Trip Report The Revillagigedos on the Nautilus Explorer June 11-21, 2024

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From June 11-21, 2024, I made my second trip to the Revillagigedos on the Nautilus Explorer. It was almost exactly 5 years earlier that I made my first trip to this incredible location
Trip Report - Revillagigedos on the Nautilus Explorer, May 24-June 1, 2019

RESERVATIONS: I made my reservations with Nautilus directly through their website. I made the reservations relatively early as I wanted one of the few longer trips with 7 days of diving rather than the usual 5 days of diving. I made my flight plans directly with American Airlines. See Creatures/Nautilus has moved since my last visit and is now located a little way from the marina, in town rather than at the Tesoro Hotel. I asked Nautilus for recommendations for accommodations and transportation. I ended up staying at Casa Bella, a very nice boutique hotel located next door to See Creatures. There are many restaurants in the neighborhood. I arranged my travel through Sealine Cabo Transfers, a private car on arrival and small group travel back to the airport. I reserved the hotel and transfers directly.

Casa Bella

TRAVEL: My air travel from Philadelphia to and from San Jose del Cabo required one stop in Dallas. My checked bag stayed with me for the entire trip. The American Airlines app is very good at tracking checked bags and supplying updates for your fights. At customs at the San Jose del Cabo airport I was asked if I had cameras. I replied I had one camera in my backpack and was passed through without further ado. Air travel was completely smooth until my last flight from Dallas back to Philadelphia. Immigration was fast with Global Entry and checked bag pick up and recheck were quick. I was specifically directed to a long line that signage said was for “All Connecting Flights”. I am unfamiliar with the Dallas airport and did not know that there was a TSA checkpoint about a 10 min walk away with a much shorter wait. There was no sign for the TSA checkpoint until I got all the way to the checkpoint I was in line for. Security ended up taking so much time that it would be close to make my flight. I then discovered I was very far away from my gate and needed to take the Skylink shuttle. I finally got to my gate about 5 min from the departure time and was sure I would miss my flight. I was relieved when I saw many travelers waiting at the gate. It turned out my flight had a late gate change, another 5 min walk away. Sure I would miss my flight, I got to the gate and lucked out that the flight was delayed about an hour. The remainder of the trip was smooth. The moral of the story is to be familiar with TSA checkpoints and terminal transportation ahead of time and plan an efficient route. My problems were my own fault.

My transportation from and to the Los Cabos International Airport was flawless in both directions. It is about a 45 min ride from airport to Cabo San Lucas. There has been very significant construction between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas in the 5 years since my last visit. The number of new large resorts and gated mega-home developments is incredible.

 

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BOAT AND CREW: I chose to rebook the Explorer after a very positive previous experience. I was again in one of the single cabins below deck, farthest forward of the 9 cabins. The main exit from the level was at the opposite end, directly onto the dive deck. I already knew that the emergency exit ladder was right next to my room. The only drawback to the emergency exit is that it comes up in the dining room, forward of the galley and salon, a bit of a distance to the exit to the dive deck.

Safety is a prime objective on the Explorer. It starts with a detailed safety video, hosted by Mike Lever. Once on board, there is a practice drill with donning of PFDs at the muster station. The crew practiced their drills separately, without the guests. All rooms have PFDs, wired smoke alarm, sprinkler, and, new since my last trip, individual smoke hoods. The large camera table has more than adequate charging facilities with its own fire extinguisher system. I met the roving crew member several times when I was up early. All divers are required to have a SMB, a Dive Alert, and a Nautilus LifeLine. They are loaned at no charge if a diver does not have them.

My room, the escape ladder and hatch. safety equipment outside my room

The dive deck had stations consisting of a cylinder and under seat storage in a crate. Standard cylinders were AL80s, they also had steel 12 and 15 liter tanks. The cylinders were filled in place. Fills averaged 3100 (2998-3260) psi or 214 bar. At the average fill pressure the AL80s had about 80 cu ft./2265 liters, the 12 liter tanks 90 cu ft./2568 liters, and the 15 liter tanks 113 cu ft./3210 liters of gas. Nitrox ran 31-32% all week.

The crew were all excellent, very hard working, considerate and communicative. The four guides were all competent, Mario, Marcel, Elise, and Roger. The four guides rotated daily, exposing you to all four. We had 24 guests, 8 per RHIB. The dive order also varied each day so groups exited from 1st to 3rd in sequence. We rarely ran into another group underwater.

The food was good, not excellent, far from the best food I have had on a liveaboard. Most meals were served buffet, some were served semi-plated at the table. There were always tasty snacks available. The bar was an extra charge, they had a very good selection of beers at a reasonable cost.

The boat was generally in good condition with a couple of exceptions. When I turned on the cold water in the sink in my room, the water came out in a weak stream with an orange/brown discoloration. It eventually cleared but never achieved normal pressure. It was difficult to adjust the shower to an acceptable temperature with so little cold water. The two hot showers on the dive deck were fine. The engineer told me they had a problem with the plumbing that needed more extensive repair. A couple of guests who had rooms on the upper deck told me that had water leaks from an unidentified source that got the carpet in their rooms wet.

 

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DIVING: This trip had 7 days of diving and offered 27 dives:

Dive day 1: San Benedicto, check out dive at Fondeadero and 3 dives at the Canyon

Dive day 2: San Benedicto. 4 dives at the Boiler

Dive day 3: Roca Partida, with 4 dives

Dive day 4: Roca Partida, with 4 dives

Dive day 5: Socorro, 3 dives at Punta Tosca and the Navy inspection

Dive day 6: Socorro, 4 dives at Cabo Pearce

Dive day 7: Socorro, 4 dives at Cabo Pearce

The dive at Fondeadero is from the boat, all other dives are from the RHIBs. You get fully dressed and take your fins and camera down to the dive deck. You board the RHIB and your fins and camera are handed to you. Diving starts with a back roll off the RHIB with a prompt descent. In general, the group ascends together unless divers are short on air or cold. In that case, ascent is on your SMB for pickup. At the end of the dive, you hand up your camera, weights, BC and tank, and then fins before boarding the RHIB on the adequate ladder.

We were very lucky and had good weather and seas for the entire trip. The crossing from Cabo San Lucas to San Benedicto was very smooth. We had low wind and calm seas most of the time and had no rain. Wind picked up a little with modest swells the last 2 days at Cabo Pearce. The crossing back to Cabo San Lucas was moderately rough the entire time. I did not need my transdermal scopolamine on the way to the Revillagigedos, but certainly was glad I had it on the way back. Others were not so lucky.

A big surprise turned out to be the water temperatures. I had followed the reports on the Nautilus Noon Reports and was expecting water temperatures in the low-mid 70s at San Benedicto and the high-mid 70s at Roca Partida and Socorro. I packed my 5 mm full suit and 5/3 mm hooded vest. It turned out that the water temperatures were 69 degrees at the Canyon and the Boiler, 73-4 degrees at Roca Partida, 72 degrees and Punta Tosca, and 73-4 degrees at Cabo Pearce. I really wished I had packed my 7 mm suit as I did in 2019!

The diving on this trip was generally pretty easy, not terribly challenging. There was little current. There was moderate surge at times, particularly at Roca Partida. Interestingly, the strongest surge was vertical, up and down, rather than horizontal in the water. Visibility was only moderate, ranging from a low of 20-30 feet to a high of 40-50 feet, perhaps 60 feet at Roca Partida. My average maximum depth was 86 feet (71-114) and mean average depth was 55 feet (46-65). Average dive time was 57 min (42-69). We did a 3 minute safety stop at the end of each dive, my average surfacing GF was 56 (43-72).

So, what about the sea life? Well, I had very, very high expectations for this trip after my great visit 5 years ago. Unfortunately, although good, this trip was not able to meet my expectations. There were significantly less Galapagos and Silvertip Sharks. One of our dives at a Canyon cleaning station had significant Galapagos and Silvertip Sharks. Unlike my previous visit, Roca Partida had only a couple. We saw only a few solitary Hammerhead Sharks, no schools. We did see several Tiger Sharks at Cabo Pearce. White-Tipped Reef Sharks were everywhere, particularly at Roca Partida.

On a high note, we saw many, many mantas. One of our dives at the Boiler and all of our dives at Cabo Pearce had continuous manta action. We also had many good interactions with dolphins, particularly at the Boiler and at Cabo Pearce. We had some gorgeous huge schools of jacks and trevally at Roca Partida as well as passing schools of tuna and bonito. We were surprised on one dive at Roca Partida by a school of False Killer Whales and were able to snorkel with them.

The Revillagigedos is one of the eastern Pacific jewels along with Cocos, Malpelo, and the Galapagos. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to dive them all and to have made my second visit to San Benedicto, Roca Partida, and Socorro.

 

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Me and manta Punta Tosca, photo Ryan Deitche

Me and manta Cabo Pearce, photo Ryan Deitche

 

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Trip sounds amazing

 

[JoeTPhilly]

Excellent detailed report with photos. I enjoyed reading about your trip. Thank you for posting.

 

[Trailboss123]

Excellent report as always, my friend. Nicely detailed regarding all the key points (door to door).