This is another is a series of distraction diaries. This is edition is a bit special because I recently returned from an eight day diving trip to the Revillagigedos Archipelago off the Pacific Coast of Mexico. These islands are well known in the diving community for the giant manta rays, friendly dolphins and abundance of sharks (not nearly as abundant as in the past, more on that later).
Roca Partida
In 1994, after some graphic footage of fisherman slaughtering manta rays made international news, the Mexican government declared this four small island a biosphere reserve. All fishing and taking of marine life is banned and the islands are only legally visited by three charter dive boats and some private vessels on approval.
School of Jacks
Roca Partida is literally a small rock that sticks up the middle of the open ocean. It is erosional remnant of a volcano that drops vertically to 250 feet and then gradually to the abyssal depths.
The Wall
The island is so small you can circumnavigate it more than once on one dive.
Pile of Whitetip Reef Sharks
There were many large sharks here but for the most part they stayed beyond the range of my wide angle lens. I saw silvertip sharks, Galapagos sharks and many hammerheads as well as these more camera friendly whitetip reef sharks.
Hammerhead Sharks
Not a great shot but some proof that I saw them.
Unfortunately due to fishing pressure the shark population has declined dramatically over the past couple of decades. Despite the protection of the biosphere reserve the population does not seem to be rebounding.
This article, based on diver surveys, shows a dramatic decrease in shark encounters since the mid-90's probably due to both illegal fishing in the reserve and open ocean shark finning operations.
Mexican Hogfish These guys are very feisty. On one dive I felt something banging into my camera and I found a hogfish slamming into one of my strobes.
Masked Boobies This shot just begs for a caption doesn't it?
Bottlenose Dolphins Bow Riding We had these beauties escort us in to Socorro island when we moved to a new dive site.
Manta Ray
At Cabo Pierce on Socorro Island we encountered our first manta rays.
Bigeye Jack
Clarion Angelfish These beauties are endemic to these islands.
Manta Ray
At our second dive site on Socorro we found this big black manta ray as well as some amazingly friendly bottlenose dolphins.
Bottlenose Dolphin
This was probably the most amazing dive of my life. The dolphins and manta seemed to be competing for attention from the divers. I have never seen wild animals behave like this. Apparently the dolphins for years were quite wary but the past few years they are been seeking out interaction with divers, possibly mimicking the friendly mantas.
Dolphin and Human
Manta Ray
These creatures have very large brains for fish and are warm blooded. Their intelligence level has been described are more like a mammal than a fish. They are gentle plankton feeders that seen to really enjoy interacting with scuba divers. Amazing.
Blue Spiny Lobster
Some of these lobsters are truly gigantic.
Manta
This brings us to the end of this installment. I will save some photos from the next couple of dive site for another day. I hope you have enjoyed this visit to another realm. I realize I am incredibly fortunate to be able to visit such an amazing place. I am glad that I can share it with my community of Kossacks. Please be good humans.
Aloha