Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in
Mexico (Western)/Revillagigedo islands

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Nautilus Explorer: "Revillagigedo islands Nautilus Belle Amie", Mar, 2019, by Jason Propsner, GA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 13 Helpful votes). Report 10901 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	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I took a direct flight to Cabo on Delta and landed in terminal 2. I used Terramar transfers to hotel Tesoro Los Cabos. I don’t recommend Tarramar. The boat switched from to a new transfer partner also. The Tarramar driver went through tolls claiming time savings and tried to guilt the passengers to pay extra. I waited almost an hour for the ride to start and then to get a hustle ploy used against me on what route they took, was too much for me. On the return was through boats new company partner, I didn’t catch their name. We went to the airport without tolls and took same amount of time from my perspective. I decided to arrive a day early to avoid any lost baggage issues. The Nautilus carried a delayed luggage to the Solomar passenger whose bag didn’t arrive on time. They were without their bag for three days. Tesoro Los Cabo Hotel was pretty nice. Lots of restaurant choices and good WiFi. There was a long walk to the rooms, but the staff was great and helped get bags to and from your room. The room had good AC and modern updates. I met dive shop same day, now owned by Nautilus, in corner of hotel near the boardwalk. I setup complimentary dive and requested extra dives for Saturday while waiting to board the boat at 8:pm. I would recommend contacting the dive shop before leaving home. There was some confusion as passengers tried to set up diving the morning of. You get one dive complimentary and add another dive if you want for a small fee. The group I went out with opted out of second dive. The water was cold and not much to see to justify the second dive, so I opted out as well, as to not keep them on the dive boat for another hour. I did two more dives in the afternoon as well. It was cold for me, but better than sitting waiting to board the ship. I don’t shop or like to tourist it up, so I preferred to dive. The shop staff was great. Lots of rental gear to choose from. You could also take it on the live-aboard trip if it fit well. The dive boat was small but adequate. The transit to the site was very short as Land’s End was just off the marina. We did a 6 inch stride off the side and had a ladder to exit the water. Fresh water shower when pump was turned on. One bucket for masks and camera rinse. Diving was cold for me (68-70F) and had limited visibility but we had a visit from sea lion, guitar fish, electric ray and lots of puffers. Returned to the dive shop. There is a shower in the dive shop, but you need your own soap and towel. I borrowed one from the hotel. The other guests paid extra to get a late check out from their rooms. Around 7:30pm the boat crew gathered us all together to walk to the ship and board. They had already transported all our luggage. We were met onboard with champagne and hors d'oeuvres. We received a short briefing, crew introductions and were escorted to our rooms. We immediately left for San Benedicto after the briefing. There was a dinner served before bedtime. The next day was in transit to the islands. We did a more in depth briefing after breakfast and a lifejacket muster drill. After the drill we started setting up our gear on the dive deck. The dive deck is very spacious but could have been configured better. The captain told us they were investigating changing the layout on the next dry dock. There was lots of space for cameras and charging, but the tanks were closely bunched together with limited space to get geared up. They broke up the divers into groups to allow people next to each other to get geared up separately. This boat can have as many as 30 divers. The crew does their best to accommodate everyone and broke the groups up to make the diving with less divers on the site as possible. They also provide a GPS tracker and safety sausage for anyone without one. The tanks are 80 aluminum, 100 steel and 120 steel for an additional cost. We arrived Monday morning to start diving at 7:am. Continental breakfast was served at 6:am and big breakfast was to order from a menu, served after the first dive. We did a check out dive to get our weights right, off the back of the main ship. The rest of the dives were from the zodiacs. The diving in Revillagigedo islands is very special. We had lots of close ups with large mantas, the main star of the islands, but also Silky, Silver tip, White Tip Reef and Galapagos sharks. We had several encounters with wild Dolphins along with the Clarion Angelfish. The dive masters educated many divers not to chase or swim next to the mantas, but with 30 divers, two or three refused to listen. The rest of the group would sit still but there was some that couldn’t help themselves and would swim next to the mantas and clearly move them away from the group. Maybe with less divers, the experience would be better. I did this trip in 2011 with only 11 divers and the mantas came much closer and spent more time with each diver. Regardless the experience is still magical, and I highly recommend visiting Revillagigedo islands. The meals were very good. Soup and desert served with lunch. All meals, except breakfast to order was buffet style. Many different dietary requests were met by the chefs. I don’t like seafood, so instead of just replacing my protein with chicken or beef, the chef would make me an entirely different meal. One night they served Salmon and the chef made me cheese ravioli and grilled chicken. Very tasty and accommodating. The rooms on the boat range from very spacious to the average live-aboard bunk style. My room was the triple in the front of the boat. It was adequate. The AC was a little challenged at that end of the hall, so I recommend getting a room closer to the stairs if staying below. The galley and salon were a little small for 30 guests, but adequate. There was a separate sitting room, but it was walled off from the salon, so that room was usually empty. The return was a little rocky, maybe due to knowing the vacation was coming to an end. If you are prone to seasickness be prepared. The boat was pretty stable in my experience, but the rooms on the top decks complained of the motion. The ship setup my transfer to the airport the morning we arrived. There were others that were staying longer and others that setup their own transfers. The crew did their best to accommodate everyone’s departure plans. I recommend letting the crew setup your return transfers to the airport or hotel if you are staying longer. Overall, I recommend the trip. Nautilus has other boats that are smaller than the Belle Amie and may be a better choice for those that want less company on their trips. This was my second trip with Nautilus and highly recommend them. They were very interested in our feedback and cared about our experience.
Websites	Nautilus Explorer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Galapagos, Caribbean, Florida, Truk, Palau.
Closest Airport	Cabo SJD	Getting There	Direct flight on Delta from Atlanta, GA
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	70-72°F / 21-22°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	20-75 Ft/ 6-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	1 hour limit
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	1 or 2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 5 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in Mexico (Western)/Revillagigedo islands

Nautilus Explorer: "Revillagigedo islands Nautilus Belle Amie", Mar, 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):

Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in
Mexico (Western)/Revillagigedo islands