Dive Review of Solmar V in
Mexico (Western)/Islas Revillagigedo

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Solmar V, Jun, 2014, by Sean Bruner, AZ, US ( Contributor 16 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 7627.
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 is our third trip to the Revillagigedo Islands aboard the Solmar V, so we obviously have had good experiences on the boat. Our last trip was five years ago and our first was three years before that, so it had been a while, but the captain, one of the panga drivers and two of the dive masters were the same we have had on all three trips. That says something about the company and its employees. This was by far the best of the three trips, one of the best we’d been on anywhere. The boat left the harbor at Cabo San Lucas and headed out for the 24 hour crossing to the islands. The seas were calm even though a hurricane had passed through the week before, forcing the boat to scuttle the trip to the Islands and do a trip in the Sea of Cortez instead. We arrived at Isla San Benedicto the next afternoon in time for our check-out dive. Plenty of fish and interesting creatures, although not the big stuff we had come to see. The next day, we dove the famous El Boiler for four dives. No mantas on the first dive, but some shark action, mostly white tips. The rock wall of the Boiler is always an interesting diversion when there are no mantas around, covered with hundreds, maybe thousands, of lobster, free swimming giant green moray eels, octopus and all kinds of fish, especially jacks, trigger fish, mero, porgy and puffer fish. The mantas showed up on the second dive and stayed the rest of the day. The next day, we headed to Roca Partida, arriving in the early morning. The Nautilus Explorer also arrived at the same time, but the boats coordinated so that the divers from both boats were not in the water at the same time. Our first day consisted of diving with many sharks - silky, Galapagos, silver tip, a few hammerhead and many, many white tip. There was a school of bonito that had silkys shooting in and out and coming close to the divers. Very exciting. Being older, I tended to be in the back of our group. On day two, while everyone was looking into the blue to see the bonitos, I turned towards the rock and saw a whale shark swimming right next to me! I swam along side. It’s amazing how difficult it is to keep up with a whale shark even though it looks like they are barely moving. For the rest of that day and the next two days, we had whale sharks on every dive, for a total of five different whale sharks, eight dives in a row. They also came by the boat, out of curiosity, and we snorkeled with them between dives. Everyone got plenty of whale shark pictures and videos. After four days at Roca, we headed to Socorro for four dives at Cabo Pearce. Erick Higuera, the head dive master, is also a marine biologist studying mantas, so he takes pictures of each one and documents it in order to count how many mantas are at the Islands. He counted 32 different mantas during those four dives. Our final day diving was back at Isla San Benedicto. The morning dive was at El Cañon, a deep dive where hammerheads are often seen when the current is running strongly. A few divers in the other group were excited at seeing a passing tiger shark, and everyone saw a hammerhead or two, but mostly it wasn’t happening. Back to the Boiler for the last three dives. More mantas and close encounters with dolphins, then off to Cabo San Lucas. The food was better than I had remembered it from the past two times. Full breakfast with much fresh fruit, hot soup followed by main dish for lunch, salad and main dish for dinner, all tastefully prepared. Dessert at both lunch and dinner, and afternoon snacks. L and I are not vegetarians, but we found it a little heavy on meat. We were asked at check-in if we had any dietary restrictions, however, so a request for vegetarian meals would surely be honored. The knock on the Solmar is the cabins, which are the smallest of any I have experienced on any live-aboard. It’s really just a spider hole, and the en suite bathroom is pitiful. We don’t come to sleep or stay in the cabin, however. The sun deck is also small, but at least there is one. The salon is comfortable with a large tv with hundreds of movies and documentaries and music. Erick gave a presentation on mantas which was very informative and Alexandra, a Mexican grad student working on an advanced degree in marine biology, gave a presentation on shark identification. There are other boats with larger state rooms which now go to Revillagigedo, but the Solmar was the first and has a reputation for safety, which is important when diving in open ocean. Erick was L and my dive master for this trip and he was constantly checking to make sure we were okay. When we were picked up by the pangas, they were always right there and we never felt worried we’d have to spend a long time at the surface waiting. I would highly recommend this trip. Compared to Los Cocos or Galapagos, Islas Revillagigedo offers easier diving, a less expensive price and it’s more convenient to get to Los Cabos than to Costa Rica or Ecuador. There are no guarantees when doing pelagic diving, and we certainly got more than we bargained for this trip, but mantas and some sharks are standard for this trip.
Websites	Solmar V
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Fiji, Galapagos, Cozumel, Bonaire, Hawaii
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	dry	Seas	calm, surge
Water Temp	79-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	25-100 Ft/ 8-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minute dives, not strictly enforced.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	> 2
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		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments

Subscriber's Comments

By Gary in AB, CA at Jun 18, 2014 13:18 EST

That was painful to read as we were on the Nautilus Explorer the week before and the entire trip was cancelled due to Hurricane Amanada. The Sea of Cortez is not comparable to Soccoro - at least one of us got lucky :-)

By philip nicozisis in FL, US at Jun 21, 2014 23:59 EST

Great review, very helpful. Thank you !

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Dive Review of Solmar V in Mexico (Western)/Islas Revillagigedo

Solmar V, Jun, 2014,

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 Solmar V in
Mexico (Western)/Islas Revillagigedo