Socorro Giant Manta Liveaboard, Revillagigedo

Revillagigedo Archipelago, Pacific Mexico · Mexico

Challenging9 daysNorth America~£3,300 est.

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Overview

Twenty-four hours of open Pacific separate Cabo San Lucas from the Revillagigedo Archipelago, and the crossing buys the best big-animal diving in the eastern Pacific. At The Boiler, a seamount off San Benedicto, giant oceanic mantas — seven metres wingtip to wingtip — bank in for slow, deliberate passes over your head; they seem to seek out the fizz of bubbles on their bellies, and no encounter anywhere is as prolonged or as close. Roca Partida, a guano-white fang in a violet ocean, stacks whitetip reef sharks on its ledges while silkies and Galapagos sharks circle the blue. From January to March humpback song is loud enough to feel through your wetsuit, and a lucky safety stop comes with an escort. This is liveaboard-only, advanced diving: surge, current, depth and nothing but ocean on every horizon. Boats run November to May from Cabo San Lucas; nine-day itineraries start around £3,300 plus the park fee. Bring a 5mm suit, a hooded vest for the thermoclines and a logbook with fifty-plus dives — operators check.