Scuba Season
Underwater reef at Socorro Islands
Stable

Socorro Islands

Mexico · Eastern Pacific

The Revillagigedo Islands — Socorro, San Benedicto, Roca Partida — sit 400km off Baja in deep Pacific water. The draw is giant oceanic mantas that approach and circle divers, plus humpback whales (in season), silky and Galápagos sharks, and the occasional bait ball spectacle.

How this reef is doing

ⓘ How we measure this

Reef state

Stable

Pelagic encounters — mantas, dolphins, sharks. Reef cover modest in this Eastern Pacific niche; trips don't go for hard coral.

Coral cover

27%
LowHealthy
Moderate

Fish life

Not surveyed

Heat

SafeBleaching

Warmer than usual right now, but not hot enough to bleach.

Warming

Fishing

QuietBusy

Quiet water, and fishing is fully banned here.

Protected

Sources · MERMAID and partner coral surveys · NOAA Coral Reef Watch · Global Fishing Watch and reef gravity

Fish abundance

Fish seen per survey

Across 14 years of REEF volunteer surveys around Revillagigedo Islands, divers have been recording fewer fish per survey. This tracks fish life, standardised for survey effort, so we keep it separate from the coral read above.

Fish abundance over time

412005200920122015201820212026
14 survey years, 2005 to 2026
REEF · Revillagigedo Islands · 599 surveys

What you will see

12 species across the dive sites here

Dive sites

What divers say

An oceanic manta hovered six inches over my regulator for forty seconds making eye contact. I still don't have words for it.
— First-time Socorro guest

Good to know

Park fee

~$50/day biosphere reserve fee.

Crossing

20–28h each way. Pacific can be rough — pre medicate.

Gear & getting wet

  • Basic kit

    • Mask and fins
    • BCD and regulator
    • 5mm full wetsuit · cooler water
    • Dive computer