Technical breakdown and 10 hours at anchor without power

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Little needs to be said about Socorro. Unique.
Diving team very professional and helpful at all times. Ship is unfortunately getting on in years. We had one of the upper deck suites (!!). Everything old and worn, the toilet stank and the faucet almost fell off. Air conditioning loud and not really adjustable. Nothing works here without earplugs. The carpeting, what can you say? The ship itself is not really comfortable. There is also no real outside space to chill out. There are a few camping chairs around and there are 8 loungers on the upper deck. There is no shade. The food is okay, but not really a highlight. On the positive side, the team on board was really friendly and always helpful. The captain was also great. Summary: If you want to dive here, there are few alternatives and you have to live with one of the Nautilus ships.

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Wonderful diving area with big concentration of big fish like manta rays, dolphins, many kinds of sharks, etc....
Visibility can be very different depending on the dive site.
The dive boat is very stable, not luxurious but very well equipped. Especially when it comes to safety, everything possible was really done.
The service provided by the crew is amazingly good, even excellent, considering the fact that it only consists of a total of 9 people. The two ladies who serve in the dining area and clean up the cabins are incredibly gracious and read your every wish.
All in all a wonderful week



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The entire crew, including the dive guides really did an outstanding job.
The food was very good.
The boat could use a basic renovation in my view. The single cabin was perfectly adequate for me in terms of size, but a permanent hum (not air conditioning) has made sleeping much more difficult.
If larger people book this cabin should ask how long the beds are, I suspect shorter than 2m.
The dive sites themselves were perfectly ok, unfortunately we had a relatively poor visibility and not the hoped for amount of marine life (for which no one what can).

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see https://www.monika-helmut-muc.de/reisen_socorro2.htm

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great diving area; especially for manta rays and sharks. Great also the dive with the dolphins.

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The safari exceeded our expectations. A great week with great dive sites and lots of big fish. The manta rays are as trusting as described and just wonderful. The great crew played a big part in this tour, which was the fulfillment of a divers dream for me. Highly professional, relaxed and humorous. The organization was great. Highly recommended!

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The Nautilus Explorer is an older model year, but very comfortable and perfectly designed for divers, especially for photographers. For the performance and friendliness of the crew, as well as the food, the stars to be awarded are not enough. Simply outstanding service!
Socorro is an ultimate highlight, which no diver should miss in his life.

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For the 5th time on the Nautilus Explorer and in Socorro. Super ship, extremely nice crew. Only more seating outside with shade would be nice. Dive operation absolutely smooth and plenty of space on the dive deck even for large cameras.

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The ship is very large, even the maximum number of 25 guests will find enough space in the salon and on the dive deck. Unfortunately, the cabins in the lower deck are very cramped. The shower and the toilet with sink are separated from each other within the cabin, but since I was lucky enough to have the booked cabin to myself due to a cancellation, this was not a problem for me.
The crew is super friendly and helpful. I have rarely eaten so well on a safari boat. The cook is just great. He prepared very varied meals and special requests were also catered for.
The diving took place in three groups and was perfectly organized, a total of four guides were on board.
Due to the great encounters under water (including manta rays, hammerheads, whale shark, moon fish, tiger shark, other types of sharks) the diving was of course overwhelmingly beautiful.

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The tour guide from WiroDive was not cooperative and has among other things reserved the best dive guide for himself and his group and was not willing to swap despite multiple requests. Annoying that of the 4 guides two were beginners and they were often assigned to us. Only good that we had our group leader Martin Osterfeld with us. He did a great job as always. In the lower cabins especially towards the stern it smelled strongly of cloaca. The crew and especially the food must be praised.

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Great trip, great diving, very helpful crew. We were completely satisfied and can only recommend this tour and the organizer WiroDive.

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The Nautlius Explorer is a good safari boat.
The cabins are in my view a little too small, but purposefully furnished.
The crew, dive guides and the entire crew very friendly and helpful. The food is outstandingly good.


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Great safari - only small deductions (at the high price level) because of: Food very good. Salads but always very sugared, like a dessert - but seems to be common in Mexico. Was in restaurants on land also so. Eating on the upper deck outside is "romantic", but should only be offered in real good weather and with proper seating.
Cabins unfortunately not properly darkenable, because only very bright, translucent curtains / blinds are installed. One is therefore from early sunrise always awake and can also sleep during the day only with difficulty in the upper deck cabins times.

Dive guides very nice and friendly (except for one) and competent, but very, very often disguise photographers from their own enthusiasm the photo motif, because they themselves with Gopros & Co. herumwurschteln and want to be the first with Mantas & Co. (For this, however, there is no star deduction because of the enthusiasm).

From the penultimate day there was only a small alk. Drinks selection and also no soda more, although actually the whole week quite little was drunk on board. (Loud early sleepers.) ;-)

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Never again Nautilus Explorer! While the entire crew on board has at all times provided a first-class service that is beyond reproach, I am now finally fed up with the business conduct of the company management including the back office of the company Nautilus Exporer.
It all started a few years ago, when my buddy Klaus and I, after 2 great Socorrosafaris in a row, which had worked smoothly, wanted to repeat this in the following year.
The repetition then took place on the then "new" Bel Amie, which at that time was in a pitiful condition. The conversion to a safari boat was simply not yet completed and the technology on board was ready for the scrap heap. So on the first evening in the harbor (before leaving for Socorro) already 2 of 3 Zodiak`s had made the diving license. Both were then unusable for the trip. The Bel Amie had no side walls on the dive deck at that time, so the dive deck was open on all sides. In rougher seas, the boxes with the diving equipment could have gone overboard during the night without anyone noticing. The sockets on the dive deck were meant for the dry area (so without appropriate cover etc.) . Super, if one stands with the feet in the wet, and handles at such a socket to charge batteries or the like.
The toilet on the dive deck was an open-air affair, in a makeshift board shack without a door. Clear view for all.
On the crossing to Socorro NP, 1 day later, (the delay came about because of the sunken Zodiak`s) then in the night 2 of 3 generators burst into flames, which is why on the first day of diving already the diving operation had to be stopped again. Too little power for the compressor. Furthermore, only emergency lighting and no more food from the onboard supplies. The cook had rightly forbidden the further use of the supplies because of the interrupted cold chain (due to the failure of the generators). Thereupon the captain broke off the safari, got food for the return trip from a boat that happened to be next to us via Zodiak and brought us back to Cabo.
For this aborted safari, Nautilus Explorer then gave each participant a voucher that could be redeemed sometime later. The voucher ended up being nothing more than an email, with no indication of a validity period or value.
"Money back" for sold but not delivered services is not known or accepted by this company.
When redeeming the voucher, Covid, among others, got in the way, which is why the whole story ultimately dragged on into 2022.
The trip for 2022 was then booked in early summer 2021. A combination trip Socorro and Guadalupe. 16 days on board.
Then in the fall of `21 my buddy was diagnosed with "acute leukemia" with the urgent advice to have something done about it immediately.
A request to Nautilus Explorer, if we could push the voucher back a little bit, because it is not clear, if my buddy can go diving after 8 months after such a diagnosis (let alone if he is still alive then...) was rejected by NE. The voucher was already so old and had to be used for this trip. Otherwise it would expire. Great, if you get a voucher without specifying the validity period.
My buddy then canceled his voucher ( and thus lost many thousands of euros) and I went.
1 week before the tour then came the message from NE that the tour could not take place as planned, the NP Guadalupe would not open in time. Alternatively, the safari would consist of a trip to Socorro and a trip to the Sea of Cortez. For this change there was a discount for each participant as well as a new voucher for about 1000 US$. This then redeemable from 2023 or later.
Later, at the end of this safari, when paying the bill on board, there was again a voucher from NE, which could be used for the personal bill on board or on a later trip with NE. This voucher was for the sum of the collected NP fees, which amounted to 600 US$ or 300 US$ depending on the period of the booking (before or after April `22). So it was already clear in April that the NP Guadalupe would not open in time, which is why from April `22 the corresponding NP fee was not collected at all. However, the safari participants were informed only 1 week before departure (mid-June), with a change of the return flight modalities (other places, airports, etc.) so that at this late point in time no one could cancel at a reasonable price or rebook for another safari.
The voucher for the retained NP fee could also only be used for costs incurred directly to the NE. Thus Nitrox, ship bar or a Lifeline rescue system, which one could buy. But not applicable for tipping the crew for example.
Ultimately, the business policy of the company Nautilus Explorer with the exclusive option of a voucher for non-delivered services to the customer is an extremely shabby way to get his company an interest-free loan to keep it financially liquid! In Corona times I have there quite understanding for it. But not in normal business operations (before / after Corona).
Over the years, you as a customer shimmy from

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In terms of food: except for 1 taco night, few Mexican specialties
In terms of safety features, the best liveaboard we ever did. Yet 1 of the divers had a deco accident. Perhaps it is still appropriate to leave more time between dives.

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Found the cabins at the bottom to be on the small side, especially considering the pictures on the internet.
Dive guides: that is indeed the correct designation. They were profiled as divemasters but did not behave like them.


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Beautiful boat and a professional crew who went out of their way to make us as comfortable as possible

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The diving, the crew, the food, it was all great. We enjoyed the dives, saw so much marine life, hammerhead sharks, mantas, whale shark, dolphins. Unbelievable

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A must for every diver who goes for big stuff

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Fantastic place to dive if you like big fish. Absolutely worth the long crossing. Saw everything from the pictures beforehand, oceanic manta rays, hammerhead, dolphins and much more. And all that in a very nice company of the duiken.nl readers trip. Very good service from the attuned crew. Next time we would like some more Mexican food :-)

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We had a fantastic liveaboard!
Wonderful crew, dive tourists and dive sites.
Top notch!!!

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It is a luxurious boat. So luxurious, in fact, that you don't even have to pour your own drinks during dinner. I am allergic to certain types of food and they did everything they could to make sure there was always something else for me if I couldn't eat everything.

There were some people who suffered from seasickness and that was also taken care of very well and they were monitored well.

It was all very professional and the dive guides are very concerned about life underwater and there is a lot of education and information if you are interested in that.

The layout of the boat is not like other liveaboards because it is not built as a liveaboard. This often means that there is not enough room for everyone to sit together. Also, there is only an indoor lounge. Outside there is no lounge despite the fact that the deck above is big enough. I found that a pity.

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We had unfortunately few dolphins, but very many manta rays, beautiful and so curious and often large schools of hammerhead sharks.Additional highlights was an infinitely large school of tuna and when surfacing a group of about 20 false killer whales.
At some TG`s the visibility was great, at others the visibility was quite green and low due to deep sea currents.
But as an overall experience it was very impressive diving days with many great sightings.

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My best liveaboard ever.
Keep up the good work.

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Cabin is very dated.
Food is very good.
It is a pity that you visit a different dive site each day and therefore make 4 dives at the same spot. On the outward and return trip we were at the same spot both times while there are more dive sites around the island.
Guides do not call anyone to account for irresponsible diving such as surfacing with 10 bar, touching everything, etc. Only when part of the group said something about it was it very subtly mentioned in the briefing. A more active role would be nice.
Presentations by the guides were an instructive extra.

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New carpet in all cabins and in the salon would not hurt, or better washable flooring. Food mediocre given the high price of the trip, no buffet because of Corona, not even pepper is at the table. Food in two layers, very impractical. On the last day there was a buffet, apparently on the last day the Corona virus was off. Totally impractical and illogical rules in this regard. Regardless, mediocre quality of the food. The payment process at the end of the tour complicated and time-consuming. Diving was great, dive guides do a good job. The surrounding could be improved as described above.

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The safari was very good we have seen among others hammerheads, silky sharks, silver sharks, many white tip sharks, dolphins and a whale shark. On almost every dive we saw one or more manta rays.
We had good conditions after 24 hours of driving we arrived at the dive sites and made 4 dives at each of five sites.

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Simply perfect!


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