Cabo Pulmo - photography - strobes not allowed?????

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I know that lights aren't allowed in Socorro but I've never heard that about Cabo Pulmo. @kumimonster might be able to help.

‘that must be new...I’ve always used lights/strobes in Socorro although last trip was nov 2017..no one ever mentioned to me that they were prohibited...

 

[AZTinman]

I haven't heard of folks having issues in FL and the Bahamas (on feed dives) with strobes and bulls, although a few years ago I did witness a couple tigers having a go at a large set of strobes. If I had to guess, I wouldn't be too concerned about it except at very close range (which is probably where a photographer with a wide-angle lens will want to be).

I was diving with bull sharks in a marine park in Mexico. My operator wasn't doing feeding dives and told me I couldn't use my strobes with bulls due to their sensitivity to electrical fields generated by the strobes. Rules of the marine park were clear with regards to the ban of strobe use with bulls. Basically, the concern was that electrical field generated by strobe discharge and recycling would spook the sharks. This reasoning may be why the marine park at Cabo Pulmo doesn't allow strobe use with bull sharks, but allows the use of video lights.

I imagine bull sharks would be lots less bothered by a strobe going off on feeding dives. One of the criticisms of doing feeding dives with sharks is that the sharks behave differently when they're being fed. For what it's worth, a couple of years ago, I watched a Cozumel dive guide feeding nurse sharks for divers in his group. When he finished feeding the sharks, they approached my group expecting to be fed. When we gave them nothing, one of the nurse sharks decided to try chomping on one of my strobes. Of course, that would be a whole different topic thread. (LOL)

 

[dlofting]

‘that must be new...I’ve always used lights/strobes in Socorro although last trip was nov 2017..no one ever mentioned to me that they were prohibited...

I think I was mistaken about the strobes as I now recall that a number of divers used them. I believe it was dive lights that were not allowed. Sorry to mislead people.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I was a little concerned that I was being a rebel.....

 

[kumimonster]

BTW, how were conditions? Water temp & viz?????

Where does the Gallant go?
For Cabo Pulmo the water is usually around 80F and that was the case his past week except for some days where it dropped down to the upper 70s. There was a rain storm though, and that shut down diving for a day because the water destroyed the beach access road so the boats could not make it down. The following day many boats did not end up going out because of wind conditions.

I did though and it was great!

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Back from the trip and the upshot on all of this was:
1. Made it through Cabo Customs without getting dinged for extra gear but they were definitely fishing. Asking lots of questions in broken English with the word "housing" in there. I just kept smiling and saying "small" and "GoPro". Plus I got the green light when I pushed the button.
2. Was able to use strobes at all times in Cabo Pulmo. Turned them off voluntarily when shooting Bull Sharks but no issues from the guide or anyone else. That being said, during the three dives and 12 dives we did in Pulmo, none of the official Park "minders" showed up to observe us so maybe we got off easy.

 

[cephalopod2]

@Ken Kurtis thanks for the update on the housing “tax”.

How long are the dives in Cabo Pulmo when you do them from a liveaboard? Such an interesting area - 4 dives a day from a LOB is already a selling point.

Thanks.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

How long are the dives in Cabo Pulmo when you do them from a liveaboard? Such an interesting area - 4 dives a day from a LOB is already a selling point.

In the next day or so I'll post my full trip report so this will become clearer but in the meantime . . .

We were still diving under Park rules which limits the dives to 45 minutes max. And because you have to dive only with guides certified by the Park, and because the [I]Nautilus Gallant Lady[/I] DMs are NOT yet certified by the Park, the sub-contract out to local Cabo Pulmo operators who come to the boat to pick you up and then take you to the park to dive. (The boat's anchored just beyond the southern park boundary.) Two dives, then back to the boat for lunch, then two dives in the afternoon and back to the boat around 4:30PM. Once you get used to the rhythm, worked out pretty well.