Diving Soccorro Islands Jan 2012

I just returned from a fantastic week of diving the Soccorro islands of Mexico this last week. It was great to escape the PNW winter weather for some sun and blue water. Soccorro is about 300 miles out in the Pacific southwest of Cabo San Lucas and well know for big pelagic creatures. Manta rays, Galapagos sharks, and Hammerheads, etc. We spotted humpbacks from the surface and heard them singing on many of the dives. I dove and interacted with dolphins for the first time ever which was a real treat. The big event of course was the Mantas. Just amazing, graceful, curious, and beautiful. It was a thrill to dive with them every time.

I dove on the Nautilus Explorer which as always was absolutely top notch. I highly recommend this operation!

I took lots of photos and video on this trip. Here are a few highlights and a link to my trip video.

Giant Manta

Schooling Galapagos sharks

Hammerheads at cleaning station

Blue Water

Video compilation:

[vimeo]36180863[/vimeo]

Thanks Dave,

Great to see so much life there. Glad you got to see the Hammers!

Cheers,

Steve

How deep did you have to go for the hammerheads? We could not find any when I was there last year. If they were there they were deep.

How deep did you have to go for the hammerheads? We could not find any when I was there last year. If they were there they were deep.

We saw hammerheads both deep and shallow. The close up shots were fairly deep, probably 90 fsw or so. Diving on a rebreather it no problem to hang out at that depth for 30 minutes or so. But we also saw them cruising by above us while at 60 fsw, so they were probably 30 feet or so. I expect we saw hammerheads on at least 6 dives around two completely different islands in the Socorro chain.

This really was an amazing trip and I highly recommend it. Hammerheads, Manta, and Dolphins - pretty hard to beat. Ok, maybe a Humpback next time.

Dave

We saw hammerheads both deep and shallow. The close up shots were fairly deep, probably 90 fsw or so. Diving on a rebreather it no problem to hang out at that depth for 30 minutes or so. But we also saw them cruising by above us while at 60 fsw, so they were probably 30 feet or so. I expect we saw hammerheads on at least 6 dives around two completely different islands in the Socorro chain.

 

This really was an amazing trip and I highly recommend it. Hammerheads, Manta, and Dolphins - pretty hard to beat. Ok, maybe a Humpback next time.

 

Dave

When I was done there last year we had whales the whole time. In fact one time when I came up into my bantegas, a humpback breached behind me. The Bantegas operator saw it in the water underneath us. I grabbed my gear except tank and got back in the water. Right under me was a humpback calf with her mom and probably aunt. It was pretty amazing.

We could hear them in the water the majority of the time as well. We had some dolphins play with us as we swam as well. It was a great trip. The one thing we could not find was hammerheads. That is why I was curious how deep they were. They tend to usually be deeper these days.

That sounds pretty incredible. I certainly heard plenty of Humpbacks underwater, and saw a few breaching within a few hundred yards of the boat. I think I'll be making a return trip. Socorro was a lot better than Coco's last year, but then we had historically bad vis that week.

When I was done there last year we had whales the whole time. In fact one time when I came up into my bantegas, a humpback breached behind me. The Bantegas operator saw it in the water underneath us. I grabbed my gear except tank and got back in the water. Right under me was a humpback calf with her mom and probably aunt. It was pretty amazing.

 

We could hear them in the water the majority of the time as well. We had some dolphins play with us as we swam as well. It was a great trip. The one thing we could not find was hammerheads. That is why I was curious how deep they were. They tend to usually be deeper these days.

That sounds pretty incredible. I certainly heard plenty of Humpbacks underwater, and saw a few breaching within a few hundred yards of the boat. I think I'll be making a return trip. Socorro was a lot better than Coco's last year, but then we had historically bad vis that week.

This was mostly at Roca Partida. I was on the Rocia del Mar and the Solmar V was also there as well. They had anchored to the left of Roca Partida and a humpback with her calf hung around the Solmar V for most of the day. It was pretty amazing. Roca was the highlight of the trip.