Diving with the Angels of the Deep in Socorro Islands

The Angel of the Deep at El Boiler (photo by Jiggy Santillian)

Shout out to all divers! If you want to see action, this is the place to be.  Socorro Island is one of the four volcanic islands in the Pacific that includes San Benedicto, Roca Partida,  Clarion. The four islands comprise the Revillagigedo National Park, Mexico’s largest fully protected marine reserve. 

It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.  And in 2017, the last Mexican President Enrique Nieto signed a decree protecting the area, 14.8 million hectares (148,087 square kms), from all forms of fishing and extractive activities. 

The sign in El Boiler in San Benedicto Island (photo by Hilda Tolentino)

Our very own Tubbataha Reef Natural Park, also a World Heritage Site, is less than 1% in size compared to Revillagigedo at 97,030 hectares .

The islands are located where the cold waters of the California current converge with the warm waters of the North Equatorial current. This creates upwellings that bring nutrients from the bottom of the ocean to the surface which help feed about 366 species of fish, 26 of which are endemic, and 37 species of sharks and rays. So you can just imagine how amazingly beautiful the marine life is.

The Nautilus Undersea Hunter (drone shot  by Lilian Cobia)

The only way to get to the park is on a liveaboard  We were a cozy group of 18 divers – 12 Filipinos (Hilda, Jiggy, Marivi, Doris, Lilliane, Kelda, Ryan, Erica, Willard, Jackson and Michael), a couple from Shanghai (Ron and Vivi), a Malaysian based in Beijing (Josh), a micro biologist from Costa Rica (Monica) and two federal park rangers - the director of the park, Alejandro Gonzalez and park ranger Fernando Perez.  We were onboard the Nautilus Undersea Hunter led by Captain Vicente and his crew were first mate Gilberto, hostess Karen, Chef Filipe, Engineer Daniel and Dive Masters Juan from Belize, Awei Tawianese-American and Ramon from Mexico.

Half the group with the Park rangers Fernando and Alejandro at the foreground (photo by Liliane Cobia)

We boarded the boat at Cabo San Lucas at 8pm on February 8 (Friday) and sailed after midnight.  It took us 24 hours to cross the open sea in rough waters. The boat has dramamine available which will last for 24 hours.

San Benedicto Island

Our first stop was San Benedicto, a dormant volcano that erupted in 1950s. We spent two days here. The first dive was at El Canyon where huge lava rocks appear at 12m, gradually sloping down. There are two cleaning stations here. The first is at 24m depth and the second one, deeper at 35m.  We spotted  hammer heads and galapagos sharks. 

Juan briefing us about El Canyon

After the first dive, Juan announced that we were moving to the opposite side of the island to dive El Boiler since the conditions were favorable,  calm waters and manageable current.  

El Boiler  is a large pinnacle that goes down to depths of more than 40m.  This is one of my favorite sites! We spotted a school of hammerheads here and encountered the majestic giant oceanic mantas in each dive. 

The second day, we moved the boat back to El Canyon. This was our first encounter with dolphins underwater. The current was strong so ended up hanging out at the shallow cleaning station. There's usually some action here with silvertips, oceanic white tips, galapagos sharks and mantas. Don't forget to look inside the rocks for octopus.   

The third day we anchored at Roca Partida, a pinnacle that splits into two separate peaks and plunges down to depths of over 60m. The water was very rough, 10-15 feet surge and strong currents.  We were greeted with a pod of 12 dolphins, schools of jacks,  giant yellow fin tunas, and all kinds of sharks.  In one dive, Juan led us out to the blue where we spotted a school of hammerheads at 35m. Don't t miss spotting the school of white tips sleeping on top of each other on the ledge of the rocks, and look for yellow butterfly fishes which seerve as cleaning stations of sharks and during your safety stop, watch out for mobilas (devil rays).

The fourth day we were at the main island, Socorro Island, where the navy is based. We anchored first in Roca O’Neal. The underwater topography is known for its arches.  During the safety stop of the second dive, a friendly dolphin swam up close to each diver.  There’s a strict rule in the Park not to touch or harass the animals.  But this one would nudge it’s nose so everyone ended up petting the dolphin. 

This is the day that the Navy inspected the boat. So we had three diving days here, the last one was at Punta Tosca, and a snorkel after dinner with the silky shark.  I skipped this activity. I'm not too comfortable swimming with silkies. In 1997, I was diving on a rebreather in Cocos Island. It as a night dive, I felt somebody bumping me underwater. I thought it was the diver in front of me.  When I looked to the side of my mask, I saw the divemaster climb the ladder with her fins. Since then, I try not to night dive when there are silkies. 

The last day, we were on the Southern side of Socorro, on Cabo Pierce where on the safety stop of the second dive, we watched a manta being chased by a galapagos shark. It was zigzagging in the water and did a double barrel.  I thought it was being attacked but Juan said that the shark wanted to rub its skin on the belly of the manta to rid it off parasites.

If you want to see fish action, this is the place to be!  Try to go early. Josh spent four days in Cabo and swam with the bull sharks and seals.  To get to Socorro, it’s a 12-hour flight from Manila to Los Angeles and then a two-hour flight to Cabo San Lucas.  The water was cold. I was wearing a 5mm wet suit, a vest and a head cover.  We were on nitrox 30-32 mix so we could stay longer underwater and swim with the mantas on shallower depths.  Next stop this trip is another bucket list, diving the Cenotes in Tulum.

Happy campers on the way back to Cabo (photo by Lilian Cobiao)