Captains Log - Diving on the Rocio Del Mar: April 2014

Celebrating life!
Rocio del Mar just completed two amazing trips to Revillagigedo archipelago.

Definitely a wonderful way to be close to nature and true wild life.
Sharks, mantas, dolphins, whales all of them are free, are not trained, not baited and gifted divers with magic moments interacting with them, taking pictures and video, swimming together ... celebrating life in the place where life in this planet started: THE OCEAN.

We had a 13 day trip from March 17 to 29 with a fantastic group of divers from the UK. Some of them already dove with us in the Sea of Cortez, now visiting for the first time Revillagigedo.
The next regular 9 day trip from March 31 to April 9 we had an international group from Poland, Germany, Quebec, US and Canarias.

It was very nice to see old friends and passengers aboard again, diving with us after a couple of years (some of them visiting for the 3rd time Revillagigedo) and some others doing their second trip in this same season!!.

We really want to thank you all for choosing Rocio del Mar and to allowing us to be part of your life experiences, celebrating birthdays, marriage anniversaries and more.

In the last two weeks the mantas at San Benedicto Island were unusually friendly. Divers know that the mantas at the Boiler dive site are famous for being friendly, but honestly these past weeks they have been closer to divers than ever, hovering on top of the bubbles just a few centimeters above divers heads, swimming with all of us for 4 hours in 4 fantastic dives.

When we asked our passengers what they wanted to see, most of them answered "humpback whales". Everybody knows winter is good for humpback whales in this area of the pacific ocean. Whales swim long distances from the arctic to give birth and mate in Revillagigedo and in other areas of the mexican coast line. We see them all the time on the surface breaching, hitting their tales and pectoral fins constantly, swimming peacefully with their calf around the boat. Sometimes they are shy and very protective with their babies, swimming away from divers, but during these past weeks, since the babies are getting bigger their whale mothers are more confident and we have been seeing them underwater. Snorkeling and swimming together having more and more encounters on scuba. All groups saw, at least once, whales underwater. Some snorkeling, some on scuba, but everybody was really happy. They came to see whales and the whales were spectacular! Socorro island could be named "whale island".

Calf breaching at Socorro

Big humpback whale near Punta Tosca in Socorro

Kasia from Poland on whale watching and snorkeling afternoon

Roca Partida, as usual, was full of surprises. It's impossible to get tired of diving around this small rock in the middle of the ocean. So much life around it all the time.
One dive we saw six of the seven shark species that can be found in Revillagigedo. Isn't it amazing?
Big schools of hammerhead sharks constantly around the rock, this time shallower than previous weeks, getting really close to divers.
Big Galapagos sharks swimming slow, moving silently among divers. Groups of 4 fat silver tip sharks came and went again and again. White tip sharks resting in the terraces and swimming around. Silkie sharks chasing a school of barriletes (Euthynnus lineatus) and suddenly coming from nowhere a friendly whale shark. He was happy around the rock, we saw it on at least three dives and he posed for pictures and video. It was amazing!

Spending vacations aboard Rocío del Mar is more than excellent dives and marine life encounters.
We also had great time together with, fantastic food and celebrations.
Jim had his 700th dive at the Boiler in San Benedicto Island.
Stuart celebrated his birthday with us during our traditional mexican carne asada night with delicious tacos, spicy sauce and nopales (cactus salad).
Iwona and Jerzy were celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary.

Mexican taco dinner with UK divers

Alicja and Janusz together have 104 years of diving and were visiting one more time this amazing dive destination: Revillagigedo.

Alicja (Ala) with 50 years of diving and Janusz 54 years of diving shared with divers and Rocio del Mar crew their experiences, their passion for diving and photography. They are the polish national champions of underwater navigation and shared with us some of their diving history and images. We learned from them that it is always a good time to dive, to travel, to get fascinated with nature's wonders and it is never too late to learn something new, to have a new experience in life, or to meet new people and make new friends from around the world.

Ralph and Jurgen from Germany

To all of our passengers, THANK YOU! It was a pleasure to have you all aboard Rocio del Mar, we hope to see you again after some years and to share great dives together. We hope to see you again soon.