My Week on The Socorro Aggressor

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mcohen1021

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Location
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Thought I would share my Socorro trip video. We just got back May 2 from 9 days on the Socorro Aggressor - what an amazing journey with spectacular diving and a warm and friendly crew! This is a must on any divers bucket list. See for yourself!

 
Thanks for sharing-- I was hoping to see some sort of trip report from you about this trip.

My official review:

If you’ve never been to revillagigedo, it is freakin awesome for large animal and shark diving. We saw 6 different species of shark, 2 types of mantas, dolphins, yellowfin tuna and wahoo (king fish)… We also had humpback whales breaching all around the boat and a few mantas breaching and doing mid air flips…

The Good:

1. Crew – outstanding. Especially the engineer, you’ll learn more about that shortly
2. The Divemaster – Rana (and Trucu) were awesome… Fun and energetic as well as knowledgeable, Rana used to DM on board the nautilus. He even mentioned to me in private it was the 1st time since working on the Aggressor that he enjoyed it bc all of the divers were advanced. He kept asking me if I was cold bc I dive arms crossed. lol
3. Food – Food was very good, but I would rank it down one notch from Red Sea, only because they fed us tuna 3x, and tuna is inedible to me.
4. Drinks: They had a full bar – not just beer and wine
5. Cabins: Compared to the Red Sea boat, the cabins were much larger, we had enough room to walk around and not bump into each other. Beds were not as soft as RSA I.
6. The scuba: was truly badass, as described above.
7. Water clarity and temps: If you’re looking for Caribbean clear water and temps, then this is not for you. This is 5 mil territory, and clarity varies based on sun/clouds, currents, thermoclines and sometimes volcanic ash.


The Bad:

1. The boat itself: It is in need of cosmetic fixing up… some flooring, carpet, plumbing work is needed.
2. The boat anchor – the winch broke while we were at San Benedicto on the 1st day, and after a few attempts to rig a new pin, no dice, option 2 was under way. The rigged several large plastic gas cans and a 55 gal barrel to use as lift bags and got the anchor about 2’ up from the bottom, so now it was up to option 3, which was to use the rear winch, 15’ ft at a time.
3. Meanwhile, there was an electrical short circuit that took out all the boat’s electric grid… So the winch would not work until the electrical was fixed.
4. We then had the come to Jesus speech to set trip expectations, as to whether we’d continue on the trip or head home… Ugghh
5. After the electrical was repaired, they started immediately working on raising the anchor. We were soon on our way to Roca Partida, the trip was saved.

Now you know why I said the engineer was awesome – he is stubborn and determined to never give up. He literally saved our trip.

The Ugly:

1. After the electric was fixed, we still were without AC overnight and the majority of the next day
2. We were unable to anchor the boat the remainder of the trip due to not having a properly functioning anchor. With the boat drifting, this made for the long to/from taxi rides to the reef.

That being said, the crew made a huge difference in things and one of the reasons I would go back on the same boat. But I am also open to others.
 
You're welcome.

Again, in the grand scheme of things, we only lost one dive.

Aggressor Adventure staffs their boats with great people (99.9% of the time).

I will say this... This is the 1st time in a long time I was REALLY ANNOYED with a photographer... This guy was chasing animals off. He barged in on many 1 on 1 moments with an animal... And worst of all, because he felt the need to film every single animal on the trip, I can;t tell you how much great video I zapped from the above compilation because of his FLOOD LIGHTS blinding us. He was there as a complimentary guest of Aggressor because he was tasked with creating a few promo videos. I have not yet decided if I will complain to the corporate office.
 
Thanks for the report. Interesting comparisons to RSA. Glad to hear the trip generally ended well.

Sounds like the trip worked out but those problems sound like it might be business as usual for Aggressor. Glad the crew was able to pull it out.
 
You’re welcome. I guess the reason I compared the two boats was because outside of the Texas Flower Gardens liveaboard, those are the only two I’ve been on, plus, both are the same company. I guess I assumed that because the boats were under the same company, the facilities would be on the same level. Again, nothing majorly wrong with the boat, but it was not as nice as RSA I. Noone has posted anything on this boat that I found, other than the complainer in the other thread who thinks his life is ruined.
 
Thanks for the review. Not exactly what I would expect from a boat with the Aggressor name on it. Those are some major issues that I would hope Aggressor takes seriously.
 
Thanks for the review. Not exactly what I would expect from a boat with the Aggressor name on it. Those are some major issues that I would hope Aggressor takes seriously.

Again, the crew worked their tails off to make sure the trip was a success. They were beyond amazing. Everything was outstanding outside of the 2 mechanical issues.

I'm a boat owner, trust me, i know things go wrong.
 
Thanks for the reply. I’m just back from the cayman trip and the aggressor there was great, but this report so fast on the heels of the Fiji aggressor being condemned is a serious concern.... I’m not sure I would dive on aggressor outside of the Caribbean...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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