Trip Report Socorro 22-30 December, 2018 Trip Report

[FettSolo]

I'm going to Socorro with Nautilus Under Sea in December! This trip report made me even more excited.

 

[togatown]

Nitrox is a must for this multi dives / day & multi days diving trips for maximizing the bottom time & safety. They have 2 O2 analyzers. No need to bring yours.

Sweet, thanks again!

 

[scubaNYC16]

How long are the dives?

You meantioned freedom on dives, does that mean they let you buddy dive and surface at a certain time or group needs to surface together?

There’s a decent amount of boats going there now, did you ever feel like there were too many divers on a site?

Thanks.

 

[Dan]

How long are the dives?

You meantioned freedom on dives, does that mean they let you buddy dive and surface at a certain time or group needs to surface together?

There’s a decent amount of boats going there now, did you ever feel like there were too many divers on a site?

Thanks.

We dove to EAN 28-32 NDL. For example, Dive 6-8 in Roca Partida at 110-113 feet (33-34m) my dive times were 51-55 minutes.

I was in the group 2 since that was my first time in Socorro. So we surface together. I usually came up last with probably about 750-1000 psig left in my AL80 tank by the time I got back to RIB.

I can’t speak for group 1, which was for the self-reliant divers with DM gave complete freedom on their dives. However, from my observation, group 1 was pretty much diving for about the same length of time. I didn’t think anyone doing deco diving.

On my next trip I would go for group 1 since I now know what kind of dive profile and environment I’ll be dealing with. It’s not as bad as I have read. It’s what I consider easy diving like in Galápagos & Cocos, in comparison to what I have experienced in Raja Ampat, Komodo, Palau or Maldives. You remember when we were in Palau (Peleliu Cut & Blue Corner)? I didn’t experience anything like that in Socorro. May be we were just happened to be in Socorro at the right time. Even the crossing from Cabo San Lucas to San Benedicto and back were pretty smooth.

As far as other liveaboard, we didn’t see any, except on our last day in The Canyon in San Benedicto. Rocio Del Mar (I think it was) just arrived there and dove the site in staggered manner with us. Luckily we still saw schooling hammerheads twice. They didn’t scare away those shy fish.

 

[CZS]

Dan,

Absolutely fantastic trip report, thank you for sharing! We have a group of 5 divers who will be in Socorro aboard the Nautilus Explorer this coming May. A couple of quick questions: My understanding is that December is typically about the warmest waters all year, so I'm a bit surprised that you were seeing temps in the mid 70s, I would have expected low 80s. Was this at depth? How were the thermoclines? What level exposure protection were yourself and others wearing?

 

[Dan]

Dan,

Absolutely fantastic trip report, thank you for sharing! We have a group of 5 divers who will be in Socorro aboard the Nautilus Explorer this coming May. A couple of quick questions: My understanding is that December is typically about the warmest waters all year, so I'm a bit surprised that you were seeing temps in the mid 70s, I would have expected low 80s. Was this at depth? How were the thermoclines? What level exposure protection were yourself and others wearing?

Thanks for the kind words!

Surprisingly the most thermocline we experience was about 2F (1C), from 77F (25C) at surface to 75F (24C). At 100’ (30m). It’s could be due to not much current, I think. Therefore, not much fish, especially in Roca Partida.

I asked them a week before departure about the water temperature & they told me right on the money, 75-77F. So, I brought 5mm & 2mm hood. I felt fine with it, except at the very end on my 19th dive, I felt like going back to the boat, after seeing the schooling hammerheads.

Other divers wearing mostly 5mm. There were a couple from UK wearing drysuit. Some were wearing 1mm, 3mm. Sten, our Viking DM (from Sweden) , wearing 3mm shorty, I think. One guy from New York celebrated his 100th dive closed to naked by just wearing swimming trunk. Ya, everyone has different tolerance towards cold water. I grew up in Indonesia, so I’m warm weather guy.

 

[paolobl65]

thank you very much Dan for your deteiled report ! and for the nice pictures and videos as well !!
I'll be on Nautilis Expolrer on May 2020 so ... I really cant wait !
all my best
Paolo

 

[Dan]

Courtesy of Nautilus Liveaboards - Liveaboard Diving in Mexico booklet:

 

[Dan]

Thanks @paolobl65

May 2021 would be my next trip to Socorro. I’d like to see the baitball, as shown here by David Attenborough of Blue Planet, BBC Earth

 

[paolobl65]

Thank you Dan for the BBC video , and ... yes !!! one reason for May trip is to see the baitball ( finger crossed as usual ) and the other is because that trip is 11 days ( 2 days longer than usual )