I had an amazing trip to the Revillagigedo Archipelago (also known as the Socorro Islands) in Mexico on the Nautilus Belle Amie. The boat was wonderful and the crew were amazing! I went on this trip first and foremost to see mantas, and it certainly delivered! I don't have any complaints.

Incredible dive trip. Best guess is that we saw hammerheads on 70% of the dives. Also saw tigers (2x), Galapagos (several), silvertips and whitetips. A friendly manta showed up on 4-5 dives and we were blessed with dolphins at the end of one dive. There were several bait ball occurrences as well which were beautiful. Finally, marbled rays were prevalent and a joy to see. This is the best diving I’ve done over 25 years where I felt that nearly every dive had something fun. I will go back, and I will go with Sea Hunter.

The following items were particular highlights for Sea Hunter:

- DMs, DMs, DMs!!! Juan Miguel and Ian were attentive, informative and above all PURE FUN. Their passion for diving and ensuring that guests had a great time was obvious. I can’t say enough about them.
- Most dives were planned to begin around cleaning stations. If there was not enough activity then we would either explore around the coral/landmass or head out into the blue as a group. VERY often the blue experiences were wonderful as these included walls of hammerheads and/or mantas to end the dives.
- The ship used two hard shelled pagodas to ferry groups to/from the dive sites. These were speedy to most sites and easy to enter/exit. They also had canvass roofs which provided a little protection.
- I had expected there to be no coral and while the coral wasn’t a focal point there was some and subsequently some non pelagic enjoyment as well.
- The ship had some nice relaxation areas including the lounge, dining room, upper deck and a reading nook. State rooms were reasonably good sized and well maintained. In-room showers always had hot water.

Opportunities for improvement:

- There was no group introduction in which people stated who they were, etc. etc. While this does happen organically, it’s nice when the dive op opens that door. Our trip had 7 nationalities on it and breaking down those barriers could have been made easier.
- The food was well presented and wholesome though didn’t have much pizzazz. While not exactly a complaint, other dive operations take the food to be an artform. Snacks were okay. Almost all post-dive snacks were pastry puff somethings and fresh fruit.
- Rooms that had bunk beds did not have a ladder to get to top bunk. This could be a challenge for some.
- On-deck showers were luke warm and sometimes cold.

General comments:

- The crossing to Cocos was rough. Close to 50% of the passengers were somewhat sick. This is not a knock on Sea Hunter, simply a note for those considering this particular dive trip.
- It rained every day. On one hand this enhanced the beauty of the island (think waterfalls and green). Only one day did it affect the vis in the upper 20-30 feet of the dive. Once below the muck, the diving was still good.
- The diving does involve a lot of waiting. This can make people cold. Plan accordingly. You also are definitely hands-on on the reef which is different than typical ecologically suggested. Bring gloves because the coral can be rough and the barnacles like to push against your hands to dislodge.
- Sea urchins are plentiful. No one got a “Cocos tattoo”. Just be aware.

The boat was great. Cabin was nice and spacious, the diving was really beautiful, the crew was fabulous and the food was good, if not gourmet. I had no real expectations, having never been on a liveaboard.

I got the sense from others that this particular boat is sort of the gold standard of liveaboard. There were a lot - a lot - of repeat customers onboard and clearly Elke, who was running the show, had a relationship with many of them. The crew was extremely helpful, and made doing that number of dives easy. I think I did all 17 plus 2 the day before on a day boat. The only complaints I could offer were that there was kind of a persistent bad smell in my cabin that seemed sewer-related. I reported it one day and they seemed to address it but then it kind of came back. There was an electrical problem that caused the lights to go out a couple times but that seemed related to a certain set of fluorescents so I just left them off. Also, Elke, an Oceanic White Tip expert seemed hell-bent on us seeing sharks and so there was a fair amount of time spent in search of and not many sightings. One group out of three had a close encounter over the period of the week. All small complaints. Overall, it was really good and I would do it again. If it were just a bit closer….

The trip on Calico Jack was a resounding success. We where only 6 passengers on a 10 passenger boat. The two single Guys where instantly upgrade to single Occupancy cabins. The diving in the northern part right out of Manokwari was marked by WW2 wrecks of ships smaller vessels and aircraft from both sides of the conflict. It reached from a very large heavy transport ship to a wonderful overgrown patrol boat. The food was good it catered to the mostly British clientele on this trip. The chef tried his best to please the taste and heat tolerance of food. I like spicy foods, so I was admiring the Indonesian chefs ability to make the food bland. There were options for me. The middle part of the cruise was marked by very seldom visited dive sites with wonderful pristine sea fans and black corals with everything that lives in it. My favourites are black corals so I got everything I could hope for. The dives were interesting because there was a mix of very nice coral reefs that ended up in a rocky little island or other rock feature that where not overgrown by corals. It turned out that the rock is granite and the corals seem not to like to grow on it. It makes for a very interesting area where lots of coral fish inhabit huge blocks of rock. It also gives big groupers lots of hiding places. The southern part near Nabire is of course marked by the whale sharks coming to fishing platforms to feed on little fish. We did 5 dives with this magnificent creatures over two days. It rained heavily on the first day the rain created a green layer of water over the clear water below. The water temperature was also markably lower in the green. The second day made it clear what the green water did to photography. It was Cristal Clear and bright ideal for taking pictures with no flash. Diving with this giants is definitely a highlight.
I stayed in Nabire for two days after disembarking. I found a very interesting big market and an access to the beach to walk by some boat repair facilities to the market.