Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer/Nautilus Belle Amie - liveaboard in
Mexico (Western)/Islas Revillagigedo

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Nautilus Explorer/Nautilus Belle Amie - liveaboard: "Islas Revillagigedo ROCKS!", Mar, 2023, by Bobby Munno, NY, US ( Sr. Contributor 27 reports with 21 Helpful votes). Report 12368 has 2 Helpful votes.
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	In January of 2022 at my wife's insistence, I changed our dive plans to the Nautilus Belle Amie for a March 2023 sailing to Las Islas Revillagigedo, Mexico, aka Socorro. Our dive buddy friends of over a decade just got off the vessel and immediately booked a return trip. Their review and my wife's desire to dive with them again were enough reason for me to act with alacrity in spite of my trepidations. I have long known of diving Socorro but always thought the "commute" as off-putting. The twenty-four-plus-hours-long crossing to the archipelago was always a large negative in my mind. It actually provides for a full day each way to leisurely set-up/break-down gear and relax. The first day aboard includes life safety instructions and drills and the crew even conducted a fire fighting scenario including gear-donning and hose-stretching. Being hundreds of miles from port is a condition not to be taken lightly and the Belle Amie Captain and crew were diligent, serious and thorough. Our dives started at San Benedicto, one of the four islands that comprise Islas Revillagigedo. The check-out dive was conducted at a site whose name I did not record. Proper weighting was stressed as the bottom is a long way down. A giant-stride entry off the boat's platform was eventually followed by an exit to a rigid inflatable boat as practice for all subsequent dives. The check-out dive alone provided for viewing of Mantas, Scalloped Hammerheads, White-Tips & Galapagos sharks. We then sailed to The Boiler, another San Bendicto dive site, for the balance of the day's dives. The Boiler is a volcanic pinnacle that plateaus 40 to 50 feet below the surface. As the plateau is a fish-cleaning station where endemic and beautiful Clarion Angelfish ply their trade, it is off limits to divers so as to not alter fish behaviors. Beyond the aforementioned pelagics, I spied an octopus among the rocks, the first of the trip's many. Updated weather information relayed by the Captain meant that we were moving to Roca Partida overnight, a weather accommodation plan change. We had a full day of diving Roca Partida, a pinnacle that breaks the surface. An overnight sail placed us at Cabo Pearce, a dive site on Socorro, the largest island of the chain, for two full days of diving. After the mandated Mexican Navy "inspection" which precluded a fourth dive, we sailed back to San Benedicto's El Canyon dive site. As my word-count is maxed out, these are logbook entries recorded during our 9-day, 5-dive-days trip: HUGE effen Manta HUGE Yellowfin Tuna Breaching Humpbacks very windy (current) spawning Rainbow Wrasses Humpbacks singing endless school of Yellowfin Jaba the Moray TIGER! Mantalicious Sharkilicious The dive days went: continental breakfast, dive 1, hot breakfast, dive 2, lunch, dive 3, snack, dive 4, dinner. The chef & food were fantastic and the Captain & crew and divemasters were superior to the many other liveaboards we've experienced.
Websites	Nautilus Explorer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Bahamas, Belize, Bonaire, Cabo, Cancun, Carriacou, 3 Caymans, Cozumel, St Croix, Curacao, Dominica, St Eustatius, FL, Grenada, HI, St Helena, Iceland, Jamaica, LI, St Lucia, Mntsrrat, NYC, Palau, PA, Philippines, Poland, Roatan, Saba, Socorro, Tobago, Turks&Caicos, Utila, St Vincent, Yucatan cenotes
Closest Airport	SJD	Getting There	easy direct flight from NYC JFK to Los Cabos, Mexico SJD
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	65-74°F / 18-23°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-81 Ft/ 15-25 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	maximum dive time of 60 minutes. no deco. dives. do not go "blue". do not touch the animals. (yes, they get that close)
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	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 Belle Amie has a large camera rinse tank, many underwater camera stations, fire-protected charging stations & compressed air. several guests had complicated UWP rigs and were happy to share their expertise and photos. several guests had GoPros and caught unique videos.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer/Nautilus Belle Amie - liveaboard in Mexico (Western)/Islas Revillagigedo

Nautilus Explorer/Nautilus Belle Amie - liveaboard: "Islas Revillagigedo ROCKS!", Mar, 2023,

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/Nautilus Belle Amie - liveaboard in
Mexico (Western)/Islas Revillagigedo