Sea of Cortez/Midriff Islands - How good is the diving?

[mantajohn]

I had a wonderful trip to Cocos in 2012 & have been researching Socorro for my next lob trip - probably 2014.

Due to an sudden change in my employment status, i am unexpectedly available to dive this July! Its the wrong season for Socorro, but some of the Socorro lobs operate Sea of Cortez/Midriff Islands instead in July.

How is the diving in this area? Are there truly lots of good pelagic sightings? Is Sea of Cortez/Midriff Islands worth the trip from Europe?

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts/info.

cheers

John

 

[mselenaous]

The diving in the Midriffs is great. Lots of sealions, black coral, copius starfish of numerous varieties, nudibranchs....and we snorkeled with whale sharks one day, sperm whales another day.
Temps can vary significantly from low 70's to mid 80's depending on the dive site, currents/tides, and thermoclines. I went last summer with a group of SBers for my 50th birthday including seansrs; rgiles; beaverdivers, & netdoc.
I say go for it. The Rociodelmar is a great liveaboard with awesome crew. Tell Dora the Explorer you are on Scubaboard.

 

[diversteve]

My buddy did that trip last year in late July. Nice boat, built to be a dive boat within the last 10 years or less. Their offices are in Phoenix and I met Dora while she was building it. Rocio has a good reputation locally, most of our shops book trips with them. My buddy would've gone the last week of July - there were 10 people on his boat. So they all had their own room. They're nicer also, above the main deck with big windows.

Some video of what to expect:
Rocio Del Mar Liveaboard - Midriff Islands Video Gallery

The boat leaves from Puerto Penasco for the Midriff trips. So you fly into Phoenix and take their shuttle. ($100 r/t) It picks up at the airport and drops you at the boat. They go thru a smaller port of entry into Mexico so it's faster - about a 4 hr ride.

Since Phoenix is a USAirways hub one of their codeshare partners is British Airways. So you can fly non-stop from London to Phoenix - I know someone who does. Virgin also flies here from London - they advertise regularly. Fairly decent price IIRC.

 

[OnTheSpot]

Why has no-one answered you, MantaJohn? How good is the diving? Well to be honest I haven't been yet (next year) but I have been doing research recently on this area and it sounds absolutely amazing. If you like big stuff and adrenalin filled encounters (and who doesn't?) then this seems to be one of the best places in the world.

I also spoke to a very experienced videographer who has been all over the world filimg some of the most crazy stuff and he reckons Roca Partida single best dive site he has ever been to. I have also spoken to v experienced divers who have written books on diving all over the world and they too were blown away by Socorro and said it was far better than the Galapagos.

So I think it is fair to say the diving is great. If you want to do some further reading you can see the dive site information I put together here: Diving in Socorro - Mexico - Liveaboard Trips

It seems to me it should be a much better known and discussed destination. Yet all the posts here are about Cancun and Cozumel. Anyway good luck. I hope you go there and it blows your mind too!

---------- Post added June 15th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ----------

Oh I just realised I misread your query! Here is the link to the Sea of Cortez/Midriff Islands: Diving in Sea of Cortez - Mexico - Liveaboard Trips I guess you are thinking of Rocio Del Mar, right? It's a boat that gets good reviews. To me the Sea of Cortez sounds very good - better than the Caribbean side, but as you can tell from the above, not quite as amazing as Socorro.

 

[drbill]

Haven't been in that neck of the woods since 1972 when a tiger shark estimated to be 22 ft long bumped into our 18 ft double kayak off Pelican Island (near Tiburon).

 

[Connorc]

I live in Arizona and we drive down to Mexico frequently during the summers. We stay and dive in San Carlos/Guaymas, which is about 4 hours south of the Arizona/Mexico border. Not sure exactly where the Midriff Islands are though. The Sea of Cortez has good diving, the water temp is in the 70s in the summer, good visibility, and lots of sea lions and fish. We've heard of hammerhead and whale shark sightings, but have not seen them ourselves. The sea floor is very rocky, no corral, and you will see lots of octopuses, stingrays and starfish. One thing you will notice is that the landscape is visually stunning. It is great to just sit on the beach after two dives and just enjoy the quiet beauty of San Carlos.

 

[mantajohn]

Everyone, thanks for your helpful info.

I'm decided to take a trip on rdm, but will postpone that until their schedule reverts to socorro

cheers

john

 

[tracydr]

Socorro is on my bucket list, along with Cocos!

 

[costaricadiver]

I just returned last night from a one week live aboard on the Rocio del Mar to the Midriff Islands. What a fabulous experience! Flew to Phoenix and took the shuttle to Puerto Penasco - now $125 r/t. Divers were from France, Romania, Canada, and from all over the U.S. Experience ranged from 50 dives into the hundreds. The crew was so generous and took such great care of us. Dora was on the boat and dove with us. The cabins were clean, food good and a couple of nights they had barbecues on the top deck. Two dive masters, Roberto and Gilberto - both terrific and knew the areas and special locations to dive. We saw beautiful nudibranchs, seahorses, octopus, Blennies and jaw fish with eggs in their mouth. Lots if black coral, other corals and tropical fish. The water was in the low 80's or upper 70's and got as low as 68 on one dive. I wore a 3 mm without a hood and was comfortable but some people had 5mm with a hood. Several times we went to locations where sea lions swam around us and played with us. We saw sperm whales but were not able to get close. A highlight was snorkelling with whale sharks. What a thrill! Visibility was not great in many places but the variety of dives including night dives more than made up for it. The esprit de corps of the divers and crew was high and we all had fun. I would highly recommend the Rocio del Mar and the Midriff Island trip!

 

[BDSC]

Thanks for the report. I have chartered the RDM for this November to do the Socorro trip. Really looking forward to it. May look to do the Sea of Cortez trip in a few years.