Trip Report, Revillagigedo. March 17 and March 31, 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.

Mario and Yves from Quebec

Mexican, Polish, German and Diving flags

Happy faces after the last dive in San Benedicto

Steve wanted to stay with us driving a "panga"

Little rest between dives

Delicious rib-eye on the grill

Gilberto briefing divers

Next some pictures courtesy of Alicja and Januz:

Ala and Januz diving in San Benedicto

Alicja - 50 years of diving

Januz - 54 years diving

Alicja and Januz, current national underwater navigation champions

Trip Report, Rocío del Mar. Revillagigedo. February 25 and March 07

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven ... we lost count of how many times a humpback whale was breaching right before us and then a few minutes later another and another .... it was amazing!

The past two weeks Rocio del Mar completed two trips to Revillagigedo Islands. Mantas (Manta birostris) have been very active around divers: great memories, great pictures, great dives, but the best, many smiles ... that's our best reward.

We were very happy to receive passengers from China, Singapore, Italy, Brasil, México, Canada and different cities from the United States. Everybody had an extraordinary time.

As usual we first visited San Benedicto Island. The 5 star dive sites "El Boiler" and "El Cañon" gave us incredible moments: In a single day two tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)sightings, humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) encounters on scuba, mantas (Manta birostris) on almost all dives. But please read carefully: these mantas were enjoying being close to divers, they really wanted to hang out with us and their were  4, 5 or 6 of them in a single dive for more than 50 minutes "flying" above us. It was magical!

Winnie with her nemo lucky hood.
She saw a humpback whale on scuba

These trips were not only good for diving. Our passengers really felt at home and shared good moments with Poncho (our chef) cooking different dishes from Singapore and China.

Our next stop was in Socorro Island. We enjoyed mantas, silver tip sharks, hammer head sharks diving at Cabo Pearce. Mantas were all over the dive site: at 15 feet, at 70 feet, we even saw one asking us to play at 90 feet.

Our final stop was at Roca Partida. This tiny rock in the middle of the Pacific is a giant dive site. It is for sure one of the best dive sites in the world. It is difficult to believe the variety of species and high density of their population around this rock. 

But the best is that in a single day of diving it is possible to see at least 5 of the 7 species of sharks that inhabit the Revillagigedo Archipelago.

Hammerhead sharks were at peace swimming around 90 feet and we had the chance to see big schools of them around the island several times.

Besides great dives we also had great weather. 

We spent two days at Roca Partida on each trip and enjoyed fabulous food on the top deck celebrating mexican taco nights and sharing with our guests one mexican tradition: the Piñata. It is common in México to celebrate birthday parties with a piñata full of candies and a delicious cake.

We believe everybody had a great time and filled their expectations of marine life encounters. Weather was great and we expect to keep having these great conditions during the following trips.

We want to thank all our passengers who dove with us and shared all these great memories. It is our purpose to make you all feel like home during your 9 days visiting these great islands full of life and magic.

We hope to see you back again aboard the Rocio del Mar.

Trip Report, Rocío del Mar. Revillagigedo. Nov 22 to Dec 1, 2013

Rocio del Mar is back to Revillagigedo!!! 

Fantastic weather, good visibility ,79 F degree water temperature and lots of pelagic life to see!!

Happy to be back to Revillagigedo ... new season 2013-2014

This trip we enjoyed diving with a very nice group. Divers and friends coming from different parts of the world, different jobs, different ages, but all of us meeting with one single objective: our passion for the ocean, our wish to see giant mantas, sharks, and take with us life time memories and lots of pictures!


Danny, Kelly, Angelo, Phil, Brandon, Patrick and Holly all from the US were diving together with Guarani. Lanny, Peter L, and Peter R, from Netherlands, Baptiste, Time from the US and Alex and Marc from Barcelona were diving in group B with Gil. And Roberto, our new dive master dove with Elliot, John, Bill, Ruth, Cindy, Patrick and Brooke.

Nice crossing to Revillagigedo

Dive teams

Crossing was smooth and we had wonderful weather. Poncho cooked fantastic food and vegetarian passengers on board were very happy with the different choices Poncho had for them. Actually some of the meet eaters changed to vegetarian choice during the trip! Great job Poncho!!

Gear ready to dive: 6.45 a.m.

Finally after about 26 hours we arrived to San Benedicto Island, one checkout dive with turtles, white tip sharks (Triaenodon obesus) and giant lobsters at "Las Cuevitas" and we moved to "El Boiler" to dive with 3 fantastic and friendly Giant Mantas (Manta Birostris)

Friendly mantas at El Boiler, San Benedicto, Revillagigedo

Storm near Socorro Island, Revillagigedo

Our captain Lolo advised for some wind and rain the next days so we moved to Socorro during the night. "Cabo Pearce" was incredible. Mantas coming on each dive, small groups of hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini), silver tip sharks (Carcharhinus albimarginatus), octopus, lobsters, and more! The following day we moved to Punta Tosca, it had less activity but still some divers saw dolphins, mantas and more sharks!

Divers approaching to Punta Tosca, Socorro Island.

Kelly getting close to Galapagos sharks

Third day of diving we arrived to Roca Partida. Slow first dives, but with the sun shinning we started to see huge schools of hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini), big Galapagos sharks (Carcharhinus galapagensis), tunas, green jacks hunting small sandia´s fishes. It was amazing!!

But the best was still to come ....

Good dives! Hammerheads!

We spent the night at Roca Partida and it couldn't be better. The ocean was like a pool. Not wind at all, and silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) came close to the boat to eat dinner :-)

Silky sharks approaching the boat

John getting ready with all his nice "toys"

Danny picking on Phil ... all time! :-)

Second day at Roca Partida one shark was missing to see and he didn't want to make us wait longer: a mid size whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was swimming slowly to allow divers to take lots of pictures and video. It was great!! Was the best of the day.

This is a happy face after seeing a whale shark!

Rocio del Mar offered a special dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving day with our passengers. We all had a great time and enjoyed fantastic dinner.

Our last diving day was at San Benedicto and we head back to San José del Cabo. 

A lot of feelings at the same time when we had to say good bye to Revillagigedo

It was a great trip. Great divers, great people, lots of great moments and memories. Rocio del Mar crew was very happy to have you all on board and we expect to see you all soon with us again.

THANK YOU ALL FOR SUCH A GREAT TRIP

Roberto, our new dive master

Happy Divers!

Beautiful smile ... thanks for sharing these days with us