Dive Review of Rocio del Mar in
Mexico (Western)/Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez

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Rocio del Mar: "good", Sep, 2022, by gregory moore, ID, US ( 2 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12089.
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
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The middle Sea of Cortez is fantastic for diving with sea lions, especially around Isla San Pedro Martir, where we were scheduled to spend two days of the six-day trip but decided to spend three. We had about four to 10 of them zipping close around us on almost all our dives there. They were very playful and curious. We also had a memorable experience snorkeling with whale sharks for two hours on the last morning of the trip at Bahia de Los Angeles. We saw about 10 of them--more than usual, we were told. However, the plankton they were feeding on was so thick that the visibility was only about 5 feet. We actually got better views of the sharks looking down from the small boats we were in. The general marine life during the trip was fairly sparse compared to the Caribbean or western Pacific, and I got a little bored on some of the dives. There were some beautiful tropical fish--lots of king angelfish and Cortez angelfish--and I did see a few creatures I had never seen before, such as giant jawfish and Cortez stingrays. We saw two huge pods of dolphins from the boat, but none diving. Visibility throughout the trip was fairly poor, apparently due to a hurricane that had moved through a few days earlier. One person who had done the trip several times previously said it was usually much clearer. The weather in mid-September was perfect—warm and sunny every day. The Rocio del Mar is a decent liveaboard boat with one drawback—the dining room is on the lowest level, with virtually no view to the outside and loud ambient conversation noise, perhaps reflected by the sloping sides of the ship’s hull. The crew were great—friendly, energetic and helpful. It was also nice to be the only dive boat in the area—the only boat at all, in fact. One advantage of this trip is its easy access from the western U.S.—fly to Phoenix, then hop on a van for a four-hour ride to Puerto Penasco at the northern end of the Sea of Cortez. The drive down is fairly scenic, passing through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where there are mostly saguaro cactuses.
Websites	Rocio del Mar
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Galapagos, Socorro, southern Sea of Cortez, Fiji, Tuamotus
Closest Airport	Phoenix, AZ	Getting There	4-hour van ride from Phoenix airport
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	76-80°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-40 Ft/ 6-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Rocio del Mar in Mexico (Western)/Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez

Rocio del Mar: "good", Sep, 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 Rocio del Mar in
Mexico (Western)/Midriff Islands, Sea of Cortez