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Trip Report, Revillagigedo. November, 2014

November, great November, unforgettable November.

When one see everything and I mean everything:  mantas swimming with divers for 50 minutes, friendly dolphins in groups of 6 or 10 approaching so close that was easy to hug them, school of hammerheads sharks, silky sharks, sail fish, school of tunas, school of jacks and other fishes and one or two whale sharks in the very first dive of a trip, what can one expect on consecutive dives?

More marine life to see!

There hasn’t been a single dive without mantas or dolphins or sharks or … big, big whale sharks!

“I saw everything I wanted to see on this trip in a single dive” – is something we have heard more than once recently.

Rocío del Mar is back to San José del Cabo starting a new diving season at Revillagigedo Islands. 

There are not enough words to express the magnificence of the islands this past month.
We happily completed the first 3 trips of the season visiting San Benedicto, Socorro and Roca Partida.

Warm water (26-28 C / 78-82 F) and fantastic weather: sunny, mostly calm winds have allowed us to dive in the best dive sites of the national park.

It has been crazy; it blows your mind when there are so many mantas, dolphins and sharks that you don’t know where to look!!!

At the Boiler in San Benedicto in a single dive we have seen mantas, not one or two, at least five to nine mantas at the same time!!
There have been dolphins, family of dolphins swimming together with divers, approaching to see us, to play with us, to stay vertically still posing for cameras.  Also there have been tunas, big fat tunas hunting, followed by a sail fish. Big wahoos, school of cotton mouth jacks, black jacks, white tip sharks and silky sharks. We have seen hammerheads swimming close to the big school of big eye trevally and in the west point of the rock we’ve seen the big, big school of hammerheads diving in circles around divers.
A Tiger shark has been around swimming deep but close to the rock ...and this is not all: 

WHALE SHARKS! 30 to 40 feet (10 to 12 mts) whale sharks! Probably pregnant females.

Socorro Island has been very good too! At Cabo Pearce and Punta Tosca we have seen dolphins and mantas in all dives, but wait, they stay with us almost the entire dive time!

Finally at Roca Partida we had clear blue waters! Several encounters with whale sharks, probably bigger than the ones we saw at the Boiler in San Benedicto.
This huge whale shark that was slowly swimming in about 90 feet depth was leaded by a family of dolphins that were enjoying swimming in front of the whale shark.
Also tunas, hammerheads sharks, plenty of white tip sharks and mantas. Not very common to see mantas at Roca Partida and we have seen at least two mantas at the same time there.Simple word: FANTASTIC!

Not only whale sharks, mantas and dolphins have been exceptional, Poncho, our loved chef has sent everybody back home with some extra pounds! As always our passengers have loved Poncho’s food. Thanks Poncho for your work and as Matthias (Germany) said, - “Poncho cooks with love” – we believe so!

There’s nothing better for us than seeing passengers coming back to dive with us.
We mean it, once you come to Rocío del Mar, you start being part of our family. We have for the second time on board to our friends from Oklahoma (Chris and his gang having a full boat), Gray, Rick and our two loved Colombian sisters.
We also welcome to our family a fantastic group of divers and good friends from North Carolina in the very first trip of the season and passengers from Germany, Alaska, Canada and Mexico City.

We love to see how during 9 days nationalities, languages, culture blend together sharing the same passion for diving and love for our oceans. Dive trips not only give us fantastic dives, it also gives us new friends and that’s something we all share.

December just arrived and Rocío del Mar and her crew is sailing back to San Benedicto, new adventures to come, more marine life and soon… soon the humpback whales will start to sing in the Revillagigedo’s waters

Thanks for sharing your passion for diving your friendship your experiences, laughs, dreams and time with us. 

We, all the crew of Rocío del Mar, are very happy to have you onboard and hope to see all of you again very soon!

Explore Baja

Explore Baja is a unique 13 day trip covering the entire Baja Peninsula.  Many passengers choose to share this experience with close family or dear friends.  This year Mike and his daughter Jennifer joined us and wrote this wonderful note to Rocio Del Mar owner Dora Sandoval.  

My daughter Jennifer and I were guests on the Oct 25^th (Mark Emery) trip.

We enjoyed this trip deeply. I’ve been diving since I was 14 and everything about this experience was top flight. This includes the boat, the location and for sure the crew.

The opportunity to share this experience with Jennifer made it all the better.

Thank you Mike and Jennifer for sharing your story with us.  Photos are taken by Mike and Jennifer.  

Our Passengers began their journey in Puerto Penasco at the tip top of the Baja Peninsula.  Diving with large Sea Lion colonies and schools of mobula rays.  They spent the a glorious day snorkeling with whale sharks at Bahia de los Angeles and there were plenty to choose from.  Dolphins and pilot whales were abundant  throughout the trip and the passengers were up close and personal with them.  The group saw swarms of big eyed jacks as they entered the southern portion of the Baja and schools of fish so thick they could part them with their hands while they proceeded through.  They were surprised with hammerhead sightings at El Bajo and Bull Sharks in Cabo Pulmo.  The trip came to an end in San Jose del Cabo with 20 new explorers on board.  Needless to say this trip has such a variety of experiences that every day of this 13 day expedition is a new adventure!