We’ve been back on solid ground for a few days after 8 days aboard the Belle Amie scuba diving in the Socorro Islands. What an adventure!
It started with a hurricane passing right over the islands on our day of departure. After a delay of 12 hours, the captain finally deemed the seas “okay enough “ for the 26-hour crossing. What did THAT mean???? Think 14-16 foot swells for 30 hours. Yes, you read that correctly…. It took us 30 hours, 4 more than usual, to reach the islands in those crazy seas. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of us spent most of that time in bed sleeping off seasickness!
It was well worth it! The islands are a perfect breeding ground for large pelagic sea life because the islands are located where currents bring lots of nutrients. So our dives were spent surrounded by thousands of fish and visits from giant mantas with up to 16+ foot wingspans. And it wasn’t like they just swam by us… instead, they were often playful, doing slow somersaults, or gliding past us only to do a 180 to come back. There were times I could have stayed underwater all day watching them. They are just so majestic and graceful!
Other highlights? Dolphins. I’ve never dived with dolphins and it was such a cool experience. There were a few times when we mimicked their movement and they stuck around and played for a few minutes.… and sharks, sharks, sharks… At one of our dive sites, I have never seen so many white-tip reef sharks…. Their home is a huge rock in the middle of nowhere, which means there are few places for them to rest. Their solution to this problem? Pile on top of each other. As you’ll see in the video, piles of resting sharks were in every flat crevasse in the rock. We were also lucky enough to see some hammerhead sharks and a tiger shark too!
Going on a dive trip to celebrate our anniversary was certainly apropos for us. When Kevin and I first met 23 years ago, he was wearing a Dive Cozumel t-shirt, sparking our first conversation about diving. We got engaged while diving in the Maldives and honeymooned in Cozumel to dive. So this trip was a very fitting way to celebrate 20 years, doing something we both love so much!