Roca Partida

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11136489/?claim=9rugdff7e3e”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>Roca Partida is part of the Revillagedoes Islands, and is an absolutely amazing dive spot.  It is just a rocky little place inhabited with birds.  At least, that is what it is on top. Underneath the waves is a lively and diverse ecosystem, teeming with fish and marine life of all kinds.

Roca is amazing.  You can see in the photo one of the pangas dropping divers off.  The currents are fairly strong here, and the pay off is big adventure.  What is here?  Oh….dolphins, mantas, sharks …incredible!

The dolphins were so fascinating.  They came right up to you, and checked you out.  It made me nervous that they wouldn’t like me! Their eyes clearly show their intelligence… is it equal to ours?  I wonder.  They love showing off, and I think they enjoy the flash of the strobes because they have a game they play.  They actually “play dead” and sink 50 feet or so, then dash right back up in front of you for a picture, then they do it again!  Clearly this is a game they very much enjoy.  If you’ve seen dolphins at Sea World or some other aquarium (these animals should not be held captive in my opinion) you have seen them smooth and beautiful.  In the wild, they are scarred and scratched up from life in the ocean, but they are still beautiful.

There were platoons of sharks, mostly White or Silver Tip Sharks.  Before I went in, I was a little nervous about diving where there were so many sharks, but once I was down I was thrilled and excited to be among them.  They so obviously had no interest in us other than just looking once in a while, but most of the time they didn’t even do that.  They have a very busy schedule, you know, and cannot be bothered with visitors!

The sharks were awesome, but the main attraction here?  MANTA RAYS.  At Roca we saw many Mantas, and they are all breathtaking, just a completely thrilling sight.  The highlight of Roca though, was the Black Pacific Manta.  The top of the animal is completely black, and looks like velvet.  They don’t hesitate to come to you…to look at you with their strange blinking vertical eyes, and to enjoy the air bubbles from the tanks of the divers.  Manta Rays have the largest brain of any fish, and you can see that the eye is not a doll’s eye, but an intelligent eye.  There is nothing quite like the thrill of being eye to eye with a Manta!

As I said, the current can be strong at Roca, and I did get swept away once.  I ended up being swept behind the rock, then out into the “blue”.  I was accompanied by a Black Manta, and the wonder of spending that time with this incredible, huge creature was so overwhelming I was not afraid of the current.  The Manta stayed with me until I was in the panga, and then stayed around the panga.  Of course I had to put on my mask and snorkel and go back into the water with it.  The beauty of those spectacular wings flying effortlessly through the water is indescribable.  We ended up staying two wonderful days at Roca Partida.  None of the divers wanted to leave!  Click to Tweet!