Dive Review of Nautilus Belle Amie in
Mexico (Western)/Socorro Islands

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Nautilus Belle Amie: "Socorro Islands - Early November had low visibility but generally good", Nov, 2022, by Jim Harris, TX, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 22 Helpful votes). Report 12223.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my 5th trip to Socorro on the Belle Amie since 2015 with previous trips in May, June, July, and December. Obviously I love the boat, the crew, and the diving (and I'm going back again in Jan. 2023) and have other reviews from previous trips so I'll focus on the differences this trip. For fire safety, they now have a self contained breathing hood to wear to prevent smoke inhalation - these are in the rooms with the life jackets. They no longer pass out Nautilus Lifelines to all the divers - only the dive guides have them which makes the huge assumption you're always going to surface with the guide (it's not required to do that); no explanation was given. As of Oct. 7, 2022 they dropped the requirement to test negative for covid before boarding; behavior onboard was the same as it was pre-covid with the exception that they had an extra rinse tank with chlorine in it. The water was a few degrees cooler than expected for the first week in November - I'd been expecting 82-83 deg F but it was 79-80 at San Benedicto and Roca, 82 at Socorro. I was fine in a 3mm layered with a long sleeve Lavacore shirt until I had to get out of the water. The wind, lack of sun on a number of dives, and air temps slightly cooler than the water temp cut right through the wet wetsuit and chilled me to the point of shaking on on the skiff on a number of dives (I was not alone, even with some wearing 5mm). The hot tub was a lifesaver when it was full of water; frequently it lost so much water from the boat rocking that it wasn't hot. The Mexican govt. has banned the night snorkel with the silkies. We ended up with 19 dives (7 at San Benedicto, 8 at Roca, 4 at Socorro); we were the only boat at Roca and Socorro, there were two other boats at San Benedicto which required adjusting the dive plans. The dive after the delayed check-in with the Mexican Navy on the last day was almost a night dive (also prohibited) as we dropped in near sunset and thus limited to a 30 minute dive; take a light as it was helpful exploring the site which was a really nice dive on all the boulder rubble with tons of life on it. While we saw lots of mantas, mostly at Cabo Pearce at Socorro Island, mostly they just made passes and didn't express much curiosity about the divers to interact with them. We did have a couple that stayed and played for a bit but nothing like what I experienced on my May/June/July trips. We saw a few dolphins that swam by fairly close but again expressed no interest in the divers. We saw one pregnant whale shark on a few dives; it was about 30' long. Shark action was very good - lots more hammerheads than normal and much closer and huskier than in the past, lots of Galapagos, silver tips, white tips, and a gazillion silkies. We saw 1-2 big yellow fin tuna (human-sized) multiple times at Roca, sometimes quite close. The visibility wasn't great - maybe the 80 deg water was blooming the plankton - whatever it was it definitely limited how much big life you could see in the water. After returning to Cabo I was talking with a couple who was going out with Nautilus that evening and they said they'd done mid-November last year and saw Orcas and pilot whales...you never really know what the Socorro Islands are going to deliver but I think they generally always deliver. Several first-time Socorro people on my trip came up to me at the end and admitted that at the beginning of the trip they thought I was crazy for coming back so many times but now they understood why.
Websites	Nautilus Belle Amie
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Galapagos, Socorro (5x), Palau, Cocos (2x), TX Flower Gardens (15x), Hawaii, Bahamas, Caymans (2x), Belize, Cozumel (3x), Tiger Beach (2x)
Closest Airport	SJD - Cabo San Lucas	Getting There	DFW to SJD non-stop. Airport transport service (Sealine) no-showed and wasn't answering their phone so I got a ride with another shuttle company for $25
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents, no currents
Water Temp	79-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-50 Ft/ 12-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minutes max (needed to stay on the schedule to be able to make 4 dives a day)
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	1 or 2
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Nautilus Belle Amie in Mexico (Western)/Socorro Islands

Nautilus Belle Amie: "Socorro Islands - Early November had low visibility but generally good", Nov, 2022,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Nautilus Belle Amie in
Mexico (Western)/Socorro Islands