My wife, Debbie, had some additional info she wanted to add about our December Socorro trip:
I wanted to add a little more about the Socorro trip. One of our divemasters was Sten. He was a huge guy from Sweden and described himself as a Viking. He was over 6 feet tall. When we dived in Galapagos, we went to the dive sites on small inflatable zodiacs. After the dive, they would haul your scuba gear on board first and then you had to try to pull yourself up so the boat attendant could grab you with two hands and haul you onto the boat. On this trip, Sten would reach down with one hand and pull you on with little effort. When Sten got onto the boat, he climbed in with all his gear on, with no assistance. He was very impressive with a great Swedish accent. The diving at Socorro and San Benedicto was fairly easy diving. The mantas were wonderful.
Now we were ready to hear about Roca Partida.
We arrived at Roca Partida and met in the salon for our dive briefing. Roca Partida is basically just a rock sticking out of the water in the Pacific with no other land in sight for miles. Is uninhabited and looks kind of like some snow covered peaks in the Rocky Mountains. It actually is not snow, it is covered in bird guano (and birds). I think it is about 250 miles from Cabo San Lucas. Sten explained that there are often strong ocean currents and that you must always keep the rock in sight. If you get too far from the rock, you could get carried out to sea by a current and lost. We all had safety sausages and dive alerts. We actually had signal flags that Mark ordered from some place in England and the divemasters said they were better than the signal tubes. Sten said that if you did get carried out to sea, there was a real danger that you would not be found. No one would know you were missing until all the divers were back and you weren't there. By that time, you could be miles away. There are no other boats out there to assist with a search so the Nautilus would have to pull anchor to search for you. He said that if you were not found by dark, you would not be found. There are a lot of sharks in the area. He said it was too far out for helicopters. That was fine. Sten says to stay close to the rock so we will stay close to the rock. No problem.
Then he tells us not to stay too close to the rock because it is covered with black sea urchins. He told us that when you get close to the rock, there is often quite a bit of surge and that you can find yourself being thrust into the rock and impaled by these urchins. He said that urchin injuries can be anything from minor to serious and that if an urchin spine gets into a blood vessel, it can go to your heart and this can be fatal. He also pointed out that we are too far out for helicopter evacuation and that it is a 20 boat ride to get to any medical care. OK, we had it figured out now. Stay close to the rock, but not too close.
Sten then told us about what he called the Vortex of Death. He said that there are often unusual currents around the rock. When a current hits the rock, it has to go some where. It might go up, down or sideways. You might encounter upwellings or down wellings. He said you have to keep a close eye on your depth because it is hundreds of feet deep and it is easy to get distracted looking at the sharks and get pulled a little deep by a downwelling, the air in your BC compresses and you sink more. You should not get bent because it is a 20 hour boat ride to the nearest chamber and it is too afar out for helicopters. He said the currents can be quite strong on the two ends of the rock. He said that the Vortex of Death is rare but it has been known to occur at this site. He described it as kind of like a sideways tornado spinning horizontally through the water, out to sea. He said that as the bubbles of the divers go toward the surface, the bubbles will get caught in the vortex, making it visible. The bubbles trapped in the vortex give the appearance of a horizontal silver ribbon in the water headed out to sea. He said that if we see that, we should not go close to check it out. He said that on one occasion, two divers were trapped in the vortex and could not break free, even with their BCDs fully inflated. He entered the vortex and grabbed one divers hand and the two of them got to the other diver so that they were all linked together. He said it was like being in the spin cycle of a washing machine sideways. They all inflated their BCDs and when he got to the top of the tunnel, he took a deep breath and kicked hard and was able to break out of the vortex, pulling the other 2 divers with him. They were able to dump air and make a safe ascent but they were pulled quite a distance out to sea. The boat found them and picked them up.
So, if we survived the currents, the Vortex of death and don't get impaled on the urchins, there are always the sharks. This area has so many sharks that you don't wonder if you will see a shark on your dive, it is how many and what kind. Sten gave us a brief course on how to tell a silvertip from a white tip and a silky shark from a Galapagos shark. He didn't need to tell us how to identify the hammerheads.
Now that Sten had told us about anything that could possibly go wrong (with a cute Swedish accent) we were ready to dive!!! For the first dive, they dropped us on the west side of the rock. Starting at about 30 feet we began to see shallow caves full of white tip reef sharks. They looked they were snuggled up with each other like a litter of puppies. Sometimes there would be 5 or 6 and sometimes a dozen. They did not seem to mind the divers and they would let you come fairly close and take pictures without getting spooked away. Occasionally you would see one or two swimming by. There were some very large green morays. Overall, a great dive.
For the next dive, we decided to go to the west tip of the rock. We were told that there was a cleaning station at about 100 feet where hammerheads go to be cleaned. There was a bit of current but nothing bad. I was starting to doubt that they were there because we were coming up on 100 feet and did not see any sharks, however, as we reached 105 feet , they appeared as if out of a mist. There were hammerheads everywhere as far as I could see. Mark and I were diving on a nitrox mix of 32% O2 (maybe closer to 33%) so I enjoyed the scenery for a while, keeping a close eye on my depth since I was close to my max for this blend of nitrox. When I decided to go a little shallower, I swam upwards and looked at my depth. I was still at 105 feet . I swam upwards some more and was still at 105 feet . I inflated my BCD as swam upwards again and was still at 105 feet so I inflated my BCD some more and swam up until I was at 90 feet . I heard my overpressure relief valve on my BCD dump air so I knew my BC was fully inflated. I don't think I filled it all the way. I think I filled it up considerable and it expanded going from 105 to 90. Anyway, based on that, I think there was a downward current there. Mark went to 125 feet and his computer said that his PO2 was 1.56. PADI recommends no more than 1.4 but TDI allows up to 1.6 so I guess he was OK. Mark said he did not feel a downward current and I didn't feel it either but I think a mild current was there. Through discussions with the other divers on the boat, I learned that one diver went to 145 feet and another went to 155 feet , unintentionally. They did not think it was due to current so much as just being distracted by the sharks and wanting to get closer. A diver from England went to 40 meters and said he had to swim an upward breaststroke with his BCD fully inflated to get up. Luckily the divers who went to 145 and 155 feet were not on nitrox. Everyone was fine. There were no adverse affects other than the diver who went to 155 was locked out by his computer until the next day. After that, everyone kept a close eye on their depth and there were no problems. There was an Italian on board who did get pulled out to sea and the dingys could not find him. We had to pull anchor and search but found him fairly quickly.
We did a few dives to the west end and then decided to go to the east end. That is an area where other types of sharks hang out. We saw silky sharks, Galapagos and silvertips. I really liked the silver tips. Of course there were also white tip reef sharks. They just seemed to be everywhere.
Before we went to Roca Partida we were in an area where silky sharks are known to feed on flying fish. Sten said that if they showed up, we would have the opportunity to do a night snorkel with them. He said we could not have a flashlight for the dive because there had been incidents where the sharks try to take the flashlight and you could get pulled down by your wrist lanyard or could get your hand bitten. Hmmmm, get in the water in snorkel gear at night with feeding sharks and no flashlight??? I decided to pass. Since I would not have a light, I would not be able to see much anyway and I decided it would be more entertaining to watch those who had decided to participate. Mark (being more of an adrenaline junkie) decided he was up for it. Sten and some of the crew started trying to draw the sharks by throwing a float to splash on the surface repeatedly. They also took an empty water bottle and held it in the water, crackling it. I had seen this done in the Bahamas and for some reason it does seem to work. We did get one silky shark but he swam away. We hoped he went to tell his buddies to join him. Sten went on to brief us on procedures. He said that we should slip in the water quietly and avoid splashing. He said that if the sharks got too rowdy, he would say, "Everyone out of the water". He said that we should quietly swim to the ladder and exit the water. He finished his briefing and we still had no sharks. Suddenly Sten jumped in the air, did a cannonball into the water and began splashing and thrashing about. (Still no sharks.) Some were disappointed but I felt that Sten had gone above and beyond the call of duty trying to get us some sharks. It was a full moon and the flying fish were not flying so that may have had something to do with it.
All in all a great trip!!
I wanted to add a little more about the Socorro trip. One of our divemasters was Sten. He was a huge guy from Sweden and described himself as a Viking. He was over 6 feet tall. When we dived in Galapagos, we went to the dive sites on small inflatable zodiacs. After the dive, they would haul your scuba gear on board first and then you had to try to pull yourself up so the boat attendant could grab you with two hands and haul you onto the boat. On this trip, Sten would reach down with one hand and pull you on with little effort. When Sten got onto the boat, he climbed in with all his gear on, with no assistance. He was very impressive with a great Swedish accent. The diving at Socorro and San Benedicto was fairly easy diving. The mantas were wonderful.
Now we were ready to hear about Roca Partida.
We arrived at Roca Partida and met in the salon for our dive briefing. Roca Partida is basically just a rock sticking out of the water in the Pacific with no other land in sight for miles. Is uninhabited and looks kind of like some snow covered peaks in the Rocky Mountains. It actually is not snow, it is covered in bird guano (and birds). I think it is about 250 miles from Cabo San Lucas. Sten explained that there are often strong ocean currents and that you must always keep the rock in sight. If you get too far from the rock, you could get carried out to sea by a current and lost. We all had safety sausages and dive alerts. We actually had signal flags that Mark ordered from some place in England and the divemasters said they were better than the signal tubes. Sten said that if you did get carried out to sea, there was a real danger that you would not be found. No one would know you were missing until all the divers were back and you weren't there. By that time, you could be miles away. There are no other boats out there to assist with a search so the Nautilus would have to pull anchor to search for you. He said that if you were not found by dark, you would not be found. There are a lot of sharks in the area. He said it was too far out for helicopters. That was fine. Sten says to stay close to the rock so we will stay close to the rock. No problem.
Then he tells us not to stay too close to the rock because it is covered with black sea urchins. He told us that when you get close to the rock, there is often quite a bit of surge and that you can find yourself being thrust into the rock and impaled by these urchins. He said that urchin injuries can be anything from minor to serious and that if an urchin spine gets into a blood vessel, it can go to your heart and this can be fatal. He also pointed out that we are too far out for helicopter evacuation and that it is a 20 boat ride to get to any medical care. OK, we had it figured out now. Stay close to the rock, but not too close.
Sten then told us about what he called the Vortex of Death. He said that there are often unusual currents around the rock. When a current hits the rock, it has to go some where. It might go up, down or sideways. You might encounter upwellings or down wellings. He said you have to keep a close eye on your depth because it is hundreds of feet deep and it is easy to get distracted looking at the sharks and get pulled a little deep by a downwelling, the air in your BC compresses and you sink more. You should not get bent because it is a 20 hour boat ride to the nearest chamber and it is too afar out for helicopters. He said the currents can be quite strong on the two ends of the rock. He said that the Vortex of Death is rare but it has been known to occur at this site. He described it as kind of like a sideways tornado spinning horizontally through the water, out to sea. He said that as the bubbles of the divers go toward the surface, the bubbles will get caught in the vortex, making it visible. The bubbles trapped in the vortex give the appearance of a horizontal silver ribbon in the water headed out to sea. He said that if we see that, we should not go close to check it out. He said that on one occasion, two divers were trapped in the vortex and could not break free, even with their BCDs fully inflated. He entered the vortex and grabbed one divers hand and the two of them got to the other diver so that they were all linked together. He said it was like being in the spin cycle of a washing machine sideways. They all inflated their BCDs and when he got to the top of the tunnel, he took a deep breath and kicked hard and was able to break out of the vortex, pulling the other 2 divers with him. They were able to dump air and make a safe ascent but they were pulled quite a distance out to sea. The boat found them and picked them up.
So, if we survived the currents, the Vortex of death and don't get impaled on the urchins, there are always the sharks. This area has so many sharks that you don't wonder if you will see a shark on your dive, it is how many and what kind. Sten gave us a brief course on how to tell a silvertip from a white tip and a silky shark from a Galapagos shark. He didn't need to tell us how to identify the hammerheads.
Now that Sten had told us about anything that could possibly go wrong (with a cute Swedish accent) we were ready to dive!!! For the first dive, they dropped us on the west side of the rock. Starting at about 30 feet we began to see shallow caves full of white tip reef sharks. They looked they were snuggled up with each other like a litter of puppies. Sometimes there would be 5 or 6 and sometimes a dozen. They did not seem to mind the divers and they would let you come fairly close and take pictures without getting spooked away. Occasionally you would see one or two swimming by. There were some very large green morays. Overall, a great dive.
For the next dive, we decided to go to the west tip of the rock. We were told that there was a cleaning station at about 100 feet where hammerheads go to be cleaned. There was a bit of current but nothing bad. I was starting to doubt that they were there because we were coming up on 100 feet and did not see any sharks, however, as we reached 105 feet , they appeared as if out of a mist. There were hammerheads everywhere as far as I could see. Mark and I were diving on a nitrox mix of 32% O2 (maybe closer to 33%) so I enjoyed the scenery for a while, keeping a close eye on my depth since I was close to my max for this blend of nitrox. When I decided to go a little shallower, I swam upwards and looked at my depth. I was still at 105 feet . I swam upwards some more and was still at 105 feet . I inflated my BCD as swam upwards again and was still at 105 feet so I inflated my BCD some more and swam up until I was at 90 feet . I heard my overpressure relief valve on my BCD dump air so I knew my BC was fully inflated. I don't think I filled it all the way. I think I filled it up considerable and it expanded going from 105 to 90. Anyway, based on that, I think there was a downward current there. Mark went to 125 feet and his computer said that his PO2 was 1.56. PADI recommends no more than 1.4 but TDI allows up to 1.6 so I guess he was OK. Mark said he did not feel a downward current and I didn't feel it either but I think a mild current was there. Through discussions with the other divers on the boat, I learned that one diver went to 145 feet and another went to 155 feet , unintentionally. They did not think it was due to current so much as just being distracted by the sharks and wanting to get closer. A diver from England went to 40 meters and said he had to swim an upward breaststroke with his BCD fully inflated to get up. Luckily the divers who went to 145 and 155 feet were not on nitrox. Everyone was fine. There were no adverse affects other than the diver who went to 155 was locked out by his computer until the next day. After that, everyone kept a close eye on their depth and there were no problems. There was an Italian on board who did get pulled out to sea and the dingys could not find him. We had to pull anchor and search but found him fairly quickly.
We did a few dives to the west end and then decided to go to the east end. That is an area where other types of sharks hang out. We saw silky sharks, Galapagos and silvertips. I really liked the silver tips. Of course there were also white tip reef sharks. They just seemed to be everywhere.
Before we went to Roca Partida we were in an area where silky sharks are known to feed on flying fish. Sten said that if they showed up, we would have the opportunity to do a night snorkel with them. He said we could not have a flashlight for the dive because there had been incidents where the sharks try to take the flashlight and you could get pulled down by your wrist lanyard or could get your hand bitten. Hmmmm, get in the water in snorkel gear at night with feeding sharks and no flashlight??? I decided to pass. Since I would not have a light, I would not be able to see much anyway and I decided it would be more entertaining to watch those who had decided to participate. Mark (being more of an adrenaline junkie) decided he was up for it. Sten and some of the crew started trying to draw the sharks by throwing a float to splash on the surface repeatedly. They also took an empty water bottle and held it in the water, crackling it. I had seen this done in the Bahamas and for some reason it does seem to work. We did get one silky shark but he swam away. We hoped he went to tell his buddies to join him. Sten went on to brief us on procedures. He said that we should slip in the water quietly and avoid splashing. He said that if the sharks got too rowdy, he would say, "Everyone out of the water". He said that we should quietly swim to the ladder and exit the water. He finished his briefing and we still had no sharks. Suddenly Sten jumped in the air, did a cannonball into the water and began splashing and thrashing about. (Still no sharks.) Some were disappointed but I felt that Sten had gone above and beyond the call of duty trying to get us some sharks. It was a full moon and the flying fish were not flying so that may have had something to do with it.
All in all a great trip!!