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

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Rocio del Mar: "Explore Baja North to South: lots of great dives in great weather", Oct, 2024, by Joel Snyder, AZ, US ( Top Contributor 31 reports with 31 Helpful votes). Report 13113.
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
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Trip report: Rocio del Mar Explore Baja (Oct/2024) We did the north to south Rocio del Mar Explore Baja trip, a 13-day voyage from one end of the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) to the other. They do it in both directions; in my opinion, North to South is better because the water temperatures and visibility get better and better as you head south. Departure was from Rocky Point (Puerto Peñasco) and arrival was Los Cabos. Most divers came down on a van service from Phoenix--there is none from Tucson anymore even though it is slightly closer--and flew back from SJD airport. The boat had 10 occupied rooms, with 19 divers and one snorkeler. The 11 crew were, as in previous trips, all fantastic at their jobs and worked long hours to make the trip a success. Our group had some of the usual drama: a few personality clashes, a number of flooded cameras, and--as has become more common as the diving population ages--a few weak backs and knees. Fortunatey, none of this kept us from enjoying the trip. Guests were 2/3 from the US, with the rest from a mix of Europe, Asia, and S. America. We did nearly 40 dives, and the crew and captain worked hard to get that many in. With sundown coming at 6:30 this time of year, they shortened the afternoon interval between dives so that we could get in and out with sunlight around us. Diving operations are straightforward. The deck is not spacious, but divided into three groups of six divers, each with a dedicated dive master, spaced out by about 5-10 minutes, we had little congestion between the "get ready" bell to the launch of the pangas. The boat has two, so one goes with divers, then the second, and while it's out dropping divers, the first returns for the third group. Our 'odd man out' 19th diver had paid for a private guide, so he dropped into whatever group was going in the larger of the two pangas. (He also returned with some incredible photographs which he shared with us all on the last night). On the Rocio del Mar, you set your gear up on a single tank which is yours for the week (steel 100s are available; everyone got Nitrox), with fills happening between dives using big whips. The crew moves your fins and camera to the pangas; you suit up and walk onto the panga with your tank. Returning, you hand up fins, weights, and cameras, and leave your BCD in the water where the DM and panga driver will pull it up. Pangas had easy-to-use ladders. Rides to the dive sites were 2-5 minutes. For visibility reasons, we tended to stick more to the dive masters than we have done in the past, so the usual plan was to dive following more-or-less the same direction, but then group up at the end of the dive to surface together. Dives were limited to 50 minutes, but often took longer with a few at 60+ minutes. Our dive schedule was pretty similar to other liveaboards: wake and have continental breakfast, 7AM dive, hot breakfast, 10 AM dive, lunch, 2PM dive, snacks, 5PM dive, dinner. There were daily variations of course as the captain avoided wind and current, but there was no shortage of diving. We also had one night dive, which was a bit disappointing because of the immense amount of light-attracted stuff in the water. Our lights were quickly overwhelmed by small fish eating worms eating plankton. Advice: bring a red-lensed light for a night dive next time. Conditions were great. Water temperature average over the entire trip was 82F, with a few dips into the high 70s. Very little current, dives typically 65 feet max, overall average of 40 ft, with occasional drops lower (my max was 109 ft) to look for hammerheads, a skittish shark that we did see but only from a distance. Normal Sea of Cortez life, including lots of sea lions, nesting sargeant majors, angel and butterflyfish, many types of morays, octopus, a few parrotfish, lots of snappers and grunts. Nudibranchs on most dives to keep photographers occupled, and our dive master had a particular fascination for blennies. On this trip we saw occasional eagle and mobula rays (but no mantas) and turtles as well. This trip headed N to S, so we usually spent 1 day on each location with the boat moving after the dive day was concluded. The second day was to Bahia Los Angeles, famous for whale sharks and we spent the afternoon snorkeling with the slow-moving giants until everyone was exhausted. Stops included Isla Angel de la Guardia, San Pedro Martir, San Idelfonso, Coronado, Danzante, Las Animas, Espirito Santo, and the recently renamed Jacques Cousteau Island (formerly Isla Cerralvo). Reef conditions overall were good. A small amount of bleaching, but biodiversity was good and we saw plenty of marine life on every dive. For a Sea of Cortez trip, things went as expected with plenty of good/great and several outstanding dives. Meals were filling and the cooks worked hard to accommodate dietary preferences, including several vegans. When they were offering Mexican dishes, things were at their peak. One nice bonus was an open-air dinner one night with BBQ tacos on the upper deck of the boat, a fair weather pleasure. This is our 4th Rocio del Mar trip; some folks had been on more than 20 trips before. The boat's rooms have been renovated recently, but remain a bit cramped. That said, there was enough space and everything worked well (including individually controlled A/C in each room, a fantastic luxury compared to many liveaboards where it's "one temperature fits all."). An upper deck with lounge chairs, an air-conditioned lounge, and an outdoor shaded lounge all added up so we never felt that we were being jammed in.
Websites	Rocio del Mar
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Asia; Carib; Mexico; Hawaii; Red Sea
Closest Airport	SJD	Getting There	Lots of flights SJD to US and other destinations; arriving to Puerto Penasco via van from PHX.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-84°F / 26-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	10-50 Ft/ 3-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Go in and exit with DM was strongly encouraged. Divers allowed to deviate once they demonstrated skills to DM.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	1 or 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	Camera facilities were about as good as they get on a liveaboard. A large dedicated camera table with power and light right on the dive deck handled the six "large format" photographers and several smaller ones pretty well.

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

Rocio del Mar: "Explore Baja North to South: lots of great dives in great weather", Oct, 2024,

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 Rocio del Mar in
Mexico (Western)/Sea of Cortez