Trip video - Socorro, November 2022

[living4experiences]

Fantastic footage! November is a great month to go. How close and deep were the hammers? When I was there, they were very deep and skittish....like the last few moments in your video as they're fading off. You had amazing close encounters. Thanks for posting!

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Excellent video. The Revillagigedos have been on my to-do list for a while.

How was the liveaboard experience? I was on the Solmar V for a Guadalupe Island trip four years ago, and had an excellent experience with the vessel and crew. I almost bit on a last-minute discounted Revillagigedos trip back in May on the Solmar V but decided against it. Given that shortly thereafter its Pacific Fleet running mate Vortex ran aground on Socorro, I have concerns about whether the lapse in standards (from what was posted, whoever had the night watch on Vortex went to sleep and left the vessel running on autopilot, right into the island) was confined to that boat or whether it's an issue for Pacific Fleet as a whole.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Excellent video. The Revillagigedos have been on my to-do list for a while.

How was the liveaboard experience? I was on the Solmar V for a Guadalupe Island trip four years ago, and had an excellent experience with the vessel and crew. I almost bit on a last-minute discounted Revillagigedos trip back in May on the Solmar V but decided against it. Given that shortly thereafter its Pacific Fleet running mate Vortex ran aground on Socorro, I have concerns about whether the lapse in standards (from what was posted, whoever had the night watch on Vortex went to sleep and left the vessel running on autopilot, right into the island) was confined to that boat or whether it's an issue for Pacific Fleet as a whole.

I've done both Guadeloupe and Soccoro on the Solmar V within the last 2 years and like your experience had an excellent experience on both trips. Yup some dumb ass fell asleep and let the ship run into the island. It was and still is shocking that would happen. You would think there would be alarms on the auto-pilot, if not there should be, kinda seems like a no brainer. I've been on quite a few LOB's all over the world and what the Pacific Fleet accident highlights for me is that everyone's life can be at the hands of one person, especially in the middle of the night, not the best thing to consider, but the same circumstances happen all the time as we get into our vehicle's and travel at high speeds. Some sleepy trucker can drift into your oncoming path leaving you no time to react and end your life in a second or two. That's what I'm going to tell my wife if she opens the email with update's to this thread and when I get on another LOB thats what I'm going to tell myself, which will happen in January when I head out to Tiger Beach for the third time where the risk of something bad happening is more likely to happen while diving not in transit.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I've done both Guadeloupe and Soccoro on the Solmar V within the last 2 years and like your experience had an excellent experience on both trips. Yup some dumb ass fell asleep and let the ship run into the island. It was and still is shocking that would happen. You would think there would be alarms on the auto-pilot, if not there should be, kinda seems like a no brainer. I've been on quite a few LOB's all over the world and what the Pacific Fleet accident highlights for me is that everyone's life can be at the hands of one person, especially in the middle of the night, not the best thing to consider, but the same circumstances happen all the time as we get into our vehicle's and travel at high speeds. Some sleepy trucker can drift into your oncoming path leaving you no time to react and end your life in a second or two. That's what I'm going to tell my wife if she opens the email with update's to this thread and when I get on another LOB thats what I'm going to tell myself, which will happen in January when I head out to Tiger Beach for the third time where the risk of something bad happening is more likely to happen while diving not in transit.

The Vortex stuck out because, at least according to the account I read, it wasn't that the guy just nodded off at the wheel; reportedly his watch ended and when his relief didn't show up, the guy left the helm on autopilot and went back to his rack without trying to wake the relief. A few previous incidents that were brought up afterward (running over the fuel dock in Cabo, one diver saying the refits to Vortex made it roll severely in a sea) made me wonder about the overall management of Pacific Fleet.

To be clear, none of those comments were about the Solmar V; it's just that when one boat from the company is involved in a really boneheaded accident it's prudent to ask if it was a bad apple or a rotten tree. My experience on Solmar V in 2018 was stellar; the only question mark I had was a year later when the Conception fire reports had me looking up the deck plans to see if there was an alternate exit out of the forward V-berth I occupied on my trip.

 

[dflaher]

Great video! Glad to see that the Solmar V is a good option for Socorro. What were the water temps like? Looking at a November trip in either '23 or `24.

 

[mcohen1021]

Just stepped off a LOB this morning so it is time to share my latest trip video.
Trip Video, Socorro November 2022

Hate you! I am dying to go back and your video did not help!

Still waiting for a sale like I got the 1st time @ $2600!

 

[CWK]

Hate you! I am dying to go back and your video did not help!

Still waiting for a sale like I got the 1st time @ $2600!

I envy your ability to wait for a sale!

Me? I’m just dying. The probability that I will be dead within 20 years is over 50% according to mortality tables for my age, gender, ethnicity and country of birth; and I estimate that the probability that I will be dead within 30 years at around 90%. I just gotta go flat out and dive my bucket list while I can still walk. I wonder how many times I will see Socorro again if I were to dive it once a year.

Good luck getting the sale.

 

[Dan]

I envy your ability to wait for a sale!

Me? I’m just dying. The probability that I will be dead within 20 years is over 50% according to mortality tables for my age, gender, ethnicity and country of birth; and I estimate that the probability that I will be dead within 30 years at around 90%. I just gotta go flat out and dive my bucket list while I can still walk. I wonder how many times I will see Socorro again if I were to dive it once a year.

Good luck getting the sale.

Me too! Welcome to the “old man, getting as much as bucket list diving as possible, while we still can” club!

 

[mcohen1021]

I envy your ability to wait for a sale!

I have been picking my LOB destinations on sales, it has worked out very well!

 

[CWK]

Full video of skipjack tuna featured in my Socorro trip video. Video is at 50% of actual speed.