January 1, 2006: Revillagigedo Archipelago

A D2D New Years 2006: Revillagigedos dive

"Blue Water (Socorro)" - "Aquarium (Socorro)"

Diving from the Nautilus Explorer:

• Directions from Tampa: We dove from the Nautilus Explorer - see http://www.nautilusexplorer.com/
• Conditions on the day of my visit: Sunny.
  
  
• Personal Notes: I skipped the first dive of the day – I had been up late for New Years (although for once, not drunk off my ass). I was told I didn’t miss much – apparently it had been a bad drop. I opted for another blue water dive, not taking my camera. My goal on this trip was to see mantas and hammerheads. I had seen mantas before, but nothing as large as the mantas here. Hammerhead Sharks were something I had yet to see (though others had spotted them). Blue water dives can start off with nothing but a bunch of divers in the water looking around – about the time I was thinking, “All I really want to see is a Hammerhead,” I got an unexpected treat: A dolphin came up and stopped right in front of us, doing a kind of slow turn. It swam off, and then returned and did another one, this time taking a dump. After that, it came back with a friend. We would see them on and off throughout the dive, along with schools of jack and other fish, as well as at least three Hammerhead Sharks that would move about below us. We were even passed by a chevron manta. We moved to a site called “Aquarium”; I dove there and then called it a day, as my ears were achy.