If You Want Giant Mantas Try the Socorro Islands

The Socorro Islands offer some of the most interesting diving for pelagic life that I've seen to date. After a twenty-four boat ride on the luxurious Solomar V out of Cabo San Lucas, we were ready to dive!

It was one of the most difficult, yet interesting crossings I've ever made. Anything that wasn't tied down hit the deck, things flew off the bulkheads, the big coffee pot that was bungeed securely to the floor came loose, filled with coffee and went crashing down the stairwell toward our rooms. Have you ever spent the night flying out of your bed, hitting the ceiling all night long?  You did if you were on this voyage. I'm told this was a pretty typical crossing.

You had to love it, particularly if you like cold coffee feet in the morning rather than a fresh brewed cup.  It was actually kind of fun. 

The water was in the low to mid sixties, requiring appropriate density wet suit or dry suit.  At depth there were a number of hammerheads, unusually skittish.  There were more Mantas available on a single dive than could be shot with a role of film.  Total bummer digital cameras hadn't been on the market at this time.  Six and seven would circle a diver at a time like they were coming in for a landing at an airport.  

It was absolutely a tremendous experience.  Ironically, nobody got seasick, but then people that do would be well advised to avoid this adventure.  The crew, the boat, and the food were fabulous.