August 23 – 30th, 2014 Sea of Cortez.
This
charter was full of photographers! We
had the privilege of having a very well published and incredible photographer
on board to run the show. Todd Winner
has been diving and photographing marine life since 1990. As a professional underwater photographer and
cinematographer, his work has appeared in commercials, museums and private
collections. Todd is a regular
contributor to Sport Diver and Scuba Diving magazines and has won over 60
international underwater photography competitions. Most importantly he is a repeat and regular
diver with Rocio Del Mar.
In
addition to having our photo workshop we welcomed many repeat passengers back
on board and a group of new friends as well.
Once on board dive stations were set up and the camera table was overloaded. We were ready to set sail. Waking to a comprehensive dive briefing and then off to our first dive site La Muela. Divers quickly worked out any kinks with the help of our dive masters and then we were destined for a spectacular trip.
On
day two we had great water and great viz and a great dive site. We began the morning at Andrea’s Eagle. One of my all time favorites! We hit a little current and were zipped down
with the beautiful wall on our right filled with gorgonians, jeweled eels, nudibranchs,
Cortez and Queen Angels and fields of black corral and giant sea bass on our
right. Once we made the corner we were
protected from the current and spent the remainder of the dive with free
swimming octopus and sea horses a plenty!
We loved the site so much we spent most of the day there. On the other side of the pinnacle is
sand. We had so much fun with the giant
jawfish and their big bulging eyes and impeccably kept houses of sea
shells. We watched the blue spotted
jawfish darting in and out of their holes and the orange throat blennies with
their amazing mating dance. 
After 3 dives we went back to La Muela for a night
dive. I have dove this site so many
times but never at night. I was in for a
treat. The water was warm and the
current, nonexistent. I had a goal – to see
the basket stars open at night. I first
found a nudibranch and then a zebra worm and a crazy crab covered in leaves
eating all of the little bits of nutrients in the water. Then I came upon the Basket Star! It was open but as soon as I would shine my light
on it, it would begin to close.
Fortunately, one of my wonderful photographer friends had a red light on
his camera and was able to light it up without disturbing it. It was very cool to watch the twisty arms
moving in the darkness. 
We
ran into some weather on this trip and spent another day at Angel de la
Guarda. We were diving Lolo’s Cove and
there was a pod of dolphins, small, maybe 6 -10 just cruising around the
boat. They stayed there for hours. We were off to our next dive and we could see
darkness in the sky. We fell into the
water and I, with some new found camera skills, was having an excellent time. All of a sudden the engines were revving. It was our emergency recall. Our dive master Bob DeFeo quickly rounded us
up and began our accent. The water was a
little rough and we needed to move Rocio to a safer place to anchor
quickly. We boarded the panga and what
did we see? … The dolphins! They followed
us back to the boat and stayed until we boarded, then did the same with our
other panga. Once we were moved to a
safe place to anchor they were gone. 
We
then headed to San Pedro Martir. I couldn't believe it! The dives were
spectacular. We saw so many turtles and
Mobula Rays. The Mobula were jumping out
of the water and we saw schools of them swimming over us at least six times in
one dive. We had 90 foot of viz at Moro
1 and 2 and a wonderfully fun current dive at Ravijunco. We had a fabulous dive at Moro1 beginning
with turtles and mobula rays, then a little fun in some current with the sea
lions. We then headed around the back
side and found a bait ball up above us.
We sat and watched the sea lions in the bait ball it was mesmerizing. Then the sea lions came down to play with
us. We ended the dive with another sea
turtle. We all surfaced having experienced
something very special together. It was
one of those “WOW’ moments that bonds divers together. 
The last day is always very special on Rocio. It is Whale Shark Day. It didn’t take long and we had found them. Our panga diver dropped four of our snorkelers into the water at a time and we had the most stagnate whale shark I’ve ever seen. Our snorkelers were swimming circles around it. Bob and I found this unacceptable. After a good 30 – 40 minutes we designated this whale shark a good candidate for the silver boat and took off to find us a big one – one that makes you work for it. That we did. We were dropping passengers off with their own whale sharks and they were swimming off all Poncho’s good cooking. We had snorkelers strung all over the Bay of LA. After everyone had their fill and were tired and bloated from swallowing sea water. I took my turn. I had a big one and he was moving fast. After a few minutes though he slowed down and I saw that we had lost the rest of the snorkelers. We swam comfortably together for some time. It was so peaceful and we were getting more and more shallow. I could see our shadows together on the white sand below us with only the sound of my breathing and a feeling of bliss surrounding us.
On board we had fantastic meals, thank you Poncho for the extra four pounds. Celebrated a silver birthday - as we liked to call it. Happy Birthday again Nick. Had gourmet coffee provided by Patty from a French press. Had photo workshops every day after lunch – courtesy of Todd Winner. Laid on the deck and watched shooting stars every night. We all enjoyed our roof top Carne Asada dinner and had some laughs after dinner watching the week’s photo slideshow.
It was finally time to come home – but not before seeing a pod of dolphins and pilot whales which swam with us for at least an hour. Not a bad bon voyage!
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