Las Animas Hammerheads

[Soloist]

Very cool! How deep?

This was shot at 124 feet to be exact. Sounds like we were very lucky to be diving off the Belle Amie and not the Baja Explorador.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

. Sounds like we were very lucky to be diving off the Belle Amie and not the Baja Explorador.

The Baja Explorador was 120 feet of rust and decay. Solely beans, rice and tortillas breakfast, lunch and dinner. The air they pumped in our scuba tanks tasted like a cocktail of diesel sludge and bilge water. No air circulation below decks so we drug our moldy thin mattresses up on the top deck and slept under the stars in mid-August. The trip was always out of LA Paz and we would hit Los Islotes, Marisla Seamount, up north to Las Animas, ..... All the free TAB one could drink. I hated that trip so much that I went back 6 years in a row. Ah, the good ole' days!

 

[Dan]

The Baja Explorador was 120 feet of rust and decay. Solely beans, rice and tortillas breakfast, lunch and dinner. The air they pumped in our scuba tanks tasted like a cocktail of diesel sludge and bilge water. No air circulation below decks so we drug our moldy thin mattresses up on the top deck and slept under the stars in mid-August. The trip was always out of LA Paz and we would hit Los Islotes, Marisla Seamount, up north to Las Animas, ..... All the free TAB one could drink. I hated that trip so much that I went back 6 years in a row. Ah, the good ole' days!

I definitely have no complaint with Nautilus Belle Amie, especially with 50% off DEMA deal we got for this trip.

This trip was my 4th time on this boat (Socorro twice, Guadalupe once and this trip to Sea of Cortez). Highly recommended!

 

[Soloist]

The Baja Explorador was 120 feet of rust and decay. Solely beans, rice and tortillas breakfast, lunch and dinner. The air they pumped in our scuba tanks tasted like a cocktail of diesel sludge and bilge water. No air circulation below decks so we drug our moldy thin mattresses up on the top deck and slept under the stars in mid-August. The trip was always out of LA Paz and we would hit Los Islotes, Marisla Seamount, up north to Las Animas, ..... All the free TAB one could drink. I hated that trip so much that I went back 6 years in a row. Ah, the good ole' days!

That’s both tragic and hilarious. You’re only young once! Sleeping on deck instead of your deluxe stateroom was probably a good idea considering the limited cuisine. Explosive lithium batteries are the main concern nowadays. Found a picture of her to go with your trip(s) down memory lane.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

That’s both tragic and hilarious. You’re only young once! Sleeping on deck instead of your “deluxe stateroom” was probably a good idea considering the limited cuisine. Explosive lithium batteries are the main concern nowadays. Found a picture of her to go with your trip(s) down memory lane.

View attachment 802094

Here is a pic I took in the early 1980's of the Baja Explorador after it had been retrofitted as a dive live-aboard.

 

[Soloist]

Here is a pic I took in the early 1980's of the Baja Explorador after it had been retrofitted as a dive live-aboard.

When did you last dive the Sea of Cortez?

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

I helped take a friend's 42' Twin Diesel California from Newport Beach, CA to La Paz, in about 1996. We had a compressor onboard and dove all the usual spots out of La Paz. The real diving on that trip took place on the Pacific side of Baja all the way down. We even dove Thetis Bank which was trippy. Huge Oceanic Hammerheads, White Sharks just cruising, oceanic Triggerfish that were large and aggressive..... That was my last trip to the Sea of Cortez. I've done 2 Galapagos, 1 Cocos and 6 Socorro trips, the last one in 2006.

 

[etexdiver]

During diving in Sea of Cortez with Nautilus Belle Amie, the crews took us to Las Animas on 4 September 2023 hoping to see hammerheads. We got lucky.

Nice! We're going on the Rocio starting the 16 for the 12 day cruise. What was the water temp? You all look like 3 mm and hoodies, but I thought the water would be warmer?

 

[js1221]

Nice! We're going on the Rocio starting the 16 for the 12 day cruise. What was the water temp? You all look like 3 mm and hoodies, but I thought the water would be warmer?

We were in shorts and rash guards from Cabo to Bahia de los Angeles. There were some cooler waters on occasion but we didn't stay in them long enough to get cold. I wore a 2.5mm shorty snorkeling with the whale sharks at BDLA, mostly for buoyancy. Everyone is different but I am normally cold. The coldest dive on my Perdix was the last dive, outside BDLA, where the low water temp was 80 and the high was 84. The rest of the week, south of there had been in the mid 80s for lows to mid 90s for highs.

 

[etexdiver]

We were in shorts and rash guards from Cabo to Bahia de los Angeles. There were some cooler waters on occasion but we didn't stay in them long enough to get cold. I wore a 2.5mm shorty snorkeling with the whale sharks at BDLA, mostly for buoyancy. Everyone is different but I am normally cold. The coldest dive on my Perdix was the last dive, outside BDLA, where the low water temp was 80 and the high was 84. The rest of the week, south of there had been in the mid 80s for lows to mid 90s for highs.

We were in shorts and rash guards from Cabo to Bahia de los Angeles. There were some cooler waters on occasion but we didn't stay in them long enough to get cold. I wore a 2.5mm shorty snorkeling with the whale sharks at BDLA, mostly for buoyancy. Everyone is different but I am normally cold. The coldest dive on my Perdix was the last dive, outside BDLA, where the low water temp was 80 and the high was 84. The rest of the week, south of there had been in the mid 80s for lows to mid 90s for highs.

Thank you very much! We're hot divers, rash/shorts, but we've seen many videos of more layers. Did you have any up-wellings to bring cold water?