Is Socorro worth the $$$?

[nippurmagnum]

If you'd like, you can pay to send me and I will let you know what I think when I get back. I'd hate for you to waste your time going if it wouldnt be worth it. I'm happy to take that risk for you.

My time is never the issue — I have a lot more time than money!

 

[nippurmagnum]

There are still quite a few open spots for the trip leaving on the 13th.

Hi Waterone, just curious, where are you seeing that there are spots open on the trip for the 13th? It’s strange, because Liveaboard,com shows a lot of spots open, but the Nautilus website itself shows the boat completely full, and has a wait list. I called Nautilus yesterday and asked about that, and they said that it’s not unusual for resellers to buy up a number of spots. Don’t know if Liveaboard.com would fall in that category.

 

[waterone]

Liveaboard. Spots have also sporadically appeared on the Nautilus site.

I almost went last year but scheduled another trip to coz instead. While i watched the Nautilus site it went from no availability to spots available ever day or so for weeks.

it seems that a lot of people just reserve it with no payment for 24 hours.

 

[nippurmagnum]

Liveaboard. Spots have also sporadically appeared on the Nautilus site.

I almost went last year but scheduled another trip to coz instead. While i watched the Nautilus site it went from no availability to spots available ever day or so for weeks.

it seems that a lot of people just reserve it with no payment for 24 hours.

Yep, God knows I’ve made a lot of reservations on Liveaboard.com myself that I didn’t go through with. It’s why I did complete the booking with Liveaboard for this trip — I felt I owed it to them for being patient with me on previous reservations to Egypt and the Maldives, when I changed my mind dozens of times.

Still, I’m not sure that the Liveaboard.com search engine updates inventory in real time. And for this particular trip, the Nautilius website showed a wide open boat two days ago (which didn’t sound right) and suddenly yesterday was showing fully booked, which also doesn’t sound right a year out.

 

[living4experiences]

I went to Socorro on the Belle Amie over Thanksgiving week of 2020 during the worst of the pandemic. I was fortunate in many ways, one of which was a half empty boat. Socorro is one of those places where you just have to see it to believe it. When you think you've seen the big stuff, Socorro gives you bigger stuff. I've done the manta night dive in Kona many times, and the mantas in Socorro are unbelievably huge, gorgeous, and friendly. The mantas and dolphins seek out the divers and will swim right alongside you. I saw everything that others have mentioned. This trip also gave me 3 whale sharks--2 females and a juvenile. Apparently, November is a good month to go. The water temps were in the mid-80s, the crossing was smooth, the seas were calm during our dive days, the viz was great, and it was just a really easy trip. You will need at least gloves to hang onto the rocks when you're ducking out of the current, but a reef hook would have been better. I had the gloves, not the reef hook.

Not every dive was spectacular, though. One day of diving, there were just two mantas all day long. There are several boats/operators out there, and being first on a site is really important to seeing the animals first thing in the morning. Only one boat of divers can be in the water at a time. Our captain made his best effort to get us to the sites first. All the divers couldn't wait to jump in the water. This was one of the best dive trips I've ever had.

I loved this trip so much that I went back in May of 2021, and it was worst dive trip I've ever had. What a change in scenery. The water was in the 70s, the crossing was brutally rough, and the seas were terrible, especially getting in and out of the skiff. The currents were ripping down under with lots of upwelling and downwelling. Even the most experienced divers were thumbing some of the dives. This trip had 32 divers and a lot of first-time liveaboard travelers, and they were not happy. Lots of seasickness on board.

I believe the whale sharks are there from November to January. Have fun!!

 

[cpace]

Yeah, that is a long time to get air back. I am surprised if it was serious why air travel was an issue. Was it diving related?

I believe it was the divers dive insurance (required by Nautilus) that refused to pay for the airlift leaving me to believe that it was not dive related.

 

[rongoodman]

On the Belle Amie we had one diver, unfortunately in my "group", who chased after the animals with his camera on multiple dives. He single handedly chase away a whole pod of dolphins in seconds. The same diver would disappear and dive solo. The crew did scold him, but to no avail.

I think that guy was on a Cocos trip with me a couple of years ago! He gets around.

 

[cpace]

Even though my December 2021 Socorro trip was somewhat of a bust (see my post above), I did manage to get some footage during the 12 dives we were able to get in. We missed three dives at Roca Partida and did not make it to the Boiler at San Benedicto, the best sites during my 2019 trip.

 

[Dan]

I believe it was the divers dive insurance (required by Nautilus) that refused to pay for the airlift leaving me to believe that it was not dive related.

On my May 2021 trip, we also had a medical situation to one of the guest. I heard a heart attack after Dive 1 (Check out dive) when we were in San Benedicto. So on Dive day 1, we only had 1 dive out of 4 and headed out to Socorro island for airlifting the guest back to Cabo San Lucas.

By the late afternoon of Day 1, a plane came to Socorro Navy Base to pick up the guest.

That evening we proceeded with night snorkeling with Silky Shark on the back of the boat.

Trip Report - Socorro Real Time Review

Actually Chef Julio was also in my last trip. I’ll ask him to do a selfie with me later whenever I bump into him. In the meantime, here’s Mariane, my favorite DM from the last trip & hopefully will lead the Shark group again for this trip. You’re much better looking than in Palau. The mask...

scubaboard.com

After the dive, one of the guests (not part of my group) had a medical problem. I don’t know any more detail other than we cancelled the rest of the dive plan and headed out to Socorro Island for medical evacuation back to the mainland.

Everyone had silent moment to pray for save evacuation & speedy recovery of the guest with medical problem. Captain Ramon & one of the guest who is a medical doctor, assisted the medic during the evacuation process.

After the medical evacuation, the Chef prepared Taco night dinner on Sun deck, followed with Silky Shark night snorkeling.

We are staying in Socorro for the night and plan to spend Dive Day 2 in Socorro (Cabo Pearce?) with the following itinerary:

 

[O-ring]

I could see Socorro being at the higher end of the location risk spectrum. Normal DCS/diving stuff aside, between the skiff style diving and the conditions I think the chances are higher than a lot of places for stuff like cardiac issues, broken bones/blunt force trauma, etc.