2023.5.12 – 21 | Socorro Island

Shortly after I started scuba diving, I read a story about a diver master who worked on a Socorro liveaboard. Like many photographers, he was chasing that elusive ‘perfect’ shot. After spending years working, he finally got a three-minute video of two humpback whales dancing against the iconic island. He quit his job after that. Since I read the story, Socorro has become a destination full of mystery. The longer I waited, the more passionate I became about it.

You can read a lot about Revillagigedo Islands from Wikipedia. Socorro Island is one of the four islands of the Revillagigedo Islands. From San Diego, I flew to Los Cabos on 5/12 Friday. There, I joined other divers of Power Scuba and boarded the Valentina, a 38-meter-long liveaboard. The boat departed at 5 pm, heading to San Benedicto, the nearest of the four islands. The passage took about 36 hours, giving me plenty of time to prepare for the diving. On the morning of the third day (5/14, Sunday), we arrived at San Benedicto.

We spent two days in San Benedicto and another two days at Socorro Island. It took another ten hours from Socorro Island to Roca Partidar, a small island the size of a school bus. We spent the whole day there and headed back to San Benedicto. We spent another day at San Benedicto. As soon as we finished diving there, the boat took off and returned to Cabo.

Each of the three islands we visited is unique. The tallest peak of San Benedicto is a typical volcanic crater. A fan-shaped larva island resides on its southeastern base, formed during the island’s 1952 eruption. We visited two diving sites there. El Canyon has a cleaning station for all kinds of sharks, but also visited by mantas. The ‘Boiler’ was the most iconic dive site visited by mantas who loved interacting with divers and playing with the bubbles. Socorro Island is enormous, and we spent all our time at the tip of an island protrusion. The current was strong, but the cleaning station attracted many mantas. We also saw a group of hammerheads, but they were deep. Roca Partida was tiny compared to these two islands, but the vertical wall underwater was stunning, with schools of white tips patrolling the pinnacle.

My trip was toward the end of the season when the sea got rough, and the wind was strong. While the water was warm, the air felt cold, which made the diving exhausting. We spent a lot of time on just a few diving sites, which helped me to get some nice shots. I was happy to dive the islands with many of my old friends. We bumped into each other in the first few dives since we all wanted to get close to the animals. But soon, we learned how to spread and avoid collisions. The diving turned a lot more pleasant. The boat was spacious, and the crew was fun and helpful. I had a great time.