Rhapsody in blue
March/01/2008
A new
month, new location. Rafa thought that we should
try Danzante Island, an
hour to the south of Loreto in the hope of finding blue water.
Mark, Tom, Jim, Rafa, Ramon and myself launched in complete fog. The inversion
blanketed everything that we could see so we used Ramon’s innate GPS and
steered blindly to where he thought Danzante lay. After half an hour the fog
started to lift revealing two fin whales swimming southerly beside us. We
slowed and joined their parade marveling at their grace. The fin whales didn’t
dive. They weren’t provoked by us and kept swimming along. We continued as the
sun started to break, anchored off of the island and dove in. We were in a
small cove with a rocky wall that we followed allowing the slight current to
move us forward. Happily the water was blue, meaning although rich in
nutrients, visibility was 30-40 feet. Lots of small fish feeding. And a lovely
few minutes with a dancing jewel moray. We had a relatively uneventful dive to
a maximum depth of 71-feet. After 35-minutes, Rafa led us all back to the
3-minute stop zone. Everyone but myself left and I stayed another 34-minutes
hanging out in the 15-20 ft. zone that now had become flooded with light,
Mexican goatfish, Cortez Angels, Giant damselfish, surgeons, blue and yellow
chromis, sergeant majors, and a few shy golden snapper loitering about. I
acted out my favourite pasttime of just hanging motionless at 20 feet watching
the traffic pass by. I noticed for the first time that King Angels had hidden
yellow pectoral fins on their bottom flank that only occasionally revealed
themselves. And male Mexican hogfish have green undersides to their pectoral
fins. I took out my magnifier and combed the rocky inclines and examined slimy
slugs (actually quite beautiful), sea tigers and various tubes protruding from
tiny caverns. Definitely my longest dive at 69-minutes.
Our next dive was at the Camarones, a pinnacle about a mile to the south right
in the middle of the bay. And it was awesome. Immediately on descent, Rafa
showed us a large predator nudibranch and we began clinging to the pinnacle
wall as we descended to a depth of 70-feet. And wow, what a show! Finally we
get to see the entire spectacle of the bass family. Enough of the small fry,
these fish were large. Leopard groupers, Pacific creolefish, spotted sandbass, flag
cabrillas, sawtail groupers (which I’d never before seen) and panama graysbys
by the hundreds.
Turning a rocky promontory, we would run smack on to an army of fish,
especially feeding by the bottom. Enormous triggerfish. Rafa held a 3-ft
blunthead triggerfish by its tail to show us its jagged two front teeth, iron
jaw and spiney dorsal fin. Moments later, I caught a glimpse of a similar
triggerfish that must have been 4-feet long. The bigger the fish, the more
they hide from us. Rafa then showed us a horn shark for close examination
before it moved on. Definitely Big Fish country anything small was served up
as dinner. Also kings of gorgonian, black coral, seafans, hundreds of urchins
and starfish made this location vibrant with life. For the most part, we were
diving between 40 and 70 feet so the dive was a short 40-minutes.
On the way home, the sea was as smooth as glass and we came upon a family of 6
mobula rays swimming at the surface. Our skilled captain Ramon glided and edged
the boat to where the rays were right beside us. All of us were ecstatic at
seeing these 5 ft.-wide wingspan creatures fly effortlessly through the water
beside us. Rafa was over the moon because he hadn’t seen his mobula friends in
several months. Then on either side of us, fin whales were surfacing and our
attention was torn between the mobulas and the whales.
After 15-minutes of this rhapsody, we moved on encountering another fin, more
mobulas and finally a pod of dolphins that swam in our wake doing arching
flips and synchronized jumps.
Best dive this winter. Mindblowing day!!
hour to the south of Loreto in the hope of finding blue water.
Mark, Tom, Jim, Rafa, Ramon and myself launched in complete fog. The inversion
blanketed everything that we could see so we used Ramon’s innate GPS and
steered blindly to where he thought Danzante lay. After half an hour the fog
started to lift revealing two fin whales swimming southerly beside us. We
slowed and joined their parade marveling at their grace. The fin whales didn’t
dive. They weren’t provoked by us and kept swimming along. We continued as the
sun started to break, anchored off of the island and dove in. We were in a
small cove with a rocky wall that we followed allowing the slight current to
move us forward. Happily the water was blue, meaning although rich in
nutrients, visibility was 30-40 feet. Lots of small fish feeding. And a lovely
few minutes with a dancing jewel moray. We had a relatively uneventful dive to
a maximum depth of 71-feet. After 35-minutes, Rafa led us all back to the
3-minute stop zone. Everyone but myself left and I stayed another 34-minutes
hanging out in the 15-20 ft. zone that now had become flooded with light,
Mexican goatfish, Cortez Angels, Giant damselfish, surgeons, blue and yellow
chromis, sergeant majors, and a few shy golden snapper loitering about. I
acted out my favourite pasttime of just hanging motionless at 20 feet watching
the traffic pass by. I noticed for the first time that King Angels had hidden
yellow pectoral fins on their bottom flank that only occasionally revealed
themselves. And male Mexican hogfish have green undersides to their pectoral
fins. I took out my magnifier and combed the rocky inclines and examined slimy
slugs (actually quite beautiful), sea tigers and various tubes protruding from
tiny caverns. Definitely my longest dive at 69-minutes.
Our next dive was at the Camarones, a pinnacle about a mile to the south right
in the middle of the bay. And it was awesome. Immediately on descent, Rafa
showed us a large predator nudibranch and we began clinging to the pinnacle
wall as we descended to a depth of 70-feet. And wow, what a show! Finally we
get to see the entire spectacle of the bass family. Enough of the small fry,
these fish were large. Leopard groupers, Pacific creolefish, spotted sandbass, flag
cabrillas, sawtail groupers (which I’d never before seen) and panama graysbys
by the hundreds.
Turning a rocky promontory, we would run smack on to an army of fish,
especially feeding by the bottom. Enormous triggerfish. Rafa held a 3-ft
blunthead triggerfish by its tail to show us its jagged two front teeth, iron
jaw and spiney dorsal fin. Moments later, I caught a glimpse of a similar
triggerfish that must have been 4-feet long. The bigger the fish, the more
they hide from us. Rafa then showed us a horn shark for close examination
before it moved on. Definitely Big Fish country anything small was served up
as dinner. Also kings of gorgonian, black coral, seafans, hundreds of urchins
and starfish made this location vibrant with life. For the most part, we were
diving between 40 and 70 feet so the dive was a short 40-minutes.
On the way home, the sea was as smooth as glass and we came upon a family of 6
mobula rays swimming at the surface. Our skilled captain Ramon glided and edged
the boat to where the rays were right beside us. All of us were ecstatic at
seeing these 5 ft.-wide wingspan creatures fly effortlessly through the water
beside us. Rafa was over the moon because he hadn’t seen his mobula friends in
several months. Then on either side of us, fin whales were surfacing and our
attention was torn between the mobulas and the whales.
After 15-minutes of this rhapsody, we moved on encountering another fin, more
mobulas and finally a pod of dolphins that swam in our wake doing arching
flips and synchronized jumps.
Best dive this winter. Mindblowing day!!