Geronimo Island, San Benitos and Rocas Elijos

This trip offers an outstanding chance to visit Rocas Elijos, a volcanic peak located 100 miles off Baja California. Very rarely visited by divers, it has been described as the next Cocos Island.

Adventure is what you make of it and this trip promises to have lots of adventure. Departing from San Diego in late September for a memorable voyage down the Pacific side of Baja California, our onboard host will be noted biologist, author and publisher, Dan Gotshall. This is the best time to explore this area as the prevailing northwest winds are light and the seas are generally calm from September through early November. Water temps range from 56 to 75 degrees in the north (and colder below the thermoclines) to 84 degrees at Cabo San Lucas. The surface weather should be beautiful!

The west coast of Baja California is an overlap zone between warm-water and cold-water species and contains fauna that would not normally be found together from both the California temperate and tropical Panama zones. The coast can best be described as an extremely diverse community of marine species, occupying a wide variety of underwater habitats that range from deep submarine canyons, offshore islands, underwater sea cliffs and rock pinnacles to lush kelp beds.

Large colonies of sea lions, harbour seals and elephant seals inhabit offshore islands along the coast and dolphins and cetaceans are common. The California spiny lobster, abalone and a variety of invertebrates including nudibranchs, moray eels, octopus, crabs, gorgonian corals and hydrocorals are found along the entire length of Baja California. Fish species found along the northern coastline include red snapper, sheephead, garibaldi, calico bass, rockfish, perch, cabezon, lingcod, halibut, barracuda, black sea bas, mackerel, bonito, blennies, gobies and yellowtail and albacore tuna.

Sample itinerary

Day 1: Early afternoon departure from San Diego once we have picked up
all our incoming guests. Warmup dive on the 366' Canadian
destroyer Yukon before heading out to sea.

Day 2 - 3: Early afternoon arrival for an overnight stop at Geronimo Island
and Sacramento Reef. 5 - 6 dives in total. The diving here is
reportedly excellent with extensive kelp beds and a rocky bottom
full of interesting fissures, caves and pinnacles. Geronimo is
also home to a large number of sea lions. Sacramento Reef is known
for it's abundance of black sea bass, lobsters and numerous wrecks.

Day 4 - 5: San Benitos are a group of 3 small volcanic islands with excellent
diving. Numerous pinnacles, shoal areas, kelp fields, reefs and
outlying rocks provide lots of diving opportunities in this rarely
visited area.Both temperate and warm water fish and invertebrates
can be found here and we've heard reports of bat rays, mobulas,
marlin, gamefish, abalone, hammerhead sharks, lobster, marlin,
gamefish, California sea lions, Guadalupe fur seals and even
the ocassional whale shark.

Day 6: Dive ROCAS ALIJOS which is a group of rock pinnacles 152 miles from
the closest land and a destination that very few divers have ever
visited. You can expect to see large numbers of marine birds,
schooling game fish, sharks, whales, sea lions, porpoises,
blackfish and other pelagic fish.

Day 7: At sea.

Day 8: Morning arrival in Cabo San Lucas, brunch and disembarkation.

We have scheduled this trip for late September to maximize the weather window. Please note that the above itinerary is subject to wind and sea conditions and may be changed without notice. In the very unlikely event of a hurricane sweeping north, the trip may be cut short in which case our guests would receive a pro-rata credit on their charter fee and reimbursement of additional airline charges. This is adventure at it's best along a fabulous part of the coast at just the right time of year and best suited for experienced and self-sufficient divers.