Tuesday, January 5, 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Roca Partida!!



Roca Partida January 1 2016
Rocio del Mar, guests and crew had the best possible new year!
We celebrated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean surrounded by blue sky and ocean, diving what on the surface looks like a tiny rock but below the water is a huge wonderland, one of the best dive sites in the world: Roca Partida.

This new adventure started on December 27th, when our guests from Switzerland, USA and Germany boarded the boat, full of expectations and dive gear.
Wind was strong by the time we left the harbor in San José del Cabo, but our brave guests handled it as well as experienced sailors and we arrived safely and happily to San Benedicto.


Mantas are spectacular here! It seems as though they knew we were celebrating a new year's trip because they didn't stop swimming and doing acrobatic tricks in front of our camera lenses. Everyone was blissful.

Someone wrote on the white board that it has been the best check-out dive ever!

Of course: in this one single dive we had at least 6 different mantas, tons of green morays, lots of fish and an "adults only show" with reef white tip sharks mating.




As can be expected, Poncho worked his magic in the kitchen and everyone loved him. Pam asked us if she could take him home!
The Swiss group diving with Ronald (DM) decided to change the "Group A" name to "Les Oranges" because all of them were diving with the same orange wetsuits! They looked so perfect underwater!
El Cañon gave us one of the best surprises of the trip: a huge school of hammerheads that weren't very shy came to swim with us! It was amaizing!


Hammer heads at el Cañón. Thanks Tommy for the picture

In Socorro island we celebrated New Year's eve. Poncho and the kitchen team did a supreme job cooking dinner and providing beautiful details such as grapes, chocolate strawberries, margaritas and sparkling wine to toast for the new year.
Dinner al fresco on our sun deck



We also had another reason to celebrate, Pam's birthday!  We honored her special day with delicious chocolate cake and a mexican sombrero. Happy Birthday Pam!
Happy birthday, Pam!

Our Swiss friends who came on-board for their Dive Center's 10th anniversary, celebrated the new year in their own surprising way- by shaving their heads! It was contagious! Soon our dive masters, Gil, Juan (Guarani) and Ronald shaved their heads too! New year, new look!
After this makeover the name of the Swiss group was changed to "les oranges pelés" (peeled oranges).  It was a lot of fun!

Dive master Gilberto preparing for the shave
Dive master Juan David joins the festivities
New year, new look!
During the night we motored to Roca Partida, so with the first light of the new year's day we were able to jump in the water to dive in one of the best places in the world.
Roca Partida didn't disappoint us: we had mantas, sharks, big school of fishes, bait balls, tunas and wahoos hunting. Those were an incredible and unforgettable dives!

We want to thank to our guests and friends for celebrating with us this new year on this unforgettable trip! We hope to see you guys soon diving with us on Rocio del Mar or Quino el Guardian!

Les oranges pelés
(including RDM crew members Gil, Ronald, and Juan David) 
Text: Juan D. Cortés (Dive Master)
Photos: Tommy T. and Juan D. Cortés