Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in
Mexico (Western)

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Nautilus Explorer: "13th trip to Revillagigedos Archipelago", Feb, 2020, by Michael J. Millet, CA, US ( Top Contributor 96 reports with 61 Helpful votes). Report 11444 has 5 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
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	In early February, I headed down to SJD airport then about a 40 minute ride over to Cabo San Lucas to the Nautilus Dive Center located in the Tesoro Hotel. This was my 13th trip to the Revillagigedos Archipelago. I was accompanied by my son who was on his 8th trip to the islands. All of our dive trips to the Socorro area have been on a Nautilus boat. This trip we were on the Nautilus Explorer. When going thru customs at SJD, I was questioned regarding my camera gear and asked to open my camera case. The agent was quite interested in my Nauticam housing and asked about its value. Having been previously advised about this type of inquiry by Nautilus, I advised the agent the since my camera rig was over 7 years old that it really had no street value. Fortunately, he was satisfied with this response and allowed my to proceed without paying a 16% duty on camera equipment over $500 brought into the country. Ironically, he did not show any interest in the other camera gear -- strobes, lenses, ports. We arrived at the dive center about 1:30 PM and finished the check-in process then had a leisurely walk around the large marina and enjoyed a late lunch. The Nautilus Dive Center is quite comfortable offering coffee, water and WiFi. It has merged with the Amigos del Mar dive operation so local dives are offered while waiting to board the NE at about 7:30 PM. The crew took care of moving all our luggage to the NE. With an evening departure, we are at sea for 2 nights before reaching the archipelago. During this time there are safety briefings, drills, and sea life briefings. It makes for a long trip. For my first few trips down to RA, the dive boat left at about 8 AM so there was only 1 night at sea resulting in an additional day of diving. This schedule did require an overnight stay in Cabo San Lucas the night before boarding but, in my view, it was well worth it. The first dive day was spent at San Benedicto Island at the Canyon dive site. Here we had several nice manta ray encounters and some nice action with some juvenile silver tip sharks at a cleaning station. The next day was spent diving Cabo Pierce at Socorro Island. Here we had some more nice manta encounters with very choppy surface conditions. Then we headed over to the west side of Socorro Island to dive Cabo O'Neil the next day. Here we had an awesome encounter with a very engaging manta ray that seemed intent on assuring that all photographers got some great shots. This dive site also offers some interesting topography with a vertical swim-thru and a large cavern. The afternoon was spent diving Punta Tosca, which usually provides some nice manta and dolphin encounters, but on this trip we were primarily engaged in dealing with the current. The Socorro shoreline near Punta Tosca is quite interesting; we did a skiff ride along the shore and into some shallow caves between dives. The 4th dive day was spent at Roca Partida where we had unusually calm, flat seas. The diving here was very, very good with several mantas, silver tip sharks and large schools of jacks. As is becoming more common with the increasing number of dive boats, we were limited to 3 dives here because we were one of 3 dive boats on a relatively small dive site. Our last dive day was spent back at San Benedicto Island diving the Boiler dive site, again with very flat, calm water. Here we had the best marine life encounters of the trip with several soaring manta rays on every dive. A great way to end the trip. The accommodations on the NE are quite comfortable; my son and I each had the single bow cabins. The boat has fairly spacious salon and dining areas. The dive deck has been completely reconfigured resulting in a much improved setup for dive gear and cameras. The dive operation was run very efficiently and smoothly. The crew did a great job ensuring that camera gear was safely transferred to/from the dive skiffs. The dive guides did a good job of working with divers with different skill levels and also were good critter finders (although it is not difficult spotting a manta ray). In my view, the food on this trip was not up to the standard fare on previous trips both in variety and taste. As previously mentioned, the number of dive boats at RA seems to increase each year. On my first trip in 2005, there was 2 dive boats making this trip. Now there are 8-10 boats heading to RA. There will inevitably be more boats on the same dive site at the same time resulting in fewer dives. Notwithstanding this negative factor, I will be heading back to RA next March aboard the Nautilus Belle Amie.
Websites	Nautilus Explorer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean; Galapagos, Socorro, Fiji, Solomons, GBR, Vanuatu, PNG, Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Yap, Kosrae
Closest Airport	Los Cabos	Getting There	Easy from SFO
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	73-76°F / 23-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Do Deco; 1 hour dives; no going "blue"
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	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	The NE has a spacious camera table with several battery charging stations. A rinse tank is provided but it is really inadequate for large camera rigs. Take note that on most dive sites with manta rays circling about the many divers, it is very easy to get bubbles on a lens port resulting in polka-dotted photos. Be mindful of this and fan the bubble away regularly. I have the polka-dots to prove it.

Report currently has 5 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in Mexico (Western)

Nautilus Explorer: "13th trip to Revillagigedos Archipelago", Feb, 2020,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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)