Socorro Safari Liveaboard

Socorro safari and liveaboard, diving trip Pacific

Socorro safari and a liveaboard diving trip to the islands commonly known as Revillagigedos are perhaps among the most powerful things you can experience. Fantastic encounters with large animals mean that divers from all over the world come here. You can dive here for large parts of the year. These islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean approximately 400 km off Cabo San Lucas in Mexico at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. The islands are often compared to the Galapagos in Ecuador and Cocos Island in Costa Rica. That's thanks to the amount of large animal encounters that take place here. The location out at sea means that the only way to experience diving here is to do one diving trip with liveaboard.

Revillagigedos consists of 4 islands – San Benedicto Island, Socorro Island, Roca Partida and Clarion, but are simply called Socorro or Socorro Islands. These islands are exotic, unpredictable and often receive the compliment of being called the Mexican Galapagos.

The area is famous for up close and personal encounters with the Giant Pacific manta ray. They can be over six meters long from wing tip to wing tip. The boat's crew have long been familiar with these friendly giants. This has resulted in working with several researchers. Over the years, they have been able to identify most of them and create very close relationships with them.

It is absolutely forbidden to hunt or ride the mantas and the interaction with them must be initiated by a manta itself. The reason they are so close is because of the respect they have gained over the years. San Benedicto is clearly the best place in the world to experience and photograph these awesome animals.

• Lots of manta rays and sharks between November and May
• Meetings with tuber selection from the end of January to the beginning of April
• Up to seven shark species can be experienced on the trip, including hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks and tiger sharks are seen here regularly

Lots of sharks and many species

There are plenty of sharks at Socorro. Here you often see shoals of hammerhead sharks, whitetip sharks, silvertip sharks, silky sharks, duskies, Galapagos sharks and the occasional tiger shark. It has actually happened that divers have encountered 7-8 different shark species during one and the same dive. We visit several grooming stations for hammerhead sharks as long as the weather permits. An added bonus at the islands is the whale shark, which you can encounter in November/December and late April/May.

Schools of bottlenose dolphins often play here at regular intervals. From January to March, these islands are home to a large number of humpback whales that come here to breed. Several newborn humpback whales have been seen over the years.

The scientists who visit Socorro every year to study whales have said that their twelve years at sea have made the whales recognize the boat. It has led to more and more exciting underwater encounters. Add to that extremely large tunas, shoals of jacks and many other large animals along with endemic tropical fish. All of this adds up to some of the most exciting and best diving with large animals anywhere in the world!

When visiting the Sea of ​​Cortez or Socorro, diving is done from pangas (smaller dive boats) or from the boat's diving platform. It depends a little on location and conditions. A divemaster will tell you about the setup with a briefing for each new dive site and answer questions from the divers.

Usually the divers are divided into two groups, each of which has its own panga. The person driving the pangan remains within sight throughout the dive. Each panga has a sturdy ladder, so you can put on your gear in the water and easily climb up after the dive. Contact us for your reservation and liveaboard safari to Socorro Islands. Diving trips to Socorro are very popular so book early.