Socorro vs Bahamas

[David Novo]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a liveaboard in the next months (February would be the best) and I am divided between Socorro and Bahamas:
- Maldives, Indonesia and Galapagos are out due to future travel plans);
- My liveaboard experience was 5 days in the GBR and a week in Egypt;
- Looking for shark variety this time;
- Is there any liveaboard in Bahamas that covers Bimini and Tiger beach?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Soccoro is excellent diving, there are loads of sharks and it can deliver great schooling hammerhead action, along with friendly oceanic mantas, and the chance of whalesharks. Very rarely a humpback is spotted on a dive.
I also love tiger beach and bimini for the closeup high action with tigers and great Hammerheads, along with reef, lemon, nurse and bull sharks. I've only done LOB's there departing from West Palm Beach. I've done trips on both the Shearwater and the Dolphin Dream. I prefer the dolphin dream, more room and they feed on dives, the shearwater does not. Feeding keeps the sharks around longer and definitely ramps up the action.
There are LOB's that operate out of the bahamas but I have no experience with them.

 

[David Novo]

Soccoro is excellent diving, there are loads of sharks and it can deliver great schooling hammerhead action, along with friendly oceanic mantas, and the chance of whalesharks. Very rarely a humpback is spotted on a dive.
I also love tiger beach and bimini for the closeup high action with tigers and great Hammerheads, along with reef, lemon, nurse and bull sharks. I've only done LOB's there departing from West Palm Beach. I've done trips on both the Shearwater and the Dolphin Dream. I prefer the dolphin dream, more room and they feed on dives, the shearwater does not. Feeding keeps the sharks around longer and definitely ramps up the action.
There are LOB's that operate out of the bahamas but I have no experience with them.

Whale sharks and humpbacks are not the focus as I have seen them in the Azores and the Yongala, respectively.

Tiger and bull sharks, hammerhead schools and oceanic mantas are target here.

 

[Hoag]

I have done LOBs both in the Bahamas (Aqua Cat) and to Socorro (Solmar V).

Of the two, (for me) the Bahamas (Nassau) was much easier to get to but the Aquacat does not go to Tiger Beach or Bimini. Having said that, I would recommend a trip to Socorro over the Bahamas. (I personally would recommend other boats rather than the Solmar V however if for no other reason than the cabins are TINY on the Solmar V.)

If you are looking for a lot of sharks, another option to keep in mind might be the Turks and Caicos Explorer II, based in Provo TCI. The waters around TCI tend to be very "sharky" and you will likely see sharks every day if not almost every dive. They will, however be mostly Caribbean Reef Sharks Nurse Sharks and maybe the odd Lemon Shark.

If you want a variety, then Socorro is hard to beat. During my trip there, in one week in the archipelago, we saw White Tip Reef Sharks, Galapagos Sharks, Silkies, Silver Tips, Hammer Heads (although they were shy & kept their distance) and even a very friendly Whale Shark that hung out with us for the entire dive. The Socorro Islands are also home to giant Manta Rays some with "wingspans" approaching 6-7m.

 

[DiveProKoko]

Tiger and bull sharks, hammerhead schools and oceanic mantas are target here.

You won't see mantas in the Bahamas, but you will see Tigers for sure if you take a liveaboard that visits Tiger Beach. Bahamas Aggressor and Aqua Cat both have good liveaboards that go there. Somebody mentioned Turks and Caicos. We did the Aggressor out of T&C and saw reef sharks on every dive, but no Tigers. "Sharkiest" waters I've ever dove, but not the species you're looking for. On that trip we also made it out to French Cay for a night dive where the sharks (reef and nurse) actively feed naturally without a bait box. Having said all that, you may be prefer Socorro given what you want to see, but you won't see it all at either place.

 

[Manuel Sam]

Shark variety: in Socorro, the five mentioned by Hoag, very likely. Tiger and Oceanic Black tip, sometimes. Whaleshark, not as likely in February, but who knows - it's an ocean, and I quote someone else again who said in another thread here that whalesharks do not know how to read calendars. So that's possibly 8 different types. Duskies are sometimes reported, but I have never seen one. Even if I did see one, it was probably too far for me to tell for sure. Nautilus (liveaboard operator) claims 10+ types - don't know which others.

I have done Tiger Beach with Bimini on the Dolphin Dream liveaboard and Bimini land-based, and in those trips I saw Caribbean Reef, Lemon, Nurse, Bull, Tiger and Great Hammerhead. So six that are likely.

Liveaboards: I've also been on both the Shearwater and the Dolphin Dream leaving out of Riviera Beach/West Palm. Aggressor might offer seasonal trips there as well. There might be others.

I too prefer Dolphin Dream over Shearwater: More comfortable cabins and good food. But if comfort and private baths are important to you, neither one is what I would call comfortable when compared to most liveaboards, and neither one has private baths.

As for choosing between Bahamas and Socorro, I've been to both multiple times and both are must-do's. If money were not an issue, there is just more to see in Socorro.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @David Novo

I went to Tiger Beach and Bimini on the Dolphin Dream last March. It was a fantastic trip, but the baited/fed shark dives were very different than usual scuba diving Trip Report - Tiger Beach and Bimini on the Dolphin Dream, March 11-19, 2022

I went to the Revillagigedos on the Nautilus Explorer in 2019, also a really wonderful trip Trip Report - Revillagigedos on the Nautilus Explorer, May 24-June 1, 2019

These two trips are very complimentary experiences, I'm very glad and grateful that I have been able to do both. Personally, I would do the trip to the Revillagigedos before doing Tiger Beach and Bimini.

 

[JessicaCozumel]

Hey David!
We just had a few spots open up on our trip to Socorro in April 2023. Numerous different types of sharks and the famous mantas. If you are interested let me know and I can send you more details!
Hope to chat,
Jessica

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

Hey David!
We just had a few spots open up on our trip to Socorro in April 2023. Numerous different types of sharks and the famous mantas. If you are interested let me know and I can send you more details!
Hope to chat,
Jessica

Send me some info please.

 

[The Chairman]

Do both. Problem solved.