beth_castroll
Contributor
A little late to the game but here none the less. I want to send out huge props to Chewy at Manta Divers for an awe inspiring trip out to the Gordo Banks on December 5th. We did a two tank dive at Pelican Rock and Land's End the day before and had some pretty good viability for Cabo San Lucas. We talked to people about going out to the Gordo Banks the next day which about 10 years ago boasted schools of Hammerheads, which for climatic reasons left the area, but now they were rarely seen and its a long boat ride for a deep blue dive to 125 feet to see nothing for 50 minutes. I had never done a Deep Blue Water dive in my 125 dives and wanted to experience that for experience sake and hoped at the very least to see a few interesting things if Hammerheads chose not to show up.
It was a beautiful morning as 2 dive masters, a captain and 3 divers set off for the 1.5 hour trip to the Gordo Banks. 1 diver had dropped out fearing her diving skills were not up for the adventure. As our boat skipped along the Cortez we'd see an occasional Blue Whale come up to blow hole and we'd get all excited and our dive anticipation grew.
Once at the Gordo Banks the only other boat in sight was a fishing boat. We dove in and dropped 125 feet down an anchor line to wait for the other diver and DM. It was cold, dark, surgy, scary, flying through space alone on this earth. It was the scariest thing I had ever done. I started to panic. Where the hell was the other diver? I'm blowing through my air! I motioned I wanted to go up and as I went up about 5 feet the other diver came down and I began to feel better and continued the dive. We saw two Wahoos way in the distance, a one off squid and an eerie blue light looming from some kinda jelly on the 45 minute dive in darkness. It was so weird and outside my comfort zone.
When I got back on the boat after the dive Chewy suggested i was Narc'd at 125 feet which is why I felt panicky and then better when i went up a few feet. He said I looked calm and like an experienced diver who handled stress under pressure well but would understand if i didn't want to do the second dive.
So we did our SI and I said ya, I wanted to do the second dive. The second dive was equally deep but there was a small sea mount there at 150 feet so we could see a bottom. Burr!! the thermcline was cold down there. It was dark and eerie. There was a tremendous amount of black coral which Id never seen before and glowing yellow coral and 100's of sea stars. It was like walking on the moon and touching the stars. Amazing!!!! I never saw anything like this diving before. I could have spent hours down there but my computer and nitrox told me to come on up so we went up to about 80 feet and there was nothing. I was alone again in the universe. A black water experience. 5 of us hanging in space for about 5 minutes which is a really long time when the DM starts freaking out! He's pointing and off like a flash kicked into the darkness. The chase was on and we were after him. Seconds later the Hammerhead appeared. He was magnificent! his zig zag surveillance of us was exhilarating ! I still can picture his sleek, silver body about 45-50 feet away from us. He hung out with us for about a minute before heading out of view. We saw him again a minute later and then what we think was a smaller one a few minutes later but it could have been the same one a bit further away as the viability was getting better the more we ascended.
Once back on the boat it was like New Years Eve, Carnival and the first time you ate ice cream all at once. We all were high fiving each other and speaking with a rush of excitement. Chewy told us he had been out there several times over the years and hadn't seen a hammerhead in ages. He said most divers in Cabo aren't experienced enough to even take on the trip so we were stoked to have done it at all.
We were all chatting about the awesome experience on the long boat ride home when a gigantic whale decide to give us a last minute show with a few tail flaps and huge blows from his mighty hole as if saying so long and thanks for diving!
This was in my top 10 dives ever. Would I recommend it to others.....take your chances you might see nothing, but expand your diving experience with a blue water dive and enjoy the boat ride.
It was a beautiful morning as 2 dive masters, a captain and 3 divers set off for the 1.5 hour trip to the Gordo Banks. 1 diver had dropped out fearing her diving skills were not up for the adventure. As our boat skipped along the Cortez we'd see an occasional Blue Whale come up to blow hole and we'd get all excited and our dive anticipation grew.
Once at the Gordo Banks the only other boat in sight was a fishing boat. We dove in and dropped 125 feet down an anchor line to wait for the other diver and DM. It was cold, dark, surgy, scary, flying through space alone on this earth. It was the scariest thing I had ever done. I started to panic. Where the hell was the other diver? I'm blowing through my air! I motioned I wanted to go up and as I went up about 5 feet the other diver came down and I began to feel better and continued the dive. We saw two Wahoos way in the distance, a one off squid and an eerie blue light looming from some kinda jelly on the 45 minute dive in darkness. It was so weird and outside my comfort zone.
When I got back on the boat after the dive Chewy suggested i was Narc'd at 125 feet which is why I felt panicky and then better when i went up a few feet. He said I looked calm and like an experienced diver who handled stress under pressure well but would understand if i didn't want to do the second dive.
So we did our SI and I said ya, I wanted to do the second dive. The second dive was equally deep but there was a small sea mount there at 150 feet so we could see a bottom. Burr!! the thermcline was cold down there. It was dark and eerie. There was a tremendous amount of black coral which Id never seen before and glowing yellow coral and 100's of sea stars. It was like walking on the moon and touching the stars. Amazing!!!! I never saw anything like this diving before. I could have spent hours down there but my computer and nitrox told me to come on up so we went up to about 80 feet and there was nothing. I was alone again in the universe. A black water experience. 5 of us hanging in space for about 5 minutes which is a really long time when the DM starts freaking out! He's pointing and off like a flash kicked into the darkness. The chase was on and we were after him. Seconds later the Hammerhead appeared. He was magnificent! his zig zag surveillance of us was exhilarating ! I still can picture his sleek, silver body about 45-50 feet away from us. He hung out with us for about a minute before heading out of view. We saw him again a minute later and then what we think was a smaller one a few minutes later but it could have been the same one a bit further away as the viability was getting better the more we ascended.
Once back on the boat it was like New Years Eve, Carnival and the first time you ate ice cream all at once. We all were high fiving each other and speaking with a rush of excitement. Chewy told us he had been out there several times over the years and hadn't seen a hammerhead in ages. He said most divers in Cabo aren't experienced enough to even take on the trip so we were stoked to have done it at all.
We were all chatting about the awesome experience on the long boat ride home when a gigantic whale decide to give us a last minute show with a few tail flaps and huge blows from his mighty hole as if saying so long and thanks for diving!
This was in my top 10 dives ever. Would I recommend it to others.....take your chances you might see nothing, but expand your diving experience with a blue water dive and enjoy the boat ride.
