Diving with Mantas

Scuba diving the Revillagigedo Archipelago (pronounced reh-vi-ya-hih-heh-doh, aka Socorro Islands) has been on my bucket list for some time. Thanks to the enthusiasm and great planning skills of Linda Elliott, my dream has been realized and what a trip it was!

The trip started from the Cabo San Lucas marina where we boarded the Nautilus Undersea vessel at 8pm on Saturday night. The boat's claim to fame is that it was a support boat for the James Bond Movie "License to Kill" and was used for the Deep Rover mission with Dr. Silvia Earle.

The plan for the week was to do our first dive in San Benedicto Island, then head on to Roca Partida then to Socorro Island and then back to do our last dives in San Benedicto Island. Captain Oscar aka Chapo informed us that plans can change depending on weather and dive conditions thus, flexibility and an adventurous attitude was needed.

It took about 24 hours for us to get to San Benedicto Island. We arrived Sunday late evening and anchored at our first dive site around 11 pm. The trip was relatively smooth with gentle rolling waves which helped me get a good night's sleep.

Our first dive was at Fundadero where the goal was to check if all our gear was working, weights were appropriate, and in general, to get comfortable.

The water temperature was around 78 degrees and viz was decent, about 40 feet but there were particles in the water. I started off wearing my chillproof Sharkskin suit which was supposed to handle temps up to 68 degrees. Alas, I was cold with just that suit thus for the next dive, I added my 2mm Lavacore layer.

The second dive was at the site called the Canyon where within the first minute underwater, I saw my first manta! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Isn't she such a magestic creature? 🤩

My buddy Linda also spotted a hammerhead shark! Other cool critters that we spotted included a Cortez Electric Ray

a "big ass" lobster,

and a turtle.

I even saw an octopus 🐙 out in the open! Check it using the link to my pictures below.

Currents were a bit strong and it kept shifting causing surges that kept me very alert and also made visibility a bit murky. I had to stragegically swim behind rocks to get protection but all in all, I was so happy to have had a great first dive day!

More pics of diving San Benedicto Island are here.

Stay tuned for upcoming blogs about my Revillagigedo scuba diving adventures! 💥 💥 💥