Chris Underwater
Registered
I have spent 6 weeks in Baja in the last two months, the whole of November and the first half of December.
Places visited were Socorro (twice), Magdalena Bay, Cabo Pulmo, Gordo Banks, Los Cabos.
Here is the short trip video - turn on your audio:
And here is how I did it:
Places visited were Socorro (twice), Magdalena Bay, Cabo Pulmo, Gordo Banks, Los Cabos.
Here is the short trip video - turn on your audio:
And here is how I did it:
- The start: I did fly in to SJD via Mexico City. Nobody cared about my luggage or uw camera equipment at any point. Spent the first days in a very nice boutique hotel in San Jose to get the jetlag out.
- Socorro, tour 1 (8 nights): this was a standard trip on the Nautilus Explorer in early Nov with 5 diving days. Since it was scheduled on short notice after the final Guadalupe closure for last season, the boat wasn't even half full. We enjoyed plenty of space and it felt more like a family trip. Underwater we were only one group and basically saw everything there is to see.
- San Jose, diving from land: I mostly chilled out after the first Socorro trip in San Jose, but did get three days of diving in as well. I went with SeeCreatures, which belongs to Nautilus Dive, and as a Nautilus customer you get special rates. It was not busy at all, and on all days I was the only customer. I did one daytrip to Cabo Pulmo (they paired me with other people from a different dc coming over from San Lucas via van), and two days of boat diving from San Jose (Corridor & Gordo Banks) with them. Overall a very nice experience, super friendly and helpful people.
- Socorro, tour 2 (15 nights, end of Nov / early Dec). This was originally supposed to be the transition trip from Guadalupe to Socorro on the Nautilus Explorer. It was changed to a Magdalena Bay & Socorro combo trip. At Magdalena Bay it was mostly about chasing baitballs and the associated predators (marlins, sealions, bonitos), which was quite an experience. As it is with activities like this - lots of waiting time, lots of time jumping into the water and then seeing nothing but blue; but when you get lucky and catch the action it's awesome. Physically demanding if you wanna get the most out of it. We had three slow/static baitballs in the three days off the small boats, which were the highlights. Also saw humpbacks breaching, mobulas jumping out of the water, a big school of hundreds of mobulas in the water, a pod of false killer whales. Did 2.5 days of diving at Mag Bay too, which were not good (lots of surge, very low viz). At Socorro we had 7 diving days this time, which were great again.
- General observations from the two Socorro trips, compared to my last visit several years ago: viz was ok, but not great. Overall I would say more shark activity than a few years ago. Mantas encounters everyday at all islands. Personal highlights were Roca and Cabo Pearce. Boiler was a bit quiet on both trips.
