Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in
Mexico (Western)/Socorro

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Nautilus Explorer: "Manta Palooza!", May, 2021, by Eric Eckes, CA, US ( Contributor 18 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 11825 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The trip down to Cabo San Lucas from LAX is an easy 2.5 hour flight. A word of caution, however, when traveling with camera gear. Customs in Cabo is corrupt and will charge you 19% of the value of your camera housing. My buddy and I spent 2.5 hours arguing with Customs and ultimately paid $95 on a value of $500. Much less than the value of my D850 housing. One member in our group was charged in excess of $700! Since we live in Southern California we will opt to drive to the California/Mexico border and fly domestic from Tijuana to Cabo, thus avoiding Cabo Customs. We spent eight nights on the Nautilus UnderSea. We had the top cabin which provided spacious accommodations. The trip to Socorro took 24 hours so we had plenty of time to get our camera gear ready. We visited three of the four islands: San Benedicto, Roca Partida and Socorro. The Manta action at the Boiler off San Benedicto was amazing. Several mantas on most every dive and aside from one clueless rebreather diver appearing in everyone's photos, there were plenty of opportunities to get great manta shots. Also on one dive we saw a pod of dolphins but couldn't get close as they were escorting juvenile dolphins. We went in May because Socorro is famous for bait ball season. We saw large schools of fish, particularly at Roca Partida, although they didn't bunch up like one would expect bait balls to look like. The current at Roca Partida was ripping. We had heard rumors of whale shark sightings at Roca Partida but were unfortunate in that we did not encounter these marvelous animals. Socorro does not allow night diving, aside from a snorkel with Silky Sharks which was fun. The crew were great and the food was good and plentiful. They offer a good selection of beer and wine at reasonable prices. Looking forward to traveling with Nautilus again in the near future as Mike Lever runs a first class operation. Mike takes safety seriously and the UnderSea crew ran a complete fire drill one day.
Websites	Nautilus Explorer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Malaysia, Philippines, Truk Lagoon, Palau, Yap, Mexico, Galapagos, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Red Sea, Cocos Island, Cuba, So Cal Local, Canada, Tonga, Mexico
Closest Airport	Cabo San Lucas	Getting There	LAX to Cabo. Easy
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	72-76°F / 22-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	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	Plenty of camera space, electrical outlets, and compressed air was available.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in Mexico (Western)/Socorro

Nautilus Explorer: "Manta Palooza!", May, 2021,

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 Explorer in
Mexico (Western)/Socorro