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Dive Review of Rocio Del Mar in
Mexico (Western)/Sea of Cortez

Rocio Del Mar, Jul, 2013,

by Bart Mertens, CA, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports). Report 7435.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling 5 stars
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments This trip was organized by Bluewater Photo Guide and was an UW photography workshop led by Todd Winner. Afterhours were spent reviewing pictures, going over UW photography set-up and techniques, and post-processing with LightRoom, all of which was extremely useful for anybody with little or medium UW photography skills.
The diving was superb.
This is not an area known for beautiful coral reefs and massive amounts of colorful fish. Instead we were treated to an entire day snorkeling with whale sharks in the Bay of Los Angeles, diving with sea lions, and other common critters were jaw fish (incl. the giant jaw fish), numerous octopi, nudis, seahorses, morays, dolphins, pike blennys, etc. Very different from the tropical Pacific. Snorkeling with the whale sharks was amazing; during the morning session the whale sharks were mainly smaller, skittish juveniles who were hard to catch on camera. However, in the afternoon the larger (25-30') adults showed up, were circling us everywhere and were not camera shy at all. Diving with the sea lions was also a lot of fun. The sperm whales unfortunately didn't show, which would only have been icing on the cake.
The crew on the Rocio was very professional; dive masters Ray and Gilberto were excellent and great to dive with and to point out stuff. The food was also excellent. We typically did 4 dives per day: get up around 6:30, have small breakfast (cereal toast), followed by the first dive around 7:30, then warm breakfast (eggs, etc), then another dive around 10:30, lunch (fixed menu, usually soup and some yummie Mexican dish), another dive around 3, and then either a dusk or night dive, followed by dinner (also fixed menu, various dishes of various nationanalities, or a great Mexican BBQ on the top sundeck). All diving was done off the 2 pangas. Weather was great the entire week. Rooms were clean, relatively spacious, beds bunk-style, and en-suite bathrooms. The ship had a number of areas to hang out between dives, both indoor and outdoor.
I would definitely dive with these guys again, maybe see the Socorros in a year or so.
Websites Rocio Del Mar   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving California, Channel islands, Hawaii, Komodo, Raja Ampat, GBR
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, surge
Water Temp 71-80°F / 22-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions One hour dive time max
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins Schools Whale Sharks > 2
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 2 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 5 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Large space for cameras on dive deck, rinse tanks, plenty of 120V outlets
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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