Trip Report Sea of Cortez Sept 15-21 Aboard Undersea Hunter

[Pipehorse]

Sea of Cortez Trip Sept 14 – Sept 21

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Impetus For This Trip:

I did Costa Rica back in July (still have not finished that dive trip report). I wanted to do more REEF surveying in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. I was reading a dive report for the Sea of Cortez by @mattfish . This led me to check out the Nautilus website. There was a “Super Saver Tab.” It had a 7-day Sea of Cortez trip in a three-person mixed gender room for $1200, aboard the Undersea Hunter. 24 dives, for $1200 dollars is less than I pay for charter trips in Palm Beach County. My wife did not have a problem with the mixed gender thing. So, I booked it. The mixed gender thing turned out to be a moot point, as two other guys were booked in that stateroom.

Nautilus Undersea Hunter


Getting There:

The plan was to fly from Ft Laud to Cabo San Lucas on Friday. Stay at the Casa Bella Hotel (based on a trip report by @scubadada) next to See Creatures Friday night. Do a two-tank morning dive with See Creatures near Cabo Saturday morning. Go back to See Creatures after the morning dive and continue from See Creatures to La Paz to board the LOB (Nautilus Undersea) Saturday night. The following is what happened instead.

Left my house at 1810 Thursday September 12. Since I had a 0651 flight out of Fort Lauderdale, my wife decided it would be easier if we stayed in a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, instead of driving from Palm Beach Gardens at 0400 in the morning. At this point in time there was a 90% chance of development of a tropical storm hitting Cabos at the same time I was supposed to arrive.

Made it Fort Lauderdale airport at 0545, checked my bag, went through Clear and TSA in less than 5 minutes. Boarded the flight to DFW, made it to DFW uneventfully. Flight to Cabo took off on time at 1321. Captain said parameters were good for landing, but if that changed, we would turn around and return to DFW after stopping in El Paso to refuel. In the meantime, Nautilus had sent out an email saying LOB departure was delayed until Sunday morning instead of Saturday night due to the storm. Reservations had been made in a Cabo Hotel for Saturday night, for all those on the LOB. LOB was in Matazlan Shipyard and could not continue until after storm passed.

Plane went ahead to Cabo and five minutes away from landing, the Cabo airport was closed. Flight was diverted to Tucson where we deplaned and got our luggage. American Airlines put everybody up in the Double Tree Hotel next to the airport. Informed everybody flight would depart Tucson at 0745 for Cabo the next day. Brent another diver doing the LOB trip introduced himself in Tucson Airport, my REEF baseball cap gave me away.

An interesting aside here. When my wife and I got married 34 years ago we lived in Tucson for two years. I had not been back there since we left to move to Florida 32 years ago. It was a little surreal being there unplanned that way. I took the opportunity to go to a favorite restaurant, Casa Molinas for dinner.

Returned to Tucson Airport the next day. Plane was a little late from the 0745 departure, took off at 0830. Arrived in Cabo uneventfully this time. I did have a Nauticam housing for my LX10 and was a little worried about being extorted for tax on the housing. Collected my bags, making it through immigration and customs without incident. However, one of the other divers (Brent who was on my flight) got stopped and harassed about his Sealife Sportdiver housing for iphone, really, an iphone housing? They said a tax of $80 would be required, but then relented and let him go without paying. Another diver aboard with a monster Nauticam rig passed through customs without incident.

Had reservations with Sealine Cabo for pickup to Cabo (thanks @ mattfish). They honored the reservation from the day before. Drove to See Creatures in Cabo. Checked in left my bags, went to have lunch. Came back to See Creatures at 3pm. Transportation was provided to a nearby hotel (my third hotel in three nights), and order taken for dinner at a nearby restaurant. Met all the other divers except for one individual (she joined at La Paz) on the trip at dinner.

Bus picked us up at 0800 at the Hotel in Cabo for ride to La Paz. The LOB was still not in La Paz. Nautilus arranged for two tank charter out of La Paz. This was a little strange. To do the charter dive we all had to take our luggage out and get our dive gear on the sidewalk in front of the Marina. I will talk about the dives, in the “dive section.”

The Shark Express

We did the dives and proceeded back to the marina stopping on the way to watch whale sharks and dolphins (more about that in the dive section). We were informed that LOB was still not in La Paz.

We got off the dive boat and went ahead to Hotel Catedral in La Paz Sunday night 9/15. All our luggage except the dive gear was in our rooms. Delightful hotel. We had dinner at the hotel. Transportation arranged to take us to the LOB at 0830 Monday morning. We left the hotel at 1000am. Proceeded to LOB. LOB had to take stores etc. We finally left the dock at 1400. Considering it was a named storm (Ileana), and the whole trip could have been cancelled, I thought we were still doing okay.

Cathedral Across From Hotel In La Paz

Received an email from Nautilus 09/28. Since the trip had been interrupted Nautilus has offered a 25% of price paid as a credit towards another trip. I am sure I will use it next year.



Getting Home:

Seems like the choice here is to stay an extra day and get an early flight out in the morning or leave in the afternoon of the day the LOB is disembarked. Leaving early in the morning means a hotel stay for a night. Leaving in the afternoon means a red eye back to the east coast of United States.

I left the same day as disembarking. Transportation provided by Nautilus to the airport, on to Cabo from disembarkation at La Paz. Most of the divers were flying out that afternoon. Disembarked the LOB at 0830, the bus was on the road by 0900. Arrived at the airport at 1145. Passed through airport immigration and airport security quickly without incident. Flying home was Cabo to Phoenix. Passed through immigration with Global Entry. No customs check. Phoenix to Charlotte (red eye), Charlotte to Ft Laud. Arrived in Ft. Laud at 0930. All flights were on time without incident.



The Boat:

Boat safety briefing, fire aboard briefing, and dive skiff boarding briefings were done prior to departure. Shortly after departure there was an emergency drill of donning life preservers and moving out to dive area to board skiffs in case of emergency. The boat provides DSMBs and Nautilus Lifeline GPS locators to every diver that does not have one for the duration of the trip. No excuses for getting a lost at sea.

I have only been on a couple LOBs. However, I worked on cargo ships as an engineer for thirty-five years. So, my perspective is different than most individuals frequenting LOBs. For example, if you look at the saloon area below, I had that much space in my own sitting room on the last ship I worked on, not including my stateroom and office. Suffice to say I find the quarters somewhat cramped. But then again, except for taking a shower, using the toilet, changing, and sleeping, little time is spent in the quarters anyway. For how much the trip was discounted, would gladly share a stateroom in the future. Most of my not diving time was at a table in the saloon, going through images, doing REEF surveys, uploading surveys, uploading to inaturalist, and doing ebird surveys. As well as recording my general impressions for each dive.

The cramped living space is made up for by the amount of space provided for dive gear and cameras. Two big camera tables, with all the “unattended” outlets for charging that anybody needs. A tank space between each diver makes it easy to get into and out of one’s gear. I thought the rack for hanging wet suits could be a bit bigger to allow for more space and better drying of the wetsuits between dives. I could see where it might be uncomfortable during cooler months of the year. As it was, I don’t think the air temp was ever much below 80f so, donning wet wetsuits was not a big deal.

Food on the boat was fine. Continental breakfast before the first dive, breakfast after the first dive, lunch after the second dive, snacks after the third dive, and dinner after the fourth dive. Dinners included steaks, tacos, pot roast, hamburgers, and fish. With assortment of vegetables and salad. Lunches were similar, a little lighter. One vegan aboard. Lots of pasta, vegetables, and tofu in that regard.

Divemaster Eli With Undersea Hunter In Background

 

[Pipehorse]

The Crew:

One captain, two engineers, two mates, one chef, one hostess, four divemasters/dive guides. The only crew not involved with supporting diving directly are the chef and the hostess. Mates and engineers would help with boarding, driving, and unloading skiffs. Captain would occasionally do some skiff driving. Dive guides were always driving, diving, boarding, and unloading skiffs. My observation is that they all work their asses off to make an excellent experience for the divers. Well done!

Diving Logistics:

Diving is all done in two zodiac skiffs powered by 50hp outboard motors. Divers board the skiffs in full gear except for fins. Fins and cameras are passed to divers after they are in the boat. Divers put fins on while motoring to the dive site. Entrance was back roll off the skiff. The divemasters encouraged negative entries. But situationally it never seemed necessary, it just got the dive going all that much faster. Ascents were usually started at the 52-minute mark at which point the divemaster would pop a DMSB. Ascend, do safety stop, and skiff would be standing by at the surface. Divemaster would board skiff first to help the driver. Divers would pass up cameras, weights, remove BCs, fins, then board the boat. Video of getting off the skiff is below, unfortunately I did not get footage of boarding the skiff. All dive equipment is returned to the dive platform by crew, while divers get out of wetsuits. Divers would disconnect regulators, so that crew could attach whips for filling tanks. O2 analyzers were available for those using nitrox after fill was complete. O2 was between 31 and 32 every time, I left my computer at 31.

Divers were divided into three groups, (I was in group 3). Two groups of six, and one group of five. Divemasters rotate between groups, with one “swing” divemaster. Order in which the groups board the skiffs is rotated every day. I believe on the night dive and one other dive we had two groups, as some people were sitting dives out. On the last dive we had only one group, as there were only six or seven individuals doing that dive. I couldn’t help but notice that all the European divers except one were in the same group. I queried a divemaster about how they decided on the groups. Obviously, people traveling together would be in the same group, but after that they said mostly by experience level. I queried further, and it was that more experienced would be kept together, and less experienced would be kept together. That was not what I observed. It didn’t seem to make a difference; I was just curious as to how they did it.

Dive briefings with nice drawings were presented for each new site. Don’t go blue was a common warning, i.e. don’t go swimming off and get caught in a current that drags a diver away from whatever land mass we happen to be diving. Territorial behavior of male sea lions was explained more than a few times. The point was, if the behavior was observed it would behoove one to heed the warning and back off out of the territory. I only observed the blowing of a curtain of bubbles warning once. I happened to be the person in the group furthest away at the time. Eventually the divemaster caught the attention of the diver that was too close, and we moved on without incident.

There were no assigned buddy requirements. The groups followed the divemaster and spread out according to the wants of each individual. The only time I had a buddy was on occasions where members of the group, and/or the divemaster were surfacing before sixty minutes for whatever reason that might be.

Occasionally groups would cross paths underwater and it might become a bit crowded, but that situation always seemed to sort itself out in less than five minutes. Even on the sites where there were other LOBs, we were not in the presence of other divers besides our own group for long.


Dive Summary:

There were 19 dives in total, 2 on the charter boat, and 17 on the LOB. Max depth was 95 feet on the first dive at Las Animas. Avg Max Depth was 60.5 feet. Avg depth of dives combined 32.7ft. Avg dive length was 59 minutes. Low sea water temp was 75f reached briefly at a depth of 84.5ft, on the second dive at Los Islotes. Highest seawater temp 85f on the night dive at Las Animas.

All dives fell into two geological categories, with two exceptions. A pinnacle, and steep slope rocky shorelines. Pinnacles had varying degrees of slopes made of boulders and rocks, giving way to sand and gravel bottoms. Steep slope rocky shorelines had greater degree of slope than the pinnacles leading off to sand and gravel bottoms. The exceptions to the pinnacle/rocky shoreline rule were an underwater ridge, sloping off in both directions, and an artificial reef on sand bottom.

REEF Surveys were conducted by me on every dive. Fish populations were similar across dives sites. With a few exceptions. La Lobera had a large school of Bigeye Scad(baitball), and a large school of Mexican Barracuda. The first site at Las Animas had Scalloped Hammerheads and Cortez Garden Eels. La Reina also had a large school of Bigeye Scad, a smaller school of Machete, and Mantas. At Los Islotes I observed Electric Bullseye Rays, and the only Zebra Moray of the trip. At Punta Ballena there was an unidentified ray, Electric Bullseye Ray, and a Spotted Eagle Ray.

Invertebrates are a macro consideration, i.e., the more macro one does, the more invertebrates one finds. Given that we usually had good visibility, and it was my first visit to these dive sites, my personal range of focus was spent wider angle much more so than macro. Nudibranchs are plentiful, the more macro searching the more finding. I observed six distinct species. There are hard and soft corals to be seen. But are randomly situated on rocks and boulders throughout the dive sites. The exception was La Reina, where the shallow part of the pinnacle was covered in a small yet to determined species of gorgonian. Many of the gorgonians had commensal brittle stars attached to the branches. Smaller sea fans were here and there. The black coral on the Fang Ming was exceptional. Encountered a few octopus, but did not see a single squid for the entire trip. During the night dive we got on some crazy looking worms, and one beautiful species of sea anemone Alicia beebei.

Other species of note were Green Sea Turtles, California Sea Lions, and Guadalape Fur Seals. Green Sea Turtles were occasionally observed at various sites. The exception was La Reina where on the third dive I counted eleven Green Sea Turtles. I have never seen more than three at time on a dive anywhere in thirty years of scuba diving, until then. California Sea Lions were present at five of ten diving sites. Guadalupe Fur Seals were present at one site. Sometimes the sea lions would make a quick pass to take a look at divers. Other times they were extremely playful, especially if engaged by a diver rotating or spinning about. The Guadalupe Fur Seals were more eager to frolic with divers than the sea lions.

Miscellaneous:

@mattfish wrote he had a 3mm wetsuit for this trip to Sea of Cortez but should have had a 5mm. @scubadada wrote he had a 5mm for a trip to this Revillagigedos and said he should have had a 7mm wetsuit. I don’t own a 7mm wetsuit but seriously considered buying one. I settled on a 5mm and brought a hooded vest and beanie hood. Given the lowest temps were mid to high 70’s at depth for only short periods of time the 5mm and hooded vest were a good choice.

 

[Pipehorse]

Charter Boat Dives:

9/15 La Paz

The two tank charter boat dive was done north of La Paz. First dive site was El Merito, rocky slope giving way to sand bottom. Max depth 37ft, avg depth 22ft, constant 83f sea temp, with 30ft of visibility. I did a REEF survey for the hour-long dive and added a few species I had not observed before. However, the unfortunate highlight of this dive was being stung by what were planktonic jellyfish larvae of some unknown species. It was uncomfortable, and I got hit in the face and neck more than a few times. Almost everybody suffered some stings but recovered quickly. One diver had an allergic reaction to the stings that kept her from diving until Wednesday.

Second dive site was a small pinnacle named San Rafaelito. Max depth 53ft, average depth 35ft, sea temp max 83f with 79f closer to bottom. 40ft of visibility. Rock giving way to sand at the bottom. Did a REEF survey, found more species not identified by me, and no stinging from planktonic larvae. There were a few sea lions hanging out on top of the rock, but they never put in an appearance while we were diving.

The good highlight of the two-tank charter was not on the dives, but above the water in transit to and from the dive sites. On the way out a Whale Shark was spotted in the boat channel. On the way in a pod of about fifty dolphins appeared shortly after the second dive. Captain stopped the boat to allow those who wanted to, to jump in the water near the dolphins. However, the dolphins did not cooperate. When started heading back to the marina after observing dolphins from the boat for 45 minutes, there was three Whale Sharks in the boat channel location, unfortunately we could not get off the boat for a closer look because it was right in the middle of the channel. We spent a total of 90 minutes watching dolphins and whale sharks. A shame we could not get in the water with the whale sharks. I have a feeling they would have been more cooperative than the dolphins.

Blue Banded Goby

Redhead Goby

Dives on the LOB:

9/16 Day 1 Dive 1, Fang Ming

Since we departed 1400 on Sept 16, we only did one dive that day.

The dive was an artificial reef named Fang Ming. A ship confiscated by the Mexican Government in 1995 for attempted immigrant smuggling. It was sunk in 1999 on the west side of Espiritu Santo Island. It is in 72 feet of water upright and intact. It is located inside of a national park, so no fishing allowed. Sea temp was a constant 81f, max depth was 71ft, avg depth 51ft, visibility in 50ft range. The results of no fishing are large Leopard Groupers, in the 30”-36” range. The Amarillo Snapper, while not as large as the grouper, is in the 24” range. Observed one large Green Sea Turtle camped out on the upper deck of the wreck. The definite highlight for me was the Longnose Hawkfish hanging out in the black coral.

Cortez Angelfish

Leopard Grouper

Longnose Hawkfish In Black Coral

 

[Pipehorse]

9/17 Day 2 Dive 1-3 La Labore

La Labore is a pinnacle located 1.5 miles due west of Isla San Francisco. The slope from exposed rocks is not that steep, and large boulders are strewn about leading to a sand/gravel bottom at 55ft. Max depth for three dives 54ft. Sea temp constant at 82f first two dives, with 60ft visibility. Thermocline to 77f the third dive, with varied visibility with the minimum being 30ft on the third dive.

It was my first ever encounter with sea lions. They made close approaches and were generally playful. But in hindsight not as playful as the Guadalupe Fur Seals, or the Los Islotes sea lions. Did REEF surveys on all three dives. Species of note were Bluespotted Jawfish, Cortez Barracuda (schooling), Bigeye Scad (baitball), Warthead Blenny, and Longnose Puffer. According to the divemasters this was a likely spot to find Pacific Seahorse. The preferred hangout being among gorgonians. There were a respectable number of gorgonians about. I checked each and every one of them. But alas, no seahorses. We did get on one species of nudibranch, tentatively identified as an Ink Stain Dorid. However, I have loaded that image into inaturalist, and the tentative identification is in question, it might be a California chromodorid, Ink Stain Dorid/California Chromodorid.

Lucas Barracuda (Cortez Barracuda)

Blue Spotted Jawfish

Blue and Gold Snapper

9/17 Day 2 Dive 4 Barra De San Francisquito

This was the underwater ridge site, i.e., no stone structure protruding from the water. I did not get coordinates for this site, so I am a little unsure of the exact location. But I did write notes shortly after the dive ended that day. I estimated it was a mile southeast of La Labore at the time. Max depth 62ft, avg depth 44ft, sea temp avg 82f, min 79f, visibility 45ft. The divemaster for my group for this dive was Uri. Almost immediately upon descending Uri discovered two nudibranchs. At the time they looked like the same species, but later inspection images revealed two distinct species a Tiger Dorid, and Tambja adere We found more nudibranchs, including a third species Tambja Eliora.

The REEF fish survey count of 32 species for this site was lower than average. That happens when I become distracted by macro subjects. I did find a species that was new to me, Mexican Barnacle Blenny. It was a tiny fish, and it took me a few minutes to get a decent exposure. When I finally looked up, there was only one other diver remaining from my group hovering next to me. We continued the dive and surfaced with another group.

Mexican Barnacle Blenny

Tiger Dorid

Tambja eliora

Tambja abdere

 

[Pipehorse]

9/18 Day 3 Dive 1-2 Isla Las Animas

Isla Las Animas is located 12.15 miles due east of the northern tip of Isla San Jose. Isla Las Animas is shaped approximately like a rectangle 500ft wide x 1340ft long. The long side is oriented north south. First two dives were on the southeast corner, where the Scalloped Hammerheads should be found hanging out in the thermoclines.

Las Animas Position

Las Animas Close Up

Las Animas Drawing

Max depth first dive 95ft, avg depth 53ft, surface temp 85f, thermocline temp 79f at 84ft, visibility was 90ft in the blue, but in the thermocline maybe forty feet on dive one. We descended quickly to 77ft where the thermocline was located. It didn’t take long to see Hammerheads swimming just over the bottom in the cooler thermocline water. I counted a total of six on the small side less than six feet long, they were shy and did not make close passes. Far enough away to be unable to acquire good exposures. I dropped further down where I could get a good look at the bottom. There were Cortez Garden Eels as far as I could see, hundreds of them, maybe thousands. We moved back to shallower water, and sea lions started making appearances. Did my REEF fish survey. 41 species for the hour-long dive including the Scalloped Hammerheads. 41 species seemed to be an average count for these dives.

Dive Profile First Dive Las Anmias

Blunthead Triggerfish

Max depth on the second dive was 62ft with an average depth of 40ft. Surface temp was lower 81 and the thermocline and shifted further up into the water column. We saw three Hammerheads in the thermocline. They were all on the small side less than six feet in length. The largest one I observed was a little over six feet and swimming around in the blue water just above the thermocline. Again, we moved into the shallows and were greeted by sea lions. Finished another REEF survey, 39 species during the sixty-minute dive.

Starry Morays



9/18 Day 3 Dive 3 Isla Las Animas

Dive 3 was a little further to the east and close to the Guadalupe Fur Seals. Dive started at 1405. Max depth 53ft, avg depth 35ft, surface sea temp 85f, sea temp at depth 81f, duration 60 minutes. I thought I heard the divemaster say during the briefing that Guadalupe Fur Seals were not as inclined to be playful as the California Sea Lions. I guess I got it wrong, or this dive was an exception to the rule. I try to be as economical as possible with movement underwater. Not on this dive. For twenty minutes I twisted and rotated about as one playful fur seal after another responded in kind. Eventually I had to stop because I was dizzy and tired from all the twirling. The fur seals were present throughout the dive. If they were not playing with divers than they were playing with each other. Got some good video. The REEF surveyor species count was less than average because of all the playing with the fur seals, it was well worth it.



9/18 Day 3 Dive 4 Las Animas Night Dive

Dive start time 2037. Max depth 65ft, avg depth 44ft, surface sea temp 85f, 83f at depth, visibility of 70 feet, and length of dive was 46 minutes. A few fur seals took a look but did not come in close. Invertebrates included but were not limited to crazy looking nocturnal worms, Blunt-end Seahares, Blue Spiny Lobster, and a beautiful sea anemone Alicia beebei. Most fish were asleep on the rocks or hiding among corals. Green Morays were out hunting, and many divers observed a Green Moray get hold of a Pacific Creolefish. Divemaster reported after the dive, the fish was too large for the Moray to swallow. I was expecting to see more Cardinalfish out, but it was not the case. Did a REEF fish survey of 17 species, night dives always have less species.

Coral Hawkfish

Alicia beebei

 

[Pipehorse]

9/19 Day 4 Dive 1 La Reina

La Reina is a pinnacle located 5 miles north of Isla Ceralvo. It is not large enough to see on googlemaps. Of all the pinnacles we visited it had the least amount of slope. It had two tiny peaks with a canyon/valley in the middle. Unfortunately, there were two other LOB’s on the dive site. It was breezy that morning the ride to the dive site was bumpy. Breeze abated by the end of the second dive.

We were informed during the briefing that there was a good possibility of seeing mantas here. We entered the water at 0821. Max depth 71ft, avg depth 51ft, surface sea temp 82f, sea temp at depth 81f, visibility 100ft, dive length 60 minutes. We did observe a Manta within the first ten minutes of the dive. It was going away from us swimming into the current, so the encounter was less than fulfilling. The shallower part of the slope was covered in small gorgonians of a species I have identified yet. Did lots of searching for seahorses but no such luck. The boulders on this site were smaller. Lots of Green Morays under those boulders. As many Green Morays as I have ever seen on a single dive, at least eleven of them. Despite the presence of the Green Morays, I was unable to locate a single Fantail Pipefish. Other species of interest were Green Sea Turtles, Rainbow Stonefish, and a Blunthead Triggerfish. Did a REEF survey, 40 species observed.

Barberfish

Panamic Green Moray

Gafftopsail Pompano

When we returned from the dive, the captain had an announcement to make. The spotter plane had gotten on a pod of Orca twenty miles south of our location, heading in our direction. Would anybody be interested in trying to locate the Orcas? The vote was overwhelming in favor of trying to chase down the Orcas. I was in the minority.

A couple things were not clear to me at the moment. Did locating the Orcas mean possibly trying to get in the water with the Orcas as well? Or did it just mean observing them from the LOB, or maybe observing them from the skiffs? Not sure how keen I would be about getting in the water with animals that have been documented eviscerating White Sharks. And what was the probability of encountering the Orcas if we did chase them? We were going to give up time at depth for this, really? Anyway, captain said, they are a distance away, lets do the second dive and if they are still moving in this direction we will go after them. I guess the lesson here is never underestimate the attraction of big animals, almost like gravity people are drawn to them.

9/19 Day 4 Dive 2 La Reina

Entered the water at 1120. Max depth 66ft, avg depth 43ft, sea temp on surface 82f, sea temp at depth 81f, visibility 100ft, and 57-minute duration. Moved around the pinnacle to allow us a pass through the canyon. It was very picturesque. Turtles like to hang there, and there were Mexican Barnacle Blennies present for macro. Continued with macro subjects at depth of 50ft after passing through the canyon. My entire group decided to surface early, I stayed behind with divemaster. We rewarded with much better observation of a Manta at a good range for a few seconds of decent video. REEF fish survey completed, 43 species. Species of note were a school of Machete, and a school of Yellow Scad.




Returned to the LOB. The Orcas had turned south. Chasing Orcas was no longer an option.

9/19 Day 4 Dive 3 La Reina

Entered the water at 14:13. Max depth 64ft, avg depth 42ft, sea temp on surface 82f, sea temp at depth 81f, visibility at 80ft. Five minutes into the dive we were on a large school of Bigeye Scad (baitball). In the vicinity of the Bigeye Scad was a smaller school of Machete. While doing video of Blue and Gold Snapper a sea lion came along swimming underneath the baitball, turned towards me swam around, turned towards me again and then went to the surface. The group made its way through the canyon again. Coming out on the other side there were half a dozen Green Sea Turtles. Observed a few more along the way for a total of eleven during the dive.

During the briefing divemasters had described a wreck. To reach it was a matter of if the currents cooperated. When we came out of the canyon this time currents were favorable, and we were able to make down that way. The stern upside with the propellor still intact can be seen below in an image below. We did a tour of the wreckage and ascended shortly thereafter. REEF survey completed; 41 species counted.

9/19 Day 4 Dive La Reinita

La Reinita is a pinnacle located just offshore of the northwest coast of Isla Ceralvo. It is not large enough

to see on googlemaps. Unlike La Reina, it had a steep slope to the bottom. We entered the water at 1714. Max depth 75ft, avg depth 41ft, sea temp at surface 83f, sea temp at depth 77f, visibility 60ft, and length of dive 60 minutes. After dropping in on the east side of the pinnacle I descended rapidly to see what might be observed on the bottom. Did not stay for long because I did not want to deal with the cooler water. Continued with the group around the south of the pinnacle to east side. Explored under rock and crevices to see what might be seen. Of all the diving we did this was the only place I found green feather algae. It was a small patch, 20cm x 15 cm. I looked carefully within, and spotted what I thought was nudibranch but turned out to be a seahare, Stylochelius polyoma. Shared the observation with another diver, and the divemaster. REEF fish survey completed, 42 species including Spottail and Burrito Grunts.

Stone Scorpionfish

Mexican Goatfish

 

[Pipehorse]

9/20 Day 5 Dive 1 Los Islotes

Los Islotes is a small island(s) located 1 km north of Isla Partida. There is a large sea lion colony there, and a beautiful rock arch that extends above and below the water. There were other LOBs at this location. It was breezy in the morning here, made for a chilly ride back from the first dive.

Entered the water at 0725. Max depth 36 ft, avg depth 17ft, sea temp at surface 80f, sea temp at depth 79f, visibility 80ft, and length of dive 57 minutes. This dive was crowded at the beginning, groups from other LOBs were in the same location as us. All in shallow water playing with frolicking sea lions. I observed and caught on video a woman from another LOB extend her hand to a sea lion. I thought at the time the sea lion put its snout into her hand. In a closer examination of the video, I think the sea lion clamped down on her fingers momentarily. Another diver from our LOB had a sea lion bite through her wetsuit, without breaking the skin. This is the one place I observed the male threat behavior of blowing a current of bubbles. It would be fair to say, that the sea lions here were more rambunctious than the sea lions and fur seals we had previously encountered. Completed a REEF fish survey, 35 species counted. Notable species were a pair of Black Skipjack, and a Sunset Wrasse.


9/20 Day 5 Dive 2 Los Islotes

Entered the water at 1021. Maximum depth 84ft, avg depth 36ft, sea temp at surface 80f, sea temp at depth 75f (the coldest temp for the whole trip), visibility 80ft, and length of dive 54 minutes.

Started out in the shallow water among the sea lions again. I quickly descended to the bottom for a look see, the rest of the group remained shallow. I was rewarded with the coldest temp of the whole trip, a pair of Electric Bullseye Rays, and the only Zebra Moray I observed during the entire trip. I did have a 5mm, a hooded vest, a beanie hood on for this dive. Notwithstanding the thermal protection, I stayed at depth a brief time, returning to join the group in the shallows.

Following the divemaster we continued east to the arch. There was a slight current pushing from the south, the direction we swam. My video does not do it justices. Lots of fish hovering in the current. Light, shadow, and then light again as we came out on the other side, a sea lion resting on the bottom at twenty feet. We turned around and made our back through the arch with the current in the north direction. Completed a REEF survey, 38 species counted. The Zebra Moray, and Electric Bullseye Rays being species of note.



Zebra Moray

Electric Bullseye Ray

9/20 Day 5 Dive 3 Candelero

Candelero is a small island found in a cove on the northwest side of Isla Espiritu Santo.

I think at this point we were down to two groups, as some divers had decided to start packing there gear early. Entered the water at 1441. Max depth 47ft, average depth 32ft, sea temp constant throughout water column 81f, visibility 40ft or less, and length of dive sixty minutes. Thus was definitely a macro dive. Lots of nudibranchs observed, including a new species for the trip, Agassiz’s Chromodorid. REEF survey completed; 34 species counted.

Agassiz's Chromodorid

9/20 Day 5 Dive Isla Ballena

Isla Ballena found 2 km southwest of the previous site, Candelero. All but seven divers had packed it in, just one group diving. Entered at the water at 1623, max depth 52ft, avg depth 39ft, sea temp constant throughout water column 81f, visibility 60ft, and dive length 58 minutes.

Entered on the northside of the island and drifted with a slight eastern current. The boulders on the slope down to the sand were enormous, the size of a small house. Spent a lot of time close to the bottom looking for macro subjects. Found more nudibranchs and a Warthead Blenny. Observed an Electric Bullseye Ray, and unidentified ray, and just before descending a Spotted Eagle Ray the only one for the whole trip. Completed a REEF fish survey, 43 species counted.

Blue and Yellow Chromis