MEXICO
Playing Simon Says With A Manta Ray In Socorro
Socorro is a volcanic island that is part of the Revillagigedo Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It takes a 36-hour boat ride to reach these islands, which are located some 390km off the coast of mainland Mexico. It is a remote and rugged destination that can only be visited by liveaboard. The islands are a marine reserve and have also been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
GENERAL DIVING
The diving here can be challenging with strong currents, surge and large waves. As it is also about as remote as you can get, so much so that special procedures are put in place where every diver has to wear a GPS location device in case they drift out of sight of the boat.
Underwater, the topography is impressive. These volcanic islands continue their rugged form below the water with huge rock formations that get battered by the waves. Some pinnacles rise up out of the water, and some cannot be seen from the surface, but these islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean attract an incredible array of pelagic marine life.
On any single dive you might encounter four or five species of shark. Humpback Whales can be heard singing as you dive, and if you are really lucky you might even encounter one underwater. Dolphins are abundant here and often approach divers. Huge schools of fish swirl near to the safety of the rocks, and Orcas have also been known to hunt here. You can even night snorkel with Silky Sharks.
The most compelling reason that divers put this remote destination on their wish list, however, is for the Giant Mantas that frequent all the dive sites along the archipelago. We dived San Benedicto, Socorro and Roca Partida islands on our itinerary. Each one of these islands has amazing diving to offer. On Roca Partida you will find whitetip sharks piled on top of each other trying to get some rest in the small cuttings in the rocks that offer protection from the currents and surge. San Benedicto can offer large numbers of manta rays on every dive, but it is Socorro that really impresses with incredible encounters every single time.
THE WILD DIVE
During the long boat journey to reach the islands various members of our liveaboard crew presented talks in the evenings on the wildlife that we may encounter. Among the specialists on board was a marine biologist whose specialism was in manta rays. On the evening before we arrived at ‘El Boiler’ he spoke to us at some length and gave us scores of fascinating facts and a mass of information about these incredible creatures.
The Giant Manta Ray is the largest ray in the world and its wing-span can exceed seven metres. They have the largest brain of any fish (relative to their size) and to assist in keeping all parts of the brain active, even in really cold conditions, they have blood
