Mexico – Cabo & Socorro

Becky found a last minute special (50% off) to Socorro with Bluewater travel. Other divers had been taunting us with amazing images and stories from this popular dive destination, which is touted to be one of the best places to swim with friendly giant mantas and bottlenose dolphins. The only catch was the US was now requiring a negative COVID-19 test result for any inbound US traveler, so we were a bit worried about getting a false positive and having to quarantine in Mexico for 2 weeks after the liveaboard. But we took out a comprehensive travel insurance and rolled the dice and can now say that it was an excellent decision. Cabo San Lucas in February is peak season for humpback whale watching so we flew in two days early to ensure we had a full day with the whales and it did not disappoint with lots of whales breaching and lobtailing. But the main reason we were in Mexico was for Socorro, and it turned out to be absolutely amazing and lived up the the considerable hype. Our 10 day liveaboard was with the Rocio del Mar, a locally owned and operated no nonsense liveaboard with compact rooms, amazing food, and phenomenal staff. Our tour leader for the trip, Nirupam Nigam, was leading a photography workshop for 18 divers and we quickly started meeting our fellow passengers after getting settled into our room and setting up our gear. It took about 26 hours to reach the Revillagigedo Archipelago (aka Socorro) and our first dive site was off San Benedicto Island at the canyon. We were divided into 3 dive groups and opted to join the video dive group led by divemaster Luis. The first day here impressed us as the canyon was chock full of marine life – a turtle, mantas, dolphins, and sharks galore. The dolphins were especially playful as they heard us excitedly greeting them and a couple hovered upright and then upside down right next to us! Several of the other divers who had been to Socorro several times told us that today showcased the best of what this amazing dive destination had to offer. The rest of the week here (San Benedicto – the boiler and the canyon, Roca Partida, Cabo Pearce) kept us happy with more sightings of giant mantas, dolphins, sharks (galapagos, silky, white tip, silver tip, a whale shark, tiger and hammerhead) and humpback whales! When we weren’t diving or eating, we were upstairs in the lounge soaking up information that Nirupam was putting out during the daily photo workshop lectures. Since neither of us is into underwater photography, Nirupam also put together a few sessions on underwater videography and how to edit clips using Shot cut. All too soon our amazing adventure came to an end, and we thoroughly enjoyed our Socorro experience. It will be hard to top this trip as it hit so many highlights!

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