vseasport - 6-4-2009 at 06:06 PM
Yesterday morning our pangas headed in separate directions, I went north to Punta Perico whilst Diego made his way south to Cabo Pulmo Marine Park.
After a pleasant saunter following the coastline up, we arrived at Perico to find smooth, easy conditions, very little current and a clear view to the
rocks 30 feet below. Yellow tailed Surgeonfish, Moorish Idols, Parrotfish and Guinea Fowl Puffer were immediately within view as we submerged, a wide
easy swim through was a nice way to help us fine tune our buoyancy, then we continued and leveled off at forty feet, conveniently the depth of the
next swim through I hoped to encounter. With the wall to our left and the open sea to our right we lazily finned our way along, making sure to cover
all angles so as not to miss out on a thing. Several Sedna Nudibranchs were dotted around, their brilliant white body and delicate gold and magenta
frill making them an easy to spot. Peering into nooks we saw Green Morays as thick as my thigh staring out at us, mouths agape, their bodies recoiled
at our unwelcome intrusion. We found a swim through that snaked it's way through the wall, maybe thirty feet long, wide and well lit; I scanned for
Stone Scorpionfish and sure enough one had concealed itself behind a rock, only it's gun turret eyes swivelled as I moved my hand in front of it, I
wonder how many I missed? 70 feet was our deepest depth and here the bottom temperature was 68' Fahrenheit, whilst above 40 feet it was a more
comfortable 72' F. Visibility varied, ranging from 30 - 45 feet, reports from fishing boats confirm that blue water is just a couple of miles offshore
and moving closer every day.
Diego took similar recordings for bottom temperature and visibility in the marine park and enthused about how many Leopard Grouper he had seen along
with schools of Snapper, Grunts and Panamic Porkfish. Several Guitarfish were sighted and also a brief engagement with a squadron of Cownosed Rays.
