SolmarV

[mbriskin]

Hi ,
I am new to this site.
Has anyone had experience diving with solmarV?
We are thinking of a trip to the secorro islands

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Welcome to the board! Sorry, but I don't know what SolmarV is.

 

[Dorie]

I have back a few years. It was an awesome experience on the boat as well as in the water. I saw a whale shark, tons of shark, touched mantas.... Great food and crew, very comfortable rooms. I hope you go!

Dorie

 

[Rickg]

Hi ,
I am new to this site.
Has anyone had experience diving with solmarV?
We are thinking of a trip to the secorro islands

Welcome to Scubaboard. Try going to this earlier thread

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ch...rip-experiences-solmar-v-socorro-islands.html

and scrolling down until you find posts by TheUWPhotographer.com who has links to great videos and photos from her trips there along with a great trip report.

 

[shhanson]

I did a sea of cortez trip on the Solmar V in October 2007 and it was first cabin all the way. The food was great, diving was excellent. The boat is comfortable and clean. You can check out pictures and video from the trip here:

SEA OF CORTEZ TRIP - OCTOBER 2007

 

[cowdog77]

Very nice report....and I covet the layout of your webpage!

 

[NTSilver]

We are leaving for Socorro on Saturday on the Nautilus Explorer. Will post a trip report in a few weeks. I think the Socorro season is ending and will be starting back up in late November.

 

[robint]

We are leaving for Socorro on Saturday on the Nautilus Explorer. Will post a trip report in a few weeks. I think the Socorro season is ending and will be starting back up in late November.

please post a trip report with photos when you get back!

 

[Eric S]

I've been to Socorro twice, 2007 and 2008, both times on the Nautilus Explorer. Great boat and great crew. Diving is serious ocean diving for pelagic species. The mantas are the most popular encounter, and they are awesome, coming right up to the divers and interacting with them. The sharks are also awesome, silkies, silvertips, whitetips, galapagos, hammerheads and tigers. No tigers this year, but I had a tiger shark swim up within 8-10 feet from me for an encounter I will never forget. The yellowfin tuna this year at the end of January were awesome. If you like adventure, its a great trip.

 

[vetdiver]

We just got back from the Revillagigedos on the Nautilus Explorer. There were two passengers on our trip who had been on both boats - I believe they felt that the Solmar V was the nicer boat in terms of shared areas, however the cabins were described as being much larger on the NE, and the bathrooms on the NE had separate showers.

(An aside - I personally enjoyed the Nautilus Explorer, especially the excellent crew, and am already booked on another itinerary with them.)

Keep in mind that - as Eric S says - this is not the easiest diving - we are avid cold water divers, dive 2+ times a week at home, and we both felt that this was not diving for the inexperienced or fainthearted. The surface waters could be (and often were) rough, there was surge and current, and the water temps were 71-72 (I wore a 7 mm wetsuit with hooded vest). There were at least 2-3 divers on our trip who were way out of their element; my understanding is that evacuations are not uncommon on either liveaboard. Also, it is a haul to get out to the islands from Cabo - plan on 2 days of your liveaboard being travel time.

The upshot?? Mantas everywhere and very interactive (we saw sharks, quite a few, but not quite the #'s I expected, not that this was a big deal for us). Absolutely amazing. I was very glad we went - though I would probably not opt to do the same itinerary again.

I haven't finished with all of my UW photos yet, but the ones that are posted are here:

vitskypenfoundUW : photos : Revillagigedos March 2008- powered by SmugMug