All the pictures below are geotagged, so you can click on them to see where they were taken
Arturo, Regis, Jennifer and I went to San Jose, Mexico, the southmost tip of Baja, California, to board a 9 day liveaboard (which really only has 6 days of diving due to the time lost in travel), to Socorro Islands, Mexico's Cocos Island. Socorro Islands just became a national park where fishing is totally prohibited, and likely better enforced than in Cocos.
There were 2 boats that could have gotten us there for 9 days (they advertise 10 but it's really 9): Solmar V and Valentina. We ended up picking up Valentina as it was more reasonably priced and more inclusive. I think the boat and cabins were also a bit larger (although I'm not positive on that).
We arrived the day before to visit San Jose and try some ATV'ing, and the next day, we took a long day tour to LaPaz to go snorkel with whale sharks, and finally got onto our diving boat that evening:
This trip was about diving. Just like Cocos, it's a long way there, over 24H each way, so we had time to read, sort pictures, and pass the time in other ways :) The folks on the boat were all great, so it made the trip much better.
The diving was spectacular, especially the first 3 days (out of 6, with a total of 22 dives): Hammerhead sharks, Manta Rays (more than I remember), many friendly and curious dolphins, and then 3 different whale sharks! We also got lucky that the water was much warmer than planned (26 to 29C, mostly 27-28, when it was supposed to be in the 22-26C range).
Ok, I think I must start with Whale Sharks, 3 different ones on 4 different dives. We were so lucky...
even small whale sharks were big
I found a few octopii, although only 3 of them:
Got lucky to find a small octopus that continued hunting after I found it:
We saw some hammerheads:
Plenty of other sharks:
Plenty of sharks at Roca Partida:
Plenty of friendly dolphins:
Look at how many dolphins came to see us:
One site had dolphins that actually came to us and wanted to be pet. We tried to tell them that maybe wasn't maybe legal, but they didn't care, and kept saying "pet me, pet me please", we had to pretend to pet them to appease them :)
So many lobsters, too bad we couldn't help cull them :)
So many manta rays:
Mantas love bubbles
Lots of different Manta Rays at one site:
While at Punta Tosca, a ray followed us during almost our entire dive:
Also mobula rays:
And electric rays we hadn't seen anywhere else:
Plus other rays:
Other highlights:
fun to see those swmimming in pairs
Boat pictures:
We picked up a few tired birds on the way:
Sunrise/Sunset:
Other pictures from the boat:
navy base on Socorro Island
It was a middle class liveaboard with reasonable pricing, so it was a good deal in the end. The last days of diving were not as good due to the weather changing, but we had seen so many awesome things in the first days, that it didn't really matter.
It took another 30H or so to get back to San Jose, and the next morning we left soon after sunrise for a private transport to Cabo San Lucas before having to take our flight in the afternoon:
