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Well in early November 2002, LeRoy and Dominique and their friends Mark and Sarah who also live in St. Maarten embarked on what might be called and adventure of a lifetime. They had signed up with the liveaboard dive boat Solmar V which runs out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The trip was to take them 250 miles south southwest of Baja California to the remote Revillagigedos Archipelago. The waters surrounding these islands is known to be the home of giant manta rays. The trip started off with a minor problem. While they were checking in at the airline desk in St. Maarten, Mark had left his car parked in front of the building. Not knowing Marks car, LeRoy asks Mark if thats his car being towed away from the front of building. Mark turns around, and of course its his. 20 minutes later and $100 towing fee Mark is able to retrieve it. So off we go, Puerto Rico, Dallas, and then direct to Cabo San Lucas. About 7 hours all together. Very uneventful trip getting there. All dive gear, lots of photo gear, everything made it without a problem. We arrive in Cabo at about 10:00pm. Mark and Sarah have made reservations in advance at a hotel, LeRoy and Dominique have not. We rely on a friendly local man's recommendation, hop in a bus and head to town. Mark and Sarah are dropped off at a beautiful hotel, Lee and Dom are dropped off in the middle of town at what appears to be a quaint local hotel. We check in at the desk and are told that they are full. The bus has left and its about 11:30 now. Fortunately the people in the hotel are extremely nice and they tell us that there is a hotel around the corner and up the hill that will take us for the night. We have a lot of gear. The front desk offers the services of the bellman, and he takes a cart with all our stuff and we start pushing it down the middle of the street and up the hill. We finally arrive and are shown to our room (closet). Next morning we are up and the weather is magnificent. We check in with the boat and find to our surprise and absolutely beautiful 125' luxury dive boat. Wall to wall carpets, cut glass, brass, varnish and as we found out later great food and service. We head out that afternoon at around 4:00. As we steam out of the harbor we run over something in the water and it gets tangled in the propeller. One hour to fix it. Finally we are off again. This trip is not for weak stomachs as we have about a 26 hour trip ahead of us. There are 4 islands that make up this archipelago, Benedicto (which is the closest, about 220 miles) Socorro Island, Roca Partida (which is really nothing more than a large group of rocks awash, and Clarion which is the furthest about 370 miles out. 24 hours later, we are approaching Benedicto Island. It looks like a volcanic cone about 1100 feet in elevation that actually erupted in 1952. We make our first dive here and are quite disappointed in the visibility. Our second dive here however proves to be more interesting. The visibility is still somewhat limited. Iam video taping a fish in the rocks when I feel someone tap me on the head. I look around and its Mark signalling frantically for me to look up. I do just that, and there 10 feet above me hovering,is a giant manta ray. 15' across and 1500 lbs. It looks like a UFO. What a fantastic sight. Now the next day the divemasters say we are going to be diving "The Boiler". We have no idea what this is. By the way we are diving out of what are known as 'Pangas'. These are two large inflateables that carry 10 divers per boat. The morning comes and we load up all gear in the Pangas and head on out. The boat trip to the "Boiler" is memorable. The seas are 10' to 12'. Its is really rough. As we approach the area, we see a rock just breaking the surface and are told this is the place. We get out of the pangas like a UDT team and go under. This is a giant rock coming up from the depths and forming into a plateau about 40' under the surface. Some places actually break the surface. The bottom below is about 200' so its pretty much blue water diving. And then the mantas appear out of the blue. They are huge, 15'/18' across and they want to interact. They come up to you and you are able to scratch their stomachs aand pet them. They are truly magnificent creatures. 4 to 5 remoras are attached to each one and the remora is 2 to 3 feet in length. We stay here all day diving with them and filming them. We find out later that this is one of the few places in the world where you will find these animals. They have been coming to this "Boiler" area for years as it is a giant cleaning station for them and many other species. Our next stop is Socorro Island. Here we have to wait for the Mexican army to board the boat and check it out. This takes about 2 hours. So we spend the time in the main salon with everybody else looking at video. There was a total of 16 of us on board. We dive the area and are treated to silver tip sharks, pods of dolphins and frriendly octopus. The sea conditions are quite rough but the captain makes the decision to go to Roca Partida. This is another 6 hours from Socorro. When we arrive we are treated to the most unfriendly rock coming up out of the middle of the ocean that I have ever seen. Diving here is strictly advanced. Blue water diving, no bottom, many sharks, hammerhead, silver tips and lots of current. We have now spent about 8 days and are getting ready to head back. I have really only touched on some of the things that happened but I can truly say that the Giant Manta Rays are fantastic. Its also nice to know that the area is a marine sanctuary and that no harm will come to these lovely creatures. If you want to hear more, or see some pictures you'll just have to come and see us. LeRoy & Dominique --LeRoy French |