9 nights onboard the M/V Valentina

Join Blue Planet for some incredible big animal encounters in Socorro, the “Mexican Galapagos.” These islands draw sharks, mantas, whales and pelagic fish in large numbers, promising a memorable week of diving from the M/V Valentina liveaboard.

Socorro

The Revillagigedos Archipelago, more commonly called Socorro, is located in the eastern Pacific Ocean approximately 250 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at the tip of the Baja peninsula. These islands have been compared to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador or Cocos Island in Costa Rica because of the big animal encounters they provide…like up-close and personal encounters with the Giant Pacific manta ray, which can grow to 22 feet from wingtip to wingtip.

There are plenty of sharks — hammerhead schools, white tips, silver tips, silkies, duskies, Galapagos and occasionally tigers. Divers have encountered up to 7 species of sharks on a single dive! We may even get lucky and see whale sharks.

Add to the mix extremely large tuna, wahoo, thick schools of jacks and many other big critters along with endemic tropicals found nowhere else in the world, and you have the best big animal diving on earth!

The Diving

 Minimum dive certification/experience: As the diving here is usually deeper and more challenging, each diver must have a minimum of Advanced Open Water Diver certification (or equivalent) and at least 50 dives. Enriched air/Nitrox certification strongly recommended.

M/V Valentina

The 125 ft long M/V Valentina will be our home base for this incredible trip. It has 10 air-conditioned cabins, each with an en-suite bathroom. The dining room offers excellent cuisine with a variety of Mexican, European and Asian dishes, and also an open bar with a choice of various soft drinks, tea, coffee and draft beer. Relax between dives on the large, partially covered sun deck, or enjoy the stars at night while floating in the middle of the ocean.

Travel

We will fly into San Jose del Cabo (SJD) and then embark from the local marina on April 18th. An overnight stay prior to the day of departure is recommended to to ensure you and your bags make it onto the boat! You can then fly home on April 27th. We'll share more details as we get closer to the trip dates. Please email or call the shop before booking any flights!

Upon cancellation of a reservation for any reason, the refund of the deposit and payments made or due will be contingent upon Blue Planet reselling the participant's reservation. Any refund may also be subject to a $250 cancellation fee and payment of any non-refundable fees imposed by the tour company, dive operator or any other contractor associated with the trip. 

Dive accident insurance is required for all divers on this trip. We strongly recommend travel insurance to protect your vacation investment. Contact us if you need more information. 

Upon arrival at the San Jose Del Cabo airport (SJD), you will be greeted and transferred to the marina complimentary as long as it is on the check in and check out date.  If you are already staying in the area, feel free to make your own way to the Marina named “Puerto Los Cabos” by 6:00 PM.  All guests must be onboard by 18:00 on all itineraries so the Valentina departs at 21:00. 

If you'd like to arrive in the area earlier, we can help with hotel arrangements. It's not a bad idea to ensure your bags make it before the boat departs! You can stay in San Jose Del Cabo or head a bit further south to Cabo San Lucas.

This huge reef towers right in the middle of the open ocean. The wall drops quickly to 70-80 meters. You can find large schools of Black Jacks plus passing Mantas and Silver Tip Sharks. This is also where you can see schooling Hammerhead Sharks, and at the right time of year, Whale Sharks and Tiger Sharks!

San Benedicto is a submerged, large sea mount rising from the bottom of the sea. This is the place to see Giant Mantas plus migratory fish such as Big Eye Jack, Greater Amberjack, and Black Jack. Hammerhead Sharks and Bottlenose Dolphins also like to visit -- you never know with what you may encounter! 

Another Manta hotspot! Imagine a large Manta reaching 4 meters fin tip to fin tip, or a Black Manta circling over you. It's incredible! You may hear Humpback whales singing in the distance, and lucky divers can even meet the Humpback Whales underwater. You never know who may appear out of the blue...

At this point on the island, you dive around the sea mount that stretches towards the open sea. You can expect multiple encounters with big creatures such as Bottlenose Dolphins, Hammerhead Sharks and Mantas. Exciting scenes with other big creatures such as Galapagos Sharks and Silver Tip Sharks will leave you breathless.

Check out is around 10:00 AM on the last day of the trip. The crew will transport you to San Jose Del Cabo airport.  If you plan to stay at a hotel around Los Cabos, the crew can help arrange a taxi. Check out time is subject to change depending on the weather and diving conditions.