The sun hangs high above the Pacific on a warm summer afternoon. A light breeze stirs the tide off the island of San Benedicto, a day’s sail from Baja California Sur, Mexico. You’ve just emerged from an afternoon of diving in deep blue water, surrounded by the manta rays that have for decades brought divers here to the islands of Socorro and San Benedicto. Back aboard the ship, happy hour and hot tub sessions are in full swing.
Photo: Leonardo Gonzalez/Shutterstock
Watch: Diving in Baja, Mexico With Elusive Giant Manta Rays
This isn’t fantasy. It is reality aboard the Nautilus Explorer, a dive ship operated by Nautilus Dive Adventures. The company’s nine-day dive excursions from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to Soccoro Island are the premiere way to experience the mantas, dolphins, and sharks that call the area home. And, the crew guarantees a stellar onboard experience that includes catering, happy hours, and plenty of time to soak up the scenery in the ship’s hot tub.
@matadornetwork Diving #SocorroIsland in #Mexico with @Nautilus Dive Adventures is a trip you wont forget! 🦈 #divetrip #mantarays #traveltiktok #diverlife ♬ originalljud – absolutesnacc
This summer, travel filmmaker Brad Womack ventured to Socorro to experience the region’s legendary diving culture with Nautilus. Here, he found it all — and not just the mantas that divers come for. Brad also dove with bottlenose dolphins. He immersed himself in a sea of sharks and watched in awe as they swam around him. And he returned to the mainland with a crew of new friends already deep into talks of where they might head on their next dive excursion.
Nautilus Dive Adventures specializes in full-circle dive experiences around the world. The Socorro trip is among the most popular, due to the ease of encountering mantas, dolphins, and sharks, but also due to its departure point — Cabo San Lucas — being accessible by direct flight into San Jose del Cabo from dozens of US cities.
The on-ship experience with Nautilus is as immersive as the diving. Each nine-day trip includes five days of diving, a welcome party and diver orientation, and water transport and accommodation from Cabo San Lucas to the dive spots and back. Brad and the others aboard dove at Socorro and Roca Partida, and snorkeled under floodlights with silky sharks. Meals are fully catered aboard the ship (including Natilus’ famous Mexico Taco Fiesta on the upper deck), and post-dive happy hours give divers the chance to post up in the hot tub to recap the day’s adventures.
Upcoming Natilus Dive Adventures trips to Socorro depart December 23, 2021, and January 23, 2022 — will we see you there? 