Who has been to the Revillagigedos?

[Jonathan Bird]

I'm thinking of chartering the Solmar V for a trip to Socorro (Revillagigedos) in 2008. Their website says that there really is no "season" there but I have heard that late fall is better. Anyone have advice? They have spring and fall trips available. I would welcome any advice and experiences anyone can relate. Anything to see reliably beyond the mantas? Their website talks about 7 species of sharks. Thanks!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Are you telling me nobody on this site has been there? Sheesh! C'mon people, speak up! Don't be shy!

Jonathan
:)

[docrobina]

I have, I have!


I went on the Solmar. The manta rays were phenomenonal. I did the Christmas/New Year's trip in 2005/6 on the Solmar. In the 8 day trip, we had 19 dives offered. The boats, Solmar and Nautalus Explorer, only go there from Nov to April, I think. Look at the other boat too, as many of the cabins on Solmar are TINY, with miniature ensuites. Dive operation was OK, and I believe they now have Nitrox. Got skunked on sharks, and only saw a few. But the mantas were great. Any specific questions? :)

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks Robin,
My questions were twofold: Is there anything else to see besides mantas (sound like no) and is it worth it?

Frankly, it's a pretty darned expensive boat, especially considering it operates out of Mexico. It's also a BIG boat so if you charter it, you have a lot of expensive spots to fill. It sounds like a lot of money for a trip to see mantas. But since I have never been, I don't have a feel for the fun factor.

Jonathan

[docrobina]

Thanks Robin,
My questions were twofold: Is there anything else to see besides mantas (sound like no) and is it worth it?

Frankly, it's a pretty darned expensive boat, especially considering it operates out of Mexico. It's also a BIG boat so if you charter it, you have a lot of expensive spots to fill. It sounds like a lot of money for a trip to see mantas. But since I have never been, I don't have a feel for the fun factor.

Jonathan


I think that my experience was a bit less than most others get there. In Feb I understand the chance of humpback encounters increases. The mantas encounters are exceptional, though. As I mentioned, I think we got skunked out on the sharks and Roca Partida was disappointing (and I have seen fantastic shots taken by others there), and that perhaps was not representative. It may have happened because of some guests, despite being told "not to swim out to the sharks" still going out and swimming toward them, and thus scaring them away. There were a couple of macro dives (not too productive, and I LOVE macro), but we did the majority at "The Boiler" for the mantas. Also for some unknown reason, the vis was less than usual. Given my experience on this trip, and yes, the big $$$ for the trip, I did not think it was worth my $$$, and I loved the mantas.

The mantas are unique in that they are NOT scared away by your bubbles, and will lower themselves onto your outstretched hand and are HUGE. Again they do not like to be "chased" and that was a problem on my trip. The encounters were very up close and "in your face" with them when you let them come to you - and they DID.

RE the Solmar: The boat is rather big, with a big guest load, I think 22 people. The cabins in the forward section of the boat are small, the smallest of any liveaboard I have been on, with a tiny bathroom about 2 ft x 2 ft floor size. They have done some remodeling per the website, and added Nitrox, which would help when diving off the big boat, not panga diving -where they have a time limit of like 50 minutes (I always came up around 60 minutes - to face a scouling DM in the boat - heck I hate to waste perfectly good air in my tank :) )
I have heard good things about the Nautilus Explorer, and I think they have bigger cabins, though I have no experience with it.

Part of the reason for the small number of dives (I checked and we actually only got 17 offered dives and I did 16 dives on my trip in 5 diving days out there) is that there is NO night diving permitted in Soccorro Islands - on any boat, and we waited forever to leave CSL because of two late arriving divers (several hours late) that then caused us to arrive late (and miss the late afternoon checkout dive at Boiler). Also another dive was missed because of the manditory check in with the Mexican Navy, can't dive while they process whatever papers the boat must present. That, with no Nitrox, leads to maxing out the bottom time on the computer, then it's night.

So only you could decide if it were worth the $$$ for the trip. Despite all this there are lots of repeat customers on the Solmar. So my trip may have not been representative of the overall experience.

Robin

[Jonathan Bird]

Robin,
Thank you VERY much for your honest and detailed thoughts on this. Exactly the kind of real world info I was hoping for! Now I have to decide. But I am going to check out the Nautilus Explorer too. I want to go there, but I honestly think the Solmar is overpriced for what they offer.

Jonathan

[tarczy]

I subscribe to Undercurrents . . . if you aren't familiar with it, Undercurrent is kind of an "underground" dive magazine that derives all its revenue from subscribers - in other words no advertisers to sway the opinions of the Editor.

Undercurrent compiles and publishes consumer reports of various land based dive operations as well as liveaboards. Their website is here . . .

http://www.undercurrent.org/ (http://www.undercurrent.org/)

Anyway, it seems a lot of former guests don't have a whole lot of nice things to say about the Solmar V. If I'm not mistaken, I think it was reported several years ago that the boat had a severe roach problem. Hopefully, that's been rectified by now.

If you end up arranging a trip to the Revillagigedos, let me know. I haven't been, and have always wanted to go.

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Mark,
I have never subscribed to undercurrents, but I guess it's worth a look.

I'm not so interested in the Revillagigedos as the mantas. As you know, I love big animal encounters and I like to put together trips with a big animal agenda. A few years ago I had a chance encounter with a friendly manta in the Turks and Caicos (the encounter lasted HOURS until I was completely out of film and waterlogged). Since then I have wanted to go someplace with approachable mantas again. Revillagigedos are legendary for that. Unfortunately, they seem to be ONLY known for that. If it was an $1800 trip that would be one thing, but these are $2500-$3000 per person trips in MEXICO and all you can expect is the mantas. They brag about whales and sharks, but nobody I spoke to has ever gotten in the water with the whales or gotten any decent shark pics. I checked Nautilus Explorer and they are just as expensive. Call me jaded I guess, but when you get to that price level, you might as well go to the Galapagos or Cocos where there are a lot more things to see.

I am speaking with my friend Mike Veitch who is the photo pro at Manta Ray Bay hotel in Yap about a trip out there for mantas instead. You think, man that's a long flight and expensive, but it's not that expensive of a flight. The dive/meal/lodging packages there are so much cheaper than Solmar that you can even fly out and still be at the same price as Solmar, or cheaper. The plus side is you get very clear warm water, beautiful reefs, macro (legendary mandarinfish there), a shark feed, wall dives, etc. And Yap is cool....stone money, interesting culture.....

So I'm thinking about that instead. Mike is helping me decide when to go for the best manta action. We're looking at 2008.

Jonathan

[docrobina]

Jonathan,

You might want to talk with Berkley White from Backscatter. He has been there, and has made some very nice photos in Socorro. I am sure he will be honest with his opinion of the location and photo ops.

As far as I know, these mantas are among the largest there are, different from the Yap variety. And they are not scared off by your bubbles, unlike so many other places. OTOH, as I said I do think the price is high, but the manta experience is truly magic when you see them so close to touch them.

Robin

[Sealizard]

Jonathan,

I can't believe that I didn't see this thread on Revillagigedos/Socorro until this evening. And it sounds as though you've decided to head for Yap instead to check out mantas. So, I won't try to dissuade you from that - it does sound like a great trip.

However, I can say that I still dream about diving with the mantas at Revillagigedos. I took the Solmar V (second trip on this boat for me) in February of last year. Two things stick in my mind - the size of the mantas, some wing spans nearly 20 feet, and the clarity of the water. Divers and mantas looked like they were suspended in air. I will never forget the beauty of the mantas against the sheer backdrop of the volcanic plug known as Roca Partida. This is where you can also reliably see the white tip sharks stacked up like firewood sleeping on a ledge.

In addition, I had the wonderful experience of hearing humpback whales singing when I was hanging on the line at The Boiler. It was simply amazing to not only hear them, but to feel their song resonate through your chest. And yes, they were breaching about the boat and the captain was obliging on the return trip to try and bring us closer to them, but I never got any great photos. A mother and calf did briefly pass through a little cove right at the stern of our boat one evening. Of course, I had no camera in my hand!

Ah, and I remember the Russians who shared our boat coming back and sharing their encounter of coming around the edge of one of the seamounts and coming nose to nose with a big, beefy tiger shark. In any language, the gesture for hair standing straight up is easy to interpret. :D

Do I like the Solmar? Indeed I do. The boat is stable for a long trip like that - a good thing for anyone like my dive buddy with a tendency for sea-erps. The first time I ever got on the boat, I thought to myself, perhaps I'll just forgo the diving and spend all my time in the lovely galley.

Although some diving is from the boat (that may have been the Sea of Cortez trip), the panga diving makes for getting in closer to areas where the boats can't maneuver. Also makes for dandy pick up in the stiff currents. My dive masters were always courteous and seemed to have no problem with my *late arrival* back at the panga.

Is it expensive? It depends on your perspective. I couldn't place a price on the experience. If anyone has particular questions, I'd be happy to offer my experience off-line.

[Jonathan Bird]

There is no doubt that a lot of people have loved that trip and that boat. I just feel the boat is too expensive for me to charter it with the mantas being the only likely big animal encounter. MAYBE if it were a 12 person boat, but that is a lot of spots to fill for a lot of money. I just don't feel it's worth it. Not enough bang for the buck.

Remember, I'm saying this from the perspective of being the guy that would sign a contract agreeing to cough up $40,000+ to charter the boat for a week and then having to come up with that money. So that changes my perspective from the "would I go on this trip for $3,000?"

Best,
Jonathan

[Sealizard]

having to cough up 40K would make me a more critical shopper, too. Yessireee!:eek:

And without dininishing that perspective, the trip, for me, was one of the best I've ever undertaken. And to make sure I'm not misunderstood by the viewers, (regardless of the boat), the mantas alone were worth the trip to me.

'YMMV' as is often said.