Date: April 4th, 2015
Location: Cabo San Lucas
Dive Sites: Robert's Rocks, Los Morros, Pelican Rock, and Land's End
Depth Range: 30-110 feet
Visibility: 20-50 feet
Temperature: 74 degrees
Current: Mild
Waves: Mild to Moderate
Wind: Mild
Team Nautilus ran a variety of activities today. The morning charter was for advanced divers. There was a scuba review clinic in the dive shop, and the afternoon we toured some of our favorite bay dive sites.
Prior to the first dive, the bay was calm. The boat traffic was at a minimum and the tranquil waters encouraged a pod of dolphins to gather in the bay and hunt the bait balls of sardines. We counted at least 30 dolphins scattered over a sizable area. Some of the animals demonstrated their acrobatic nature while others passively breached the surface to breath.
The advanced group in the morning decided to use Nitrox for their first immersion. The 32% mix was ideal for the programmed depth. We decided to check out Robert's Rocks. This pinnacle starts in about 70 feet of water and touches the bottom at about 110. The site can have lots of current but today the water was calm and flat. We threw a down line to help our descent. On the way down the divers dodged numerous strands of the jellyfish more commonly known in the area as the "String Of Pearls". While not deadly to humans, if you get stung by one, it can range from annoying to quite painful if you get wrapped up good. Made up of individual polyps that form chains or 'strings' ranging from a few inches to over 15 feet, these jelly fish have been seen on a variety of dive sites over the past few weeks. Thankfully enough, the cleaner fish in the area had decided to forgo cleaning the other larger fish usually waiting to get their parasites removed, and took directly to picking apart and eating some of the strands of pearls! If only we had more of them to help clear the areas!
On the bottom we found numerous soft coral formations. In the rock crevices we saw lobsters, several species of moray eels, and one octopus. In mid water we encountered a half dozen big groupers. When the group began to ascend near the rock, they saw an explosion of sea life. A massive school of grunts, pork fish, butterfly fish, and surgeon fish covered the rock. Through the gaps in the school we spotted a sea turtle free swimming out into the blue. At the top of the rock a school of about 20-30 amber jacks (2.5-3 feet long) investigated the group of divers. After a 5 minute safety stop we said goodbye to fishy friends and returned to the surface.
The second dive was at Los Morros. It is only about 10 minutes from the first dive site but the conditions changed dramatically. The swell increased and we felt surge down to 50 feet. Visibility dropped to only 20 feet and the sea life was seeking shelter from the surge. Since the sea life was limited, the group stopped the dive short and decided to practice their Surface Marker Buoy deployment. They were scheduled to dive in the Soccoro Islands in a couple days, and felt that a little practice could go a long way. We hope they had an incredible experience on the Belle Amie. Next time take us in your dive bag...and please send us your photos!
In the afternoon once the Scuba Review was completed CJ took out the certified diver tour to the bay visiting Pelican Rock and Land's End. As it was later in the afternoon, the visibility had noticeably dropped to maybe 20-25 feet, but that didn't mean the divers weren't able to see anything. Free swimming white tip reef sharks, sea horses, octopus and sea lions and a very casual eagle ray were waiting to make the dives memorable as always! They witnessed the same kinds of cleaner fish picking and nibbling the strings of pearls that were turning the local bay sites into an organic obstacle course!
Until next time! Eat, Sleep, DIVE!
