Dive Review of Nautilus Belle Amie in
Mexico (Western)/Socorro Islands

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Nautilus Belle Amie: "Pleasant trip with everything expected except a whale shark", Dec, 2019, by James K Harris, TX, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 22 Helpful votes). Report 11384 has 5 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my 4th trip to Socorro on the Belle Amie but the first for this time of year. I went for the “warmest waters of the year” but found it was it was about one degree (F) warmer at San Benedicto (78-79) but 2-3 degrees (F) cooler at Roca Partida (75-76) than my trip there July 2018. It was 77-78 at Socorro Island but I can’t compare to July 2018 since we skipped Socorro that trip due to storms. I was glad to have my 5mm. The air temperature was definitely the most pleasant of my trips (May, June, July, now December) being sunny to a little cloudy most days and an air temp in the high 70’s to low 80’s. The seas weren't as smooth as summer trips so some people were a little queasy throughout the trip. I was looking forward to doing some dives in the southern Sea of Cortez as we had on previous trips after being told last year that I wouldn’t recognize it in December (in a positive way) compared to early summer months (cold, low vis). But due to the presence of other dive boats at the Islands the dive schedule was modified and we didn’t do any diving in the Sea of Cortez. We ended up spending the first 2 days (8 dives) at San Benedicto, then went to Roca where we were one of three boats and park rules only allow 3 dives/day when 3 boats are present so we spent 2 days and 6 dives there before heading to Socorro Island to do 3 dives and check in at the Navy base followed by the night snorkel with the silky sharks and then headed back to Cabo. Apparently there’s little coordination between the various boats so the captain didn’t know how many boats would be present at an island until we got there. Being flexible is the rule of the trip. Day 1 at El Canon/Manta Rock for 4 dives had mantas, a variety of sharks (Galapagos, white tips, black tips, silver tips), a few hammerheads (not real close) on each of the first 3 dives and on the 4th we got a school of about 20 hammerheads plus other misc. sharks. Day 2 at The Boiler for 4 dives had an awesome first dive where about 6 dolphins swam to our group with 5 continued on but one swam a couple of circles around the entire group and even decided to take a long poop while passing by me the second time (I’m special!). The other 3 dives all had mantas but less and less action the later in the day it got. Days 3 & 4 at Roca Partida (6 dives) had less big pelagics than I’ve seen on early summer trips but everyone was still pleased with the sharks, big tuna (some got shockingly close to the divers, like 6-8’ away), mantas, occasional dolphins, big schools of fish. One skiff got to see a school of about 100 hammerheads (closer than just faint shadows). There was some strong current at the northern end of the island that you had to fight a bit to reach a null spot where you could just sit and observe the action without spending a lot of effort. Day 5 was at Cabo Pearce at Socorro Island for 3 dives. The wind was strong around the point with swells around 4’ on the first dive and growing to 6’ by the 3rd dive so it was the poster child location for using large inflatable SMBs for pickup. We saw some really good silver tip sharks, had mantas on all three dives, and had 5 dolphins swim through the group but didn’t stick around to play. The most mantas I saw on any one dive was 3. The silky snorkel was different with a lot more rules than on previous trips which can only make me speculate that they must've had an incident. Must wear a full suit with gloves, remove shiny jewelry (earrings, watches), only 8 people in the water at a time, not supposed to have dive lights in the water (but I guess video lights are still ok), try to limit splashing (it attracts the sharks). It seemed like the boat didn't turn on as many lights which means the flying fish aren't as attracted which means fewer sharks. It's still neat to do but it's not the "crazy" experience it was in past years. I’ve given kudos to the crew of the Nautilus Belle Amie before and nothing has changed in that regard. It’s an outstanding crew and the dive masters love to have fun and they know how to run a safe operation. They took great pains to explain fire safety after the MV Conception fire a few months ago and physically walked everyone through their evacuation routes (and alternates). We had a false fire alarm (not a drill) on the way back to Cabo and it was reassuring to see the crew jump to their fire roles instinctively – they are drilled every trip in what to do in case of fire. At the end of the trip the crew arranges for a shuttle to the airport ($25/pp) or a free shuttle back to the Tesoro Hotel for those staying on additional days. The Nautilus pre-trip info and Undercurrent Oct. 2019 issue have a caution about Mexican Customs assessing taxes for bringing camera housings into the country. I did not hear of anyone on my trip having a problem with that.
Websites	Nautilus Belle Amie
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Galapagos, Socorro (4x), Palau, Cocos (2x), TX Flower Gardens (15x), Hawaii, Bahamas, Caymans (2x), Belize, Cozumel, Tiger Beach (2x)
Closest Airport	Los Cabos Intl (SJD)	Getting There	DFW to SJD nonstop on American, $25 shuttle from the airport to the Tesoro Hotel via Terramar Transfers (pre-booked)
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	75-79°F / 24-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	75-75 Ft/ 23-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	60 min max, 130' depth, buddy not required, not required to stay with a group
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Plenty of charging tables and area to work on cameras, huge rinse tank, only concern is that after returning to the skiff at the end of the dive the cameras are placed on the floor at the front of the skiff while divers are reboarding and for the ride back to the mother ship. I haven't experienced damage from that but the possibility is certainly there.

Report currently has 5 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Greg Bruce in WA, US at Dec 24, 2019 13:04 EST

Great report- Thanks for posting!

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Dive Review of Nautilus Belle Amie in Mexico (Western)/Socorro Islands

Nautilus Belle Amie: "Pleasant trip with everything expected except a whale shark", Dec, 2019,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Nautilus Belle Amie in
Mexico (Western)/Socorro Islands