San Ignacio Gray Whales
Extraordinary Interaction & Experience
The scuba diving at Roca Partida was red hot today. Not sure what else I can say! The seas were calm. Everyone saw giant manta rays (as advertised, we are quite sure that these are the “friendliest” mantas in the world), loads of sharks and large schools of fish with everything set to the music of humpback whales singing in the distance.
Read MoreDivemaster Ryan lucked out with the very best encounter of all when a large male humpback whale approached him underwater and hung out with him for a reported 20 minutes. Ryan could barely contain himself when he got back and reported that the whale was close enough to touch. How come I always seem to miss the best dives!?!
Read MoreIt’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!!
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreToday luck was with a few of our guests who jumped in off the back of the boat, sans scuba, to snorkel with some dolphins that had been playing nearby, and were given the dive of a lifetime by some passing humpback whales that made one close pass. Swimming with a young humpback whale escorted by bottlenosed dolphins is definitely one for the logbook.
Read MoreFinally we went to a new site on the north east side of San Benedicto and found some interesting rock formations with lots of reef life and what appeared to be a moray eel the colour of a Clarion Angelfish. Definitely a place for further investigation. On the run home we came up with a list of possible names for the newly explored sites including Whale Sound, Booby Prize, The Act of Waiting on a Rock and Watching Barnacles although none have been adopted at this time. Maybe a few more dives on the sites will bring out the personality of the sites and the names will become obvious.
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.
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