micquinn
Registered
This is my first post, but since when I was researching the MV Valentina I did not see much information I thought I would add a trip report. I did a 8 day trip on the MV Valentina from November 29 to December 8 of 2023. I flew in the day before the boat left and stayed at the La Marina Inn as I was concerned about any possibility of missing the departure. The La Marina was a nice hotel and actually within a somewhat sweaty walk of where the boat was docked. I don't know that I would do it again as it added additional cost to the trip, but if you'd chose to, I would recommend the La Marina Inn.
Because I was staying close by, I was able to get to the Valentina early, about 2 PM was the earliest they said I could board. I was one of the first ones on board and was assigned cabin #9. It had two bunks. As I'm in my 60s I was a little concerned about getting the top bunk for trips to the bathroom at night and was able to get the bottom bunk. However the top bunk was pretty accessible so I don't think it would've been a problem. While the room wasn't fancy it was fairly good sized. It had a dresser, a closet and a sink. The room also had a bathroom with a toilet and a decent size shower. Overall I was happy with the room accommodations. I was concerned about getting a good roommate and as it turned out I got a great roommate who did not snore
.
By the time I got settled in my room, there were other guests starting to show up in setting their gear up on the dive deck. The dive deck was adequate but not huge. They assigned me a location that I would not recommend. Be aware of where the wetsuit hang bars are located as my location was right underneath one of the wetsuit hanger bars and so therefore when I was getting ready I was often dealing with wetsuits hanging over my gear. As an older diver I was also concerned about entry and exit from the RIB's. While they had a rear dive platform, this was never used for some reason. All are entry and exits from the RIB's were off the port and starboard stairs. The benefit of this was that there were fewer stairs. I fairly quickly learned that getting into the RIB, I waited until there were two people whose arms I could grab onto to keep myself stable as I stepped in all my gear on. I had switched out to a 100 ft.³ tank after the first day of diving because due to currents I was going through gas more than normal. I chose to dive with nitrox and generally the fills were 31 to 32%.
One shock I got was when I was checking was the park fee. It was something in the neighborhood of $700 which if it was disclosed to me by Fun Azul, I did not see it. The additional problem was that because I was not prepared for this extra expense, I had only brought about $500 in US currency and so therefore had to use my credit card where there was a exorbitant additional fee of I think 15%. These numbers may not be exact because at the time I was more focused on getting checked in and just wanted to get the payments over with. But do check into the fees for the park, nitrox, wifi and credit card usage ahead of time.
As for the diving, on one hand it lived up to expectations and on another it did not. Of course it's a 26 hour sail out to the islands so our first day of diving was on Friday. We were diving on Socorro Island at Cabo Pierce. We did four dives there. My notes from the dives were that we saw few mentors but they did not stay long, few white tip sharks and some assorted fish, nothing really to impressive and I was hoping that the next spot would be better. On the second day we stayed at Socorro Island and dove at Punta Toska. This day was a bit better as we saw some various types of sharks, Galápagos, silky's and silver tips. Did not see any manta's on this day. After dinner I went out on the deck and they had lights shining in the water and there were a number of silky's feeding on fish that were being attracted by the lights. That was one of the highlights of the day and was fun to watch. They were actually larger than ones we'd seen in the water. On the third day we were back at Cabo Pierce. I guess due to weather conditions. In general we had quite a bit of wind and sea conditions were probably 4-6 foot swells. We also had a lot of current on the dives. I felt like I was working pretty hard on every dive and there were a couple dives where I had to crawl on the bottom to get to the spots we were hanging off. I would definitely recommend bringing a reef hook. This day we saw some mantas, very briefly saw some dolphins, and more white tips.
After dinner the boat got underway and I was feeling a bit queasy so put a patch on. However the next morning when I woke up I had extreme cottonmouth and felt kind of druged so I took it off. On Monday we were at San Benedict the island, but because there were other boats there we do not get in the water until 9 AM. I made a note in my log the first dive had strong current and low visibility (probably 30 feet). On the second dive we briefly saw a large tiger shark which was cool. Some of the other group said they saw some hammerheads out in the distance. Saw a few mantas briefly. One lesson I learned about seeing mantas, was they always seemed to be above me. On the last couple of dives I made a specific choice to stay above the other divers probably about 20 feet, and was able to get some closer encounters. One downside to staying above other divers was being in their bubbles. I learned the hard way when I got back and was editing my video, that some bubbles had gotten in between my WWL1 wet lens and ruined up one of my best clips of a manta. Basically the rest of the trip we were at San Benedicto Island. Mostly the Canyons, but we did get two dives in at the Boiler. We did not make it to Roca Partida due to weather conditions. I wasn't a huge fan of the Canyons but I did love the Boiler. Diving on the sheer walls was pretty spectacular. This is also where I tried to stay shallower and got a couple of close manta encounters.
A note about how they organized the dives. The first dive was at 7 AM which was pretty early for me. It was actually still dark when were getting ready on the deck. We were organized in three groups. There was a group diving together from Europe, a group from Colorado and then our group which was the leftovers. We had five people including myself, plus the dive master. They rotated through each day a different group being the first group, second group and third group. I actually enjoyed being the third group because it wasn't such a rush to get ready and when you surfaced, the RIB was there to pick you up. When you were the first group, you I found it kind of rushed and typically you would have to wait on the surface in the RIB waiting for one of the other groups the surface as a spotter or to pick them up.
A note on dive equipment, I brought both a 3 mm and 5 mm suit and only used the 5 mm a few times. Although I did wear hood. There was one lady that had a 7 mm and also a guy from Chicago who was wearing a shorty with no hood. So there was a variety. I wear Force Fins, but if I went again I would bring my Pro version due to the current. As I mentioned above, I switched to a 100 ft.³ tank even though my gas usage is usually pretty good. It was just nice not having to worry about running out even though there was an extra cost.
Food on the boat was generally good. The boat itself was an overall good repair. The crew was great. All the dive masters were very attentive, enthusiastic, helpful if you needed help. They also served food and cleared dishes for the meals. Definitely really enjoyed the crew. All the divers on the boat were great. The European group tended to stay by themselves. The group from Colorado and Seattle were very friendly. In my group I had a wonderful young couple from Bali, a French doctor and a retired police Capt. from Chicago. Really enjoyed diving with them.
When were heading back in, I asked Lorenzo on a scale of 1-10 how he rate this trip and he said probably a "3" due to the surface conditions, currents and visibility. Even though this was supposed to be the calmer time of year, it did not turn out to be the case. It is the ocean so you get what you get. Overall I would recommend the Valentina as a boat with a great crew. I know many people have a amazing experience at Socorro, we were just not one of them. That said, we still got to see some amazing wildlife and I'm glad that I went. However with so many amazing places to go around the world, I'm not sure I will go back.
I hope someone finds this post helpful.
Because I was staying close by, I was able to get to the Valentina early, about 2 PM was the earliest they said I could board. I was one of the first ones on board and was assigned cabin #9. It had two bunks. As I'm in my 60s I was a little concerned about getting the top bunk for trips to the bathroom at night and was able to get the bottom bunk. However the top bunk was pretty accessible so I don't think it would've been a problem. While the room wasn't fancy it was fairly good sized. It had a dresser, a closet and a sink. The room also had a bathroom with a toilet and a decent size shower. Overall I was happy with the room accommodations. I was concerned about getting a good roommate and as it turned out I got a great roommate who did not snore
. By the time I got settled in my room, there were other guests starting to show up in setting their gear up on the dive deck. The dive deck was adequate but not huge. They assigned me a location that I would not recommend. Be aware of where the wetsuit hang bars are located as my location was right underneath one of the wetsuit hanger bars and so therefore when I was getting ready I was often dealing with wetsuits hanging over my gear. As an older diver I was also concerned about entry and exit from the RIB's. While they had a rear dive platform, this was never used for some reason. All are entry and exits from the RIB's were off the port and starboard stairs. The benefit of this was that there were fewer stairs. I fairly quickly learned that getting into the RIB, I waited until there were two people whose arms I could grab onto to keep myself stable as I stepped in all my gear on. I had switched out to a 100 ft.³ tank after the first day of diving because due to currents I was going through gas more than normal. I chose to dive with nitrox and generally the fills were 31 to 32%.
One shock I got was when I was checking was the park fee. It was something in the neighborhood of $700 which if it was disclosed to me by Fun Azul, I did not see it. The additional problem was that because I was not prepared for this extra expense, I had only brought about $500 in US currency and so therefore had to use my credit card where there was a exorbitant additional fee of I think 15%. These numbers may not be exact because at the time I was more focused on getting checked in and just wanted to get the payments over with. But do check into the fees for the park, nitrox, wifi and credit card usage ahead of time.
As for the diving, on one hand it lived up to expectations and on another it did not. Of course it's a 26 hour sail out to the islands so our first day of diving was on Friday. We were diving on Socorro Island at Cabo Pierce. We did four dives there. My notes from the dives were that we saw few mentors but they did not stay long, few white tip sharks and some assorted fish, nothing really to impressive and I was hoping that the next spot would be better. On the second day we stayed at Socorro Island and dove at Punta Toska. This day was a bit better as we saw some various types of sharks, Galápagos, silky's and silver tips. Did not see any manta's on this day. After dinner I went out on the deck and they had lights shining in the water and there were a number of silky's feeding on fish that were being attracted by the lights. That was one of the highlights of the day and was fun to watch. They were actually larger than ones we'd seen in the water. On the third day we were back at Cabo Pierce. I guess due to weather conditions. In general we had quite a bit of wind and sea conditions were probably 4-6 foot swells. We also had a lot of current on the dives. I felt like I was working pretty hard on every dive and there were a couple dives where I had to crawl on the bottom to get to the spots we were hanging off. I would definitely recommend bringing a reef hook. This day we saw some mantas, very briefly saw some dolphins, and more white tips.
After dinner the boat got underway and I was feeling a bit queasy so put a patch on. However the next morning when I woke up I had extreme cottonmouth and felt kind of druged so I took it off. On Monday we were at San Benedict the island, but because there were other boats there we do not get in the water until 9 AM. I made a note in my log the first dive had strong current and low visibility (probably 30 feet). On the second dive we briefly saw a large tiger shark which was cool. Some of the other group said they saw some hammerheads out in the distance. Saw a few mantas briefly. One lesson I learned about seeing mantas, was they always seemed to be above me. On the last couple of dives I made a specific choice to stay above the other divers probably about 20 feet, and was able to get some closer encounters. One downside to staying above other divers was being in their bubbles. I learned the hard way when I got back and was editing my video, that some bubbles had gotten in between my WWL1 wet lens and ruined up one of my best clips of a manta. Basically the rest of the trip we were at San Benedicto Island. Mostly the Canyons, but we did get two dives in at the Boiler. We did not make it to Roca Partida due to weather conditions. I wasn't a huge fan of the Canyons but I did love the Boiler. Diving on the sheer walls was pretty spectacular. This is also where I tried to stay shallower and got a couple of close manta encounters.
A note about how they organized the dives. The first dive was at 7 AM which was pretty early for me. It was actually still dark when were getting ready on the deck. We were organized in three groups. There was a group diving together from Europe, a group from Colorado and then our group which was the leftovers. We had five people including myself, plus the dive master. They rotated through each day a different group being the first group, second group and third group. I actually enjoyed being the third group because it wasn't such a rush to get ready and when you surfaced, the RIB was there to pick you up. When you were the first group, you I found it kind of rushed and typically you would have to wait on the surface in the RIB waiting for one of the other groups the surface as a spotter or to pick them up.
A note on dive equipment, I brought both a 3 mm and 5 mm suit and only used the 5 mm a few times. Although I did wear hood. There was one lady that had a 7 mm and also a guy from Chicago who was wearing a shorty with no hood. So there was a variety. I wear Force Fins, but if I went again I would bring my Pro version due to the current. As I mentioned above, I switched to a 100 ft.³ tank even though my gas usage is usually pretty good. It was just nice not having to worry about running out even though there was an extra cost.
Food on the boat was generally good. The boat itself was an overall good repair. The crew was great. All the dive masters were very attentive, enthusiastic, helpful if you needed help. They also served food and cleared dishes for the meals. Definitely really enjoyed the crew. All the divers on the boat were great. The European group tended to stay by themselves. The group from Colorado and Seattle were very friendly. In my group I had a wonderful young couple from Bali, a French doctor and a retired police Capt. from Chicago. Really enjoyed diving with them.
When were heading back in, I asked Lorenzo on a scale of 1-10 how he rate this trip and he said probably a "3" due to the surface conditions, currents and visibility. Even though this was supposed to be the calmer time of year, it did not turn out to be the case. It is the ocean so you get what you get. Overall I would recommend the Valentina as a boat with a great crew. I know many people have a amazing experience at Socorro, we were just not one of them. That said, we still got to see some amazing wildlife and I'm glad that I went. However with so many amazing places to go around the world, I'm not sure I will go back.
I hope someone finds this post helpful.
