Socorro has been on my dive bucket list for seventeen years. So when we wake up at San Benedicto, my heart is leaping from excitement and joy. The raw, rugged and wild landscape is breathtaking to see in person and I feel a deep sense of calm and connection when I look out to the volcanic island.
On the second dive of the trip, just off San Benedicto, at a site call El Cañon, our dive guide takes us out into the blue. She has spotted something that we can only make a vague outline of. I think its hammerhead sharks, but they are merely shadows in the distance — too shy to come close to the divers. That’s the trick with open water diving though, a little patience and it’s rewarded.
The hammerheads are too shy at first, but it isn’t long before they grow accustomed to our bubbles and come in close enough for us to get a good look at them. Don’t chase the animals and they’ll make their way to you.
It’s lovely. It’s not the massive school of hundreds of hammerheads that come to mind, but rather about eight or nine swim around is in a slow circle — nothing predatory or aggressive — merely inquisitive. I’ve been trying for years to see these sharks in their natural habitat and now that I am I have no words to describe it. They are stunning creatures.
They sway in and out of our periphery. Giving us a good amount of time to see them and admire their beauty. After the dive ends, I couldn’t be happier having seen this shark first-hand. Throughout the trip I find a solo hammerhead on a few other dives, either too far below or too far above to really interact. So I can only feel a deep sense of gratitude for that first encounter.