks were very cooperative, with multiple sightings of silvertip, silky, Galapagos, hammerhead, and of course whitetip reef sharks. And at the end of the second dive, a very lucky group of 5 scuba divers saw a female humpback with a calf swim by at their safety stop! This is an extremely lucky experience, and I think I can speak for the group who saw this when I say that it made their trip and won’t be soon forgotten.

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Zen-Like Bluewater Diving Looking for Mantas and Sharks

By on February 11th, 2008 in Archive

Silky, Galapagos, and hammerhead sharks made numerous appearances, along with large schools of yellowfin tuna, almaco jacks, trevally, and the innumerable triggerfish and reef animals that we’ve come to expect.

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Drift Dive Through Schools of Tuna and Hammerhead Sharks

By on February 2nd, 2008 in Archive

Almost 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.

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Tuna, Hammerhead and Silvertip Sharks Galore but Where’s the Giant Mantas???

By on February 2nd, 2008 in Archive

There 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.

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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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