Socorro Vortex

Boat

Socorro Vortex is a luxurious dive liveaboard measuring 43 meters long, and powered by twin 1250HP MTU Diesel Engines with cruising speed at 16 - 21 knots per hour, it is definitely the biggest, fastest and most luxurious liveaboard to date for the Socorro/Guadalupe market.

Socorro Vortex is a former Canadian Coast Guard Vessel built for hardcore worldwide expeditions, now after completely upgraded, it will provide the highest standard of luxury, comfort & safety in Mexico from April 2018.

Onboard amenities included a spacious main louge on the main deck with bar and dining area, there are all kinds of entertainment facilities for guests to use in between the dives.

The 5 dining tables that can cater for 4 guests each in the dining area, onboard, the chef will offer 3 gourmet meals per day, plus in-between snacks. Onboard menus vary and feature a combination of American and Mexican cuisine, using fresh, locally grown ingredients as much as possible. There are always fresh fruit, cold fruit juices, sodas, fresh-brewed coffee, and both hot tea and iced tea available. The chef can easily accommodate any special requests such as food allergies, a vegetarian menu etc. if you inform us of your needs at least two weeks before your trip.

Socorro Vortex has another large open air lounge located on the upper deck with complimentary bar and outdoor dining area, as well as professional grill. Here guests can chat with friends while get a cold drink and watch the beautiful seaviews.

The top sundeck is for those wishing to bask in the Mexican sunshine, there is even a helipad incase of need.

The dive deck is located at the rear of the main deck, not only spacious but also well equipped with personal dive lockers, a camera table with low pressure air hose, two rinse tanks are conveniently located for washing dive equipment and cameras. The aft of the dive deck is equipped with two ladders exit, fin storage and two hot, fresh water showers.

Cabin

Socorro Vortex has 7 deluxe guest cabins, it can accommodate up to 14 guests per trip :

All cabins are air-conditioned and have ensuite bathroom, flat screen TV with individual entertainment system, outlets, storage area etc.

1 Master Suite :
Located on the upper deck, this cabin is the largest cabin onboard, with a California king size double bed, working desk, lots of seaview windows around the cabin.

2 Junior Suites :
Located on the main deck, each cabin comes with two twin beds side by side or one king size double bed, seaview windows.

4 Luxury Staterooms :
Locatd on the lower deck, each cabin comes with two twin beds side by side or one queen size double bed, portholes.

Diving

• Guadalupe Route : Unlimited cage dives

• Socorro Route : 3 - 4 dives per diving day

• All divers must have a submersible console (SMB).

• No dive provided on the day of arrival and departure.

• All diving will provide experienced guide to lead the dive.

• Both divers and non-divers are welcome for Guadalupe trips.

• Divers must reach AOW with at least 50 logged dives for Socorro.

Other Informations

• Nitrox：Available with additional charge
• 15L Tanks：Available with additional charge
• REBREATHER Dive：Not available at the moment
• Technical Dive：Not available at the moment
• Dive Equipment Rental：Available with additional charge
• Dive insurance：Divers must have valid dive insurance
• Wi-Fi Internet ：Available with additional charge
• Laundry Service：Not available at the moment
• Massage Service：Not available at the moment
• Payment on board：Cash (USD/MXN)
• Crew Number：Unknown, include 2 dive guides

Guadalupe Islands

The Socorro Vortex starts the Guadalupe season at the beginning of August and runs through October. Our trips are all 4 nights/5days with 3 full days of cage diving. Clients are picked up on day one at 10 a.m. at our host hotel in San Diego close to the airport and escorted safely down in an air-conditioned luxury coach to Ensenada, Mexico. It’s actually a beautiful, scenic drive down the coast once you get past all the Tijuana border traffic. This is about a 1 1/2 hour drive, departing Cruiseport Marina at approximately 12 noon. It’s an eighteen hour crossing putting us at the island early morning of day 2. We start operations immediately and day 2, 3 and 4 are spent cage diving with great whites. At the end of day 4 we wrap up and start back to port arriving by noon on day 5. The luxury coach is waiting to drive our clients back to San Diego that afternoon. However, because the border crossing at Tijuana can take time, we advise our clients not to book any return flights until late that evening or the next day.

Socorro Islands

The Socorro islands trips are only available November through June due to weather conditions. During all these months, giant mantas, playful bottlenose dolphins and sharks are plentiful. The water temps are 75F – 80F in November, December, and sometimes into January and also in late April, May and June.

In mid-January, February, March and the beginning of April the water varies between around 70F – 74F. The humpback whales visit Socorro during these cooler water months. You can hear these gentle giants singing on almost every dive and as previously mentioned, underwater encounters with these whales are increasing every year.

San Benedicto Island
Home of the world-famous “Boiler” where very friendly Giant Pacific Mantas congregate, San Benedicto is usually the first island visited on the trip. This island is the third largest in the Revillagigedo group at about 2.6 miles long. It has two prominent peaks, one that is very obviously a volcanic crater. The walls of the volcano are eroded, leaving vertical ridges from top to bottom. The crater is almost 1/2 a mile wide. At the base of this volcano is a lava delta that reaches out into the ocean. The north half of the island is green with vegetation.

One of our favorite dive sites here is “the Boiler”, a large pinnacle that reaches from the depths to within several feet of the surface. Its small enough to swim around several times in one dive, but is large enough to be a favorite gathering point, attracting marine life from miles around. Humpback whales, whale sharks, and schooling hammerheads can be encountered here.

What makes this site so magical is the congregation of very friendly Giant Pacific Mantas. They often greet our divers even before we get into the water and swim with us all day. Divers may observe many mantas who come here to be cleaned by the endemic clarion angelfish. They seem to enjoy swimming closely over divers and stopping directly above to experience the bubble Jacuzzi on their bellies formed by exhaling bubbles from the divers. They often swim from one diver to the next posing for every photographer along the way.

On the other side of the island is “the Canyon”. Here we commonly see mantas, dolphins, hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks and silky sharks.

Socorro Island
Socorro is about 30 miles south of San Benedicto. The island is about 10 miles by 9 miles in size and is home to the Mexican Naval Station since 1957. The island was discovered by Spanish explorer, Hernando de Grijalva and his crew in 1533 and had been rediscovered in 1542 and again in 1608 when it was given its name “Socorro”, meaning “Help”.

In the center of the island rises volcanic Mt. Evermann, who’s top is 1130 meters above sea level. The mountain was named after Dr. Barton Warren Evermann, director of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California in honor of the scientific exploration he promoted there at the beginning of the twentieth century.

It’s most recent eruption was in 1993. The island is covered with low order vegetation—sage, some grass and a dense growth of cactus that grows around the lava outcrops and lines. In September 1997 the island was struck by Hurricane Linda, one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded.

Socorro Vortex usually visits dive sites here which include the Aquarium, Punta Tosca and Cabo Pearce.

Roca Partida Island
Roca Partida is a small pinnacle located west of Socorro and San Benedicto, about 250 miles south of Cabo San Lucas. It is only 115 feet high and 300 feet from end to end. Its the smallest island in the Revillagigedo Archipelago.

This stony pillar attracts pelagics and large schools of jacks and tuna. Beneath the surface the wall drops straight down to deep water. There are many shelves and ridges that give refuge to the animals that hide there.

At about 40′ there are large caves where groups of whitetip sharks can be found sleeping most of the time. Depending on the current, its possible to swim around the pinnacle several times in the course of one dive. Other times divers prefer to just hang out in one area and watch the pelagics swim by.

Guests commonly encounter schools of hammerheads, whitetip sharks, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, giant manta rays, dolphins, an occasional whaleshark and even humpback whales visiting from Alaska.