Trip Report Of Mantas and Men: Socorro on the Quino el Guardian, December 2021-January 2022

[Ironborn]

Introduction

I enjoyed my first liveaboard trip to an extremely remote pelagic destination for “big animals” – Socorro, or, to be more precise, Mexico's Revillagigedo Archipelago. The frequent, extended, and “up close and personal” encounters with manta rays are clearly Socorro's star attraction, to a degree that I had not expected from what I had heard, seen, and read about it. These amazing encounters may turn out to be among the most remarkable experiences that I will ever have as a diver. The large numbers and different species of sharks are the other main attraction, depending on one's interests and luck.

The environment itself, however, is not easy on the eyes and can pose some challenges. The fish density in many spots was considerably lower than what I would have expected in an environment with many large predators. Indeed, I found the neighboring Sea of Cortez to be both more aesthetically pleasing and richer in marine life overall, albeit with fewer big animal encounters.

This trip succeeded in whetting my appetite for future liveaboard trips to other remote pelagic destinations with big animals, such as Cocos Island, Malpelo, the Galapagos Islands, or the Maldives. This trip also gave me a net positive first impression of Mexico Liveaboards, which runs trips to the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez that I hope to join in the future. Visiting this archipelago nonetheless has some disadvantages in its Mexican topside factors that might make me hesitant to return in the future, or at least before I check out the alternatives. Hyperlinks in the text are for photos on my Instagram profile that illustrate my written points, my previous trip reports, or other materials. Please check out my Instagram profile for a broader overview of what I saw on this trip.

Why I Went There and Planning & Logistics

This was my seventh liveaboard trip but my first one to a truly remote pelagic area. I chose my earliest liveaboard trips (Aggressors in Belize and the Cayman Islands) as what I thought would be more desirable alternatives to land-based operators covering the same areas. I learned from those initial experiences and had progressively better results on later trips when I: a) chose liveaboards going to more remote areas, for which land-based operators would have been impractical or impossible; and b) broadened my horizons beyond Aggressor Fleet. I have been gradually “stepping my game up” and felt that I was ready to graduate the “big leagues,” in extremely remote and more iconic places with longer boat rides, more challenging conditions, and bigger animals. I was a macro enthusiast earlier in my diving history but, as I have matured as a photographer and particularly after moving to South Florida, I have taken more of an interest in wide-angle subjects, such as big animals, wrecks, and reef scenes.

Socorro seemed like the easiest place to take my first step into “the big leagues,” more so than other destinations of a similar character off the Pacific coast of Latin America, such as Cocos Island, Malpelo, and the Galapagos Islands. The boats' point of departure is easy to reach from the U.S. via nearby Los Cabos International Airport (SJD). The oft-cited 24-hour crossing time seemed less intimidating than the 36-hour crossing to Cocos Island. Reports of particularly challenging conditions in the Galapagos led me to save that trip for later, until I have more experience in such environments. Socorro's national park fees were reasonable until a huge increase by the Mexican authorities beginning in 2021. Socorro liveaboards generally have the lowest prices of the four Latin American pelagic destinations in question. Mexico's decision to avoid the extensive travel and domestic restrictions that other countries have implemented in the past two years made Socorro an even more attractive choice. My two trips to the Sea of Cortez have also fueled my interest in diving in and around Baja California.

I originally booked a Socorro trip for December 2020-January 2021 on the MV Valentina liveaboard of Fun Azul Fleet, which they canceled a few days later with an odd explanation. I received a full refund and a voucher for a future trip, which I have been unable to use due to inflexible and discriminatory health policies that they later imposed (they require a negative PCR test, which may produce a false positive due to dead remnants of a previous infection, and they will not accept any alternatives).

I decided to give Socorro another try this winter for a similar time frame, and the best fit for my schedule was the Quino El Guardian of Mexico Liveaboards. This operator originally came to my attention at a diving trade show years ago, when I signed up for their mailing list. I liked their messaging enough to keep them in mind for whenever the time came, which was evidently this time. Booking was quick and easy, and they even gave me an HP steel 100 tank rental free of charge. Their health requirements were within reason, as they accept either PCR test results or proof of vaccination. They also arranged rapid antigen tests for return flights the morning of our disembarkation.

Flying into SJD from the U.S. with an underwater camera rig poses the risk of shakedowns by corrupt Mexican customs officers imposing illegitimate duties on housings. I avoided this risk on previous Sea of Cortez trips by flying through Mexico City (and clearing customs there instead) on AeroMexico or a joint AeroMexico-Delta ticket, which may actually be a better choice for some U.S. East Coast residents for other reasons anyway. In this case, however, an AeroMexico itinerary to SJD from Miami via Mexico City would have been so much more expensive than itineraries on U.S. airlines that it actually made more sense financially to bite the bullet and take the risk of a shakedown. In fact, I found an American Airlines itinerary through Dallas (DFW) for just 33,000 AAdvantage miles (plus about $100 in taxes and fees) that I have been trying to unload for a long time. I am not a fan of that airline, but ironically, this trip, during what media described as a holiday air travel meltdown, was one of my easiest and hassle-free trips on that airline thus far. DFW was the best place for a U.S. connection to SJD, with three flights a day providing the most redundancy in the event of a cancellation. I ultimately had no issues with Mexican customs at SJD, as they did not flag me for inspection at all.

(to be continued in the next post on this thread)

 

[Ironborn]

Quino El Guardian

I got the sense that the Quino el Guardian is a converted vessel, rather than a purpose-built liveaboard. If so, it served its new purpose well enough in most ways but still had some disadvantages. Living, dining, socializing, and relaxation spaces were more than adequate for the 11 guests that week but might have been a tighter squeeze at the full capacity of 16. Cabins were another matter. Four of the five cabins are quads. These quad cabins were just slightly bigger than a typical double on an Aggressor or another liveaboard of similar size and design. The tighter space is manageable if one does nothing but sleep there, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could stretch out in my bunk to my full height of 6'3” with a few inches to spare. The problem was that the old wood creaked very loudly in response to even the slightest motion, which made it hard to sleep. Two guests slept in the salon for most of the trip, and one of them added that his bunk was slanted an at angle. None of the cabins, which are below deck, have their own heads or showers, all of which are up on the dive deck. Waking up in the middle of the night to use the head may thus be more disruptive to one's sleep than usual.

As with the other non-cabin spaces, the dive deck provided more than enough room for 11 guests that week. The dive deck has a camera table complete with air guns. Even with a fuller boat, space on the dive deck should not be a problem. The crew divides divers into two staggered groups, with one diving shortly after the other from two separate inflatable zodiacs. They tie the zodiacs up on either side or aft between dives and use a crane to lift them up to the middle of the sundeck for storage when the boat is in transit. This trip was my first time drift diving from zodiacs, to which I adjusted quickly. Zodiacs were a welcome change of pace from getting picked up at the end of drift dive by a huge liveaboard, which I have done on previous trips (Bimini and the Similan Islands). The additional logistics of deploying zodiacs, such as loading and unloading them with divers, gear, and cameras, and moving them in and out of storage, does nonetheless put additional an burden on the crew, which, in this case, they handled beautifully. Two crew members were designated zodiac captains but also did other things.

The excellent service that the crew provided more than outweighed any physical disadvantages of the vessel itself. They were attentive but not intrusive. They were accommodating to our requests and preferences, with one key exception that may have been beyond their control. The quality of the food service was excellent, to the point that some “foodie” guests took photos of their meals to post on Instagram. Portions may have been a bit small for a rather big guy like me, but the chef made so many snacks available between meals that it was a moot point. The only point that could be an issue for some prospective guests was the potential language barrier. Some of the crew members seemed to speak little or no English. I am bilingual in English and Spanish and thus had no problem with this, but I can imagine that some others might. They did nonetheless ensure that divemasters, with whom guests would have the most verbal interaction, were the most proficient in English. One of the zodiac captains told me that he would like to be a divemaster but felt that his English was inadequate for briefings. One of the divemasters, the only non-Mexican crew member, was the most proficient in English and thus in charge of making scheduling and other announcements to passengers and other administrative tasks.

My only major gripe was that we were limited to three dives per day on all but one of our six diving days for reasons that had nothing to do with safety, weather, water conditions, or other natural limitations. We got our full schedule of four dives (as advertised) on only one day, the first day of diving after the crossing. The crew told us that the reason for this limitation was the need to divide time and space with other boats operating at the same sites (as many as three others, for a total of four at one site at the same time) and the distribution of time slots to dive at each site on a “first come, first serve” basis. They described this arrangement as an informal understanding among the many liveaboards that go to Socorro, under the supervision of the marine park authorities. The Quino El Guardian is relatively slow, as I discovered when the crossing from Cabo took about 30 hours, rather than the advertised 24 hours (weather did not appear to have been the cause of the longer crossing time). We thus usually ended up getting “the short end of the stick” in the competition with other boats for time and space.

If this explanation is true, and I could expect similar artificial limitations on the number of dives if I returned to Socorro, then a return trip might be a hard sell for me. Doing only three dives per day does not yield much bang for one's buck after having incurred the significant costs of a liveaboard and the national park's recently skyrocketing fees, and having undergone the extended travel of both a two-segment flight to SJD and a water crossing of 24 hours or more. I understand that, in other destinations, such as the Maldives, there may be weather, safety, water, or other natural constraints that preclude diving a fuller schedule and limit liveaboards to only three dives a day, but in those cases it is just “the nature of the beast.” Being crowded out of the water artificially by too many competing boats in what is supposed to be a remote, pristine area, and by Mexican bureaucrats that charge an arm and a leg in park fees for the privilege of minimizing our time in the water, does not sound like a good deal to me.

Ironically, one of the boats with which we had to share time and space was the Rocio del Mar, the other vessel of Mexico Liveaboards. The Rocio del Mar is larger and appears to be purpose-built as a liveaboard, and even from a distance it was clear that it is by far the nicer of the company's two boats. It is more expensive and appears to fill up much further in advance (the latter is why I did not go on it this trip). I would probably shell out the extra money to go on the Rocio del Mar if and when I went on one of this company's trips again. I am interested in their Midriff Islands trip through the northern Sea of Cortez, which most other liveaboards do not do. I liked the crew on this trip and was satisfied with the company, aside from the artificial and supposedly external limitation on the number of dives.

(to be continued in the next post on this thread)

 

[Ironborn]

Underwater Environments

The Revillagigedo Archipelago, to use its formal name, has four islands, only three of which are on the typically liveaboard itinerary: Socorro proper, San Benedicto, and Roca Partida. On this trip, we spent three of our six diving days on Socorro proper; we spent one day at Roca Partida and two days on San Benedicto. In retrospect, Socorro proper was probably the less interesting half of the trip, with less marine life and less optimal conditions. It is the largest of the islands, so perhaps the marine life congregating around it is more spread out and less concentrated than it is around the smaller islands.

The smaller San Benedicto and Roca Partida were more rewarding. Roca Partida is so small (it is just a pinnacle that sticks out of the water) that it would be hard to justify spending more than a day there, but it also had the highest density of marine life by far, with many large schools of fish and hundreds of sharks. I would have preferred to spend more time at San Benedicto and less time at Socorro proper.

I had heard and read beforehand that Socorro and other such remote pelagic destinations could be relatively challenging environments in which to dive. I would not dispute this characterization, but I would modify it with the caveat that the challenges may sometimes be subtle (which could actually make them more likely to cause problems if one is not alert). For example, I had heard and read about strong currents and imagined I would be drifting along at warp speed or clinging onto rocks for dear life. There were only a few times when current was so strong that we opted to shelter in place behind rocks and wait for animals to come, rather than take our chances with strong current. More insidious were the downcurrents, which I had imagined as forcefully sucking people down into a blue abyss. In fact, they were so mild that it was easy to not notice that they were gradually pulling me deeper. There were a few occasions when the vibrating depth alarm on my Shearwater computer (cue applause from Shearwater enthusiasts) demonstrated the value of that feature, to supplement one's eyes and ears.

The combination of depth and topography is another factor. Dive profiles tended to be deep, often in the 80-100 foot range. Depending on the site, the topography could often lead one deeper, beyond recreational depths. The topography has many sheer vertical drops or wall-like structures, often with few or no points of visual reference for one's depth. It would thus be easy to end up deeper than one intended, particularly in conjunction with a downcurrent so subtle that one cannot feel it. The guides kept bottom times conservative at 45 minutes because of the above-mentioned timing arrangements with other liveaboards, but that conservatism was also reasonable in light of the deep profiles. By the time that the guides had us ascend, I was usually close to my NDLs anyway, even on Nitrox.

Water temperatures were in the mid-to-high 70s F, maxing out at 80 F. Socorro proper was noticeably colder than San Benedicto or Roca Partida, with the lowest temperature of 75 F. I was comfortable in just my full 3mm, but most other guests wore 5mm suits with hoods (I am more comfortable with cold than most others). Visibility was (on average) on par with what I would expect in a typical Caribbean destination, but it varied considerably from one site to another. Roca Partida had what may have been the best visibility that I have ever seen, well over 100 ft. At the other end of the spectrum, Socorro proper often had lower visibility, on par with what I would expect on a an average day in South Florida.

(to be continued in the next post on this thread)

 

[Ironborn]

Marine Life

Manta rays were another major bucket list item for me that I had hoped to see on this trip, as I had never seen one before. The manta encounters turned out to be the most rewarding aspect of this trip by far, even for those that had encountered mantas before. Of course I already knew what they looked like before, from photos, but one must really see them in person to appreciate them fully. Imagine a cross between an angel and a Stealth Bomber flying directly at or over you. I could not help but think of the underwater aliens (or “non-terrestrial intelligence”) from the movie “the Abyss.” James Cameron (also a diver and underwater photographer) must have modeled them on mantas. I had read about their unusually high intelligence, compared to other fish, and possible self-awareness during the crossing, and I definitely sensed that during our encounters, particularly when making eye contact with them.

I knew that Socorro was famous for its unusually sociable mantas, but I did not expect the frequency with which we saw them, the level of interest that they took in us, and the amount of time that they spent with us. The most extreme case was on the first diving day, when a manta was already waiting for us at the entry point when we entered the water for the first of our four dives at “the Boiler” on San Benedicto Island. Multiple mantas spent more and more time with us over the course of that day, as they grew more comfortable with us. We must have spent the majority of our bottom time with them.

The mantas take an interest in divers because they take “bubble baths” in our regulator exhaust, either for cleaning purposes, pleasure, or both (perhaps it feels good because they associate the sensation with the health benefits of cleaning). In other words, the mantas perceive divers as some type of cleaning animal or mobile cleaning stations. Another guest, who had been to Socorro many times before, explained that we could get the mantas to come closer to us by waving at them. This guest explained that divers used to be allowed to touch mantas as they buzz overhead through our regulator exhaust, but the marine park had since banned that practice. Some of the older mantas may have nonetheless remembered those past experiences as another aspect of what they perceived as a cleaning service and thus interpreted our waving at them as an invitation to receive such a cleaning (some cleaner animals, or animals seeking cleanings, use body language and gestures to signal their intentions). I found that waving at them did succeed in getting them to come to me and bathe in my regulator exhaust, which gave me many more opportunities to shoot good photos of them. Indeed, at one point we saw a manta at the surface while in the zodiac, and I could have sworn that it was waving its fin tip above the water at us, as if to ask for a cleaning. I have heard of dolphins imitating humans, but never rays or other fish.

Sharks are the other main attraction. I saw far more sharks in Socorro than I have anywhere else, even where I live and have been diving a lot more, in South Florida, which is a fairly “sharky” place in its own right. Whitetip reef sharks are ubiquitous, even where other sharks are absent, but perhaps they are not large or “sharky” enough to interest some divers. For me, as a photographer, their habit of resting on the bottom, often in groups, makes them interesting photographic subjects. The best place to find them in the largest of these photogenic “cuddle puddles” is on the leeward side of Roca Partida, where depressions in the side of the rock provide shelter. There was also a spot at about 110 feet on the windward side, where they also congregate in even larger numbers but are more active.

A cleaning station at “the Canyon” on San Benedicto Island was another hot spot for sharks – specifically silvertip and silky sharks, and perhaps a Galapagos shark or two. They would circle the cleaning station in large numbers and either seemed to be oblivious to the presence of divers or to take a curious interest in us. This behavior provided great photo opportunities of animals that would otherwise keep their distance. I have never been able to get so close to such a large number of sharks under completely natural circumstances, without chumming or feeding them, or by indirectly facilitating their feeding (as in the famous night dive at French Cay in the Turks & Caicos). We also saw large numbers of silky sharks from the boat at night, when they would come close to the surface to feed on the fish, including flying fish, that the lights from our boat attracted.

As for the larger and more iconic shark species, the group on the other zodiac saw one large school of hammerheads (i.e. dozens of them) and a few smaller groups (e.g. 4-6). That other guide had a special knack for spotting hammerheads, as our group only saw a few of them briefly from a distance and got a better look at one of them near the above Canyon cleaning station. Our group did, however. see a few tiger sharks, but from so far away that we were still debating what they were when we got back to the boat. They must have realized that we had seen them and thus they did not approach us any closer.

We saw dolphins many times, but only twice during a dive: once in passing and from a distance, and again at greater length and closer range at the above Canyon, where they put on a show for us. Dolphins occasionally joined silky sharks feeding near the surface at night and also raced alongside the bow of the boat when it was underway. As for other marine mammals, one guest saw a whale breach during the outbound crossing, and I saw some waterspouts (but no whale) during the return crossing.

The underwater environment of these islands is not that visually appealing, with the possible exceptions of Roca Partida and the striking effect of looking out or down into a clear blue abyss. The rock structure is heavily volcanic, unlike the many different types of rock that form the basis of dive sites in the Sea of Cortez. There is some algae on the rock, a type of sponge that tends to grow flat instead of protruding, and a handful of coral colonies, but otherwise there is little reef growth to speak of. Roca Partida was the only place where the rock structure seems to have acquired any significant coloring from coral, sponge, or algae growth. I was also surprised that there were not that many small or medium-sized fish in most places. Aside from the massive numbers and large schools of fish at Roca Partida, only the Canyon seemed to have a high fish density; perhaps that is why the sharks like it there. I had expected a much higher fish density in a place that clearly supports a large population of sharks and dolphins, and in light of the high fish density that I saw in the neighboring Sea of Cortez. Searching for creatures of interest among the rocks might yield an occasional lobster or Panamic green moray eel, and I did find this one octopus, but otherwise there are few reef-dwelling creatures of interest. Keep an eye out for schools of these barberfish, as they are cleaning fish that live at cleaning stations to service larger animals; there was a big group of them at the Canyon cleaning station.

(to be continued in the next post on this thread)

 

[Ironborn]

Conclusion

I enjoyed this trip and consider it a success. I graduated to the “big leagues” of more challenging diving from a liveaboard in an extremely remote pelagic area with big animals. I scratched a major item off of my bucket list in seeing and photographing manta rays, and I significantly expanded my shark horizons. It motivated me to take more liveaboard trips to other such places.

Cocos Island and Malpelo might be the next ones on my agenda, as Costa Rica and Colombia are easy to reach in direct flights from South Florida and have minimal/manageable international travel and domestic restrictions at this time. If it is possible, I would hope to find other pelagic/big animals destinations that are a bit easier on the eyes, i.e. with more color and reef growth, and perhaps with more small or medium-sized fish and reef-dwelling creatures as well. I would like to dive in more places like Roca Partida, a pinnacle with many large schools of fish and numerous sharks, or to get within photography range of sharks in a natural way, like at the Canyon cleaning station.

As much as I enjoyed this trip, I actually preferred the underwater environments of the southern Sea of Cortez (La Paz and Cabo Pulmo) overall, with their more even mix of reef growth, schools of fish, reef critters, and big animals. My first experience with Mexico Liveaboards gave me enough confidence in them that I would be happy to expand my exploration of the Sea of Cortez north to the Midriff Islands with them. As for Socorro itself, however, I would probably hesitate to return when there are still other new places for me to try first, and in light of the artificial restrictions on the number of dives.

 

[Redfoot]

Great report and pictures- I really enjoyed the information and thorough review.

Thank you for taking the time to put this together

 

[O-ring]

Thanks for posting. Sounds like we were there around the same time.

 

[Ironborn]

Thanks for posting. Sounds like we were there around the same time.

What boat were you on? During my trip, I saw the Rocio del Mar, the Valentina, the Vortex, and a research vessel (Sharkwater).

How did your experience compare to mine? Did you see many of the same things, and experience similar conditions?

 

[O-ring]

What boat were you on? During my trip, I saw the Rocio del Mar, the Valentina, the Vortex, and a research vessel (Sharkwater).

How did your experience compare to mine? Did you see many of the same things, and experience similar conditions?

I was on the Nautilus Belle Amie from 12-31 to 1-8. I remember seeing the Aggressor, the research vessel and the Undersea, but can't remember off the top of my head if I saw any more or not. I'll have to check my topside footage, but haven't started that process yet.

It sounds like we saw a lot of the same things, but my experience on the dive counts was different. Other than the day we checked in at the Navy base we did 4 dives every day (on that day we did 3 plus a night snorkel with Silky sharks). I do know the boat logistics/too many boats at the site is a thing though since they mentioned it during our trip as well. Every night at dinner the captain would briefly sit at each table and discuss the next day's diving plan, etc. with all the passengers and this was talked about every night but we never had an issue. He seemed to stay in touch with most of the other boats and had a good sense of who was going where and was trying to optimize conditions with dive count every time he made a decision on when to go to each site. Could also have been we just got lucky or had slightly different days/timing. Our worst diving was Punta Tosca and our best was Cabo Pulmo, but like you said, most days it was manta soup wherever you were.

I had my own room with my own private head and shower and slept like a baby so the experience you had in the cabins is not anything like the Belle Amie. We had 31 divers on board (we were one short due to a positive COVID test on boarding day) and were 2 to a room with each room having a private head/shower. There is one triple on the boat, but there were only 2 people in it during my trip. The Belle Amie's dive deck is massive and I think everybody agreed that there was plenty of space for everything. I have never seen a boat with so many/much camera tables/space and even that wasn't crowded at all despite a lot of folks bringing pretty involved (big) camera setups.

I haven't even started to dig through my footage and pics yet, but one of the guys on my team posted his video and that's pretty much what I saw too.

 

[Ironborn]

I was on the Nautilus Belle Amie from 12-31 to 1-8. I remember seeing the Aggressor, the research vessel and the Undersea, but can't remember off the top of my head if I saw any more or not. I'll have to check my topside footage, but haven't started that process yet.

It sounds like we saw a lot of the same things, but my experience on the dive counts was different. Other than the day we checked in at the Navy base we did 4 dives every day (on that day we did 3 plus a night snorkel with Silky sharks). I do know the boat logistics/too many boats at the site is a thing though since they mentioned it during our trip as well. Every night at dinner the captain would briefly sit at each table and discuss the next day's diving plan, etc. with all the passengers and this was talked about every night but we never had an issue. He seemed to stay in touch with most of the other boats and had a good sense of who was going where and was trying to optimize conditions with dive count every time he made a decision on when to go to each site. Could also have been we just got lucky or had slightly different days/timing. Our worst diving was Punta Tosca and our best was Cabo Pulmo, but like you said, most days it was manta soup wherever you were.

I had my own room with my own private head and shower and slept like a baby so the experience you had in the cabins is not anything like the Belle Amie. We had 31 divers on board (we were one short due to a positive COVID test on boarding day) and were 2 to a room with each room having a private head/shower. There is one triple on the boat, but there were only 2 people in it during my trip. The Belle Amie's dive deck is massive and I think everybody agreed that there was plenty of space for everything. I have never seen a boat with so many/much camera tables/space and even that wasn't crowded at all despite a lot of folks bringing pretty involved (big) camera setups.

I haven't even started to dig through my footage and pics yet, but one of the guys on my team posted his video and that's pretty much what I saw too.

Looking at the video, it seems that our boats saw almost all of the same things, down to that little guitarfish at Punta Tosca (I recognize the background). Your boat may have had better luck with hammerheads though.

I would also agree that Punta Tosca was probably the least rewarding site. I liked Cabo Pearce but preferred the Canyon for the shark cleaning station.

Now that you mention it, I think that a limited number of dive sites to choose from might be one of the reasons for the boat congestion and competition for water access. I looked up lists of Socorro dive sites, and it appears that there are not as many as I might have thought for such a large area. Or at least most of the boats tend to gravitate toward the same ones.