Dive Review of Solmar V in
Mexico (Western)

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Solmar V, Mar, 2007, by Peggy and William Goldberg, FL, USA . Report 3351.
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
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We dove 250 miles southwest of the Baja Peninsula- out of Cabo San Lucas- to the Revillagigedo Archipeligo - also known as the Socorro Islands. They dive 3 of the islands- San Benedicto, Roca Partida, and Socorro.The Solmar V office arranged for everything on our trip- from the pickup at the airport, to our hotel- which was simple, clean, and inexpensive - to picking us up at the hotel to get to the boat. They even took us back to the hotel after the trip, and arranged for the shuttle to the airport for our return. The rooms on the boat are small - the bottom double bed for my husband and I was long enough (we're tall), but difficult to get out of because of a protruding wall- the top bunk a single, where we stored our clothes, etc. We heard from other passengers that they had trouble turning over in the top bunk, especially if they were broad shouldered. The food was fantastic, and as we did not night dive,(because of currents and sharks) wine was served each night with dinner. That said, we dove 4 times per day- and unlike some liveaboards, where you could dive anytime you wanted, they had to have a more rigid schedule as they had to dive from the pangas ( zodiacs). There were 2 pangas in the water at all times- 2 groups of divers- so we really didn't run into the other group much. Expect typical volcanic seamounts - no soft corals, few hard corals and encrusting sponges - so there is not as much color- currents, surges, can be strong and change unexpectedly -(I was at 60', and suddenly found myself at 95'- and we only had to deploy our safety sausages once), but there are lots of indigenious tropical fish, moray eels, lobsters, schools of jacks, tuna, wahoo, humphead hogfish, and oh, yes, the reason we came here - to dive with 20' manta rays, sharks (we saw 4 out of the 7 species- Galapagos, Silvertipped, Hammerheads, Whitetipped. Tigers, Silkys and Duskys are also seen), and Dolphins, and Humpbacked Whales and their babies! We heard the whales song on most dives - and even though they stayed just out of our visible sight underwater, we were treated to their breaching, skyhopping, tail slapping, right by the boat all day! We saw the mantas, sharks, and dolphins on every dive! The pangas would sometimes take us near the whales for possible snorkeling encounters, but the mothers were protective of the babies - as they should be, so we had to just enjoy the experience on the water with them. The diving is high energy- you must be comfortable with changing strong currents, and doing your safety stop in a current in the blue in thousands of feet of water,waiting to be picked up, ( with the hammerheads and the whales), - but that's why you go there in the first place - to see these magnificent animals. The trip was 9 days- the crossing to the Socorros is between 26-30 hours. Cabo San Lucas is a tourist town of resorts, shopping and spring breakers - a day there for us was enough to see everything- and take a small boat out to the arch, sea lions and remote beach at Land's End. Cabo for us was just a place to meet the boat.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Cocos Island, Hawaii, All over the Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida- including the caves, springs and rivers- mostly on liveaboards where it applies..
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	70-75°F / 21-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	AS we dove Nitrox, our depths were restricted by the mix- generally at 32-34%- but we were responsible for out own profiles
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	>2
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	The Solmar V provided a large camera table- there was no specific charging station, so you could charge at any outlet- they had 2 big camera rinse tanks- and the crew was very good about handling your equipment after the dive. Because we dove from Pangas- the cameras were set on the floor until we got back to the big boat. We only made a few dives directly from the boat. They have a computer on board if you didn't bring a laptop, to download your photos. Bring your own CD's/DVD/s- ,a lot of people brought their own laptop, as I did.

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Dive Review of Solmar V in Mexico (Western)

Solmar V, Mar, 2007,

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 Solmar V in
Mexico (Western)