Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in
Mexico (Western)/Socorro

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Nautilus Explorer: "Another Excellent Trip to the Revillagigedos Archipelago", Feb, 2018, by Michael J. Millet, CA, US ( Top Contributor 96 reports with 61 Helpful votes). Report 10167 has 3 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	Dived the Revillagigedos Archipelago (RA) for the 11th time aboard a Nautilus vessel. This time on the Nautilus Belle Amie (NBA). My son and I were promptly met at SJD by the transportation company and driven the El Ganzo hotel in Cabo del San Jose; After about a 4 hour stay, we boarded the NBA for the 2 night/ 1 day cruise to San Benedicto Island. The voyage down to RA was spent preparing dive equipment and photo gear plus several briefings. The first day of diving was at the Canyon and Boiler dives sites. The diving here was a bit above average with encounters with hammerheads, silkies and manta rays. The next 2 days were spent at Socorro Island. The first day at Cabo Pierce where the diving was quite good with close encounters with several mantas. The next day was spent at Punta Tosca, which usually has pretty good diving. However, this trip, the diving here was quite dissappointing. Virtually no pelagic encounters. Had some nice time with lobsters, convict tangs, various moray eels and sting rays. The 4th dive was spent at Roca Partida -- again another dive site known for exceptional marine life encounters. But this trip, the action was quite slow. No mantas and just a few sharks other than white-tips. We were entertained by some large schools of jacks. So the decision was made to return to San Benedicto for the last 2 days of diving. Great Decision!!. Here we encountered 3-6 mantas on every dive. We also had several encounters with whale sharks and bottlenose dolphins. All the divers and crew were quite jazzed. The NBA is a large live-aboard that comfortably accommodates several divers. There were 28 divers on this trip. The divers are organized into 4 groups with the schedule and DM changing every day. It is well managed. We did 2 AM dives and 2 PM dives. The boat has a spacious dining area and salon. The top deck has a hot tub and a bar. The food is quite good and plentiful. The first dive is preceded with a continental breakfast followed by a full, made-to-order breakfast. After the 2nd AM dive, a buffet lunch is served. The first PM dive is followed with snacks and poo-poo's. Dinner is served at 7:30 PM after the 4th dive of the day. The boat has a very well-stocked bar featuring several different offerings of beer, wine and scotch. The crew is always very friendly and helpful. The DM's emphasizes safety and are very familiar with dive sites. I was pleased that the dive boat congestion did not occur as it did in 2017. On most days we were the only boat on the dive site. It appears that the live-aboard operators and doing a better job of managing in this regard. Hopefully, we won't have a highly regulated dive site situation such as Cocos Island. The RA has been designated a national park by the Mexican government and , unfortunately, as a result there is no more snorkeling with whales. Nevertheless, I am booked on the NBA for March, 2019 for my 12th trip to RA.
Websites	Nautilus Explorer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean; Galapagos, Socorro, Fiji, Solomons, GBR, Vanuatu, PNG, Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Yap, Kosrae
Closest Airport	SJD	Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, cloudy, dry	Seas	choppy, surge
Water Temp	72-76°F / 22-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No Deco; 60 minute dives; Don't go "Blue"
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	None	Whales	None
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	The NBA has very spacious camera tables that easily accommodated all the camera rigs on board. The skiff drivers and DM take care loading/unloading camera gear from the pangas. It would be nice to have an air nozzle at the camera table to blow the excess water off the housings.

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in Mexico (Western)/Socorro

Nautilus Explorer: "Another Excellent Trip to the Revillagigedos Archipelago", Feb, 2018,

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)/Socorro