ligersandtions
Contributor
Years ago, Id been told that diving in La Bufadora, MX was absolutely spectacular and had been wanting to give it a shot since then. In early 2011, Rainer, jenth, xstephenx, and I talked about setting up a dive trip to La Bufadora; I contacted Dale Erwin of Dales Dive Shop in La Bufadora and made plans to head south for our long Labor Day Weekend.
After months of preparation, we were ready to go; we managed to pack 13 cylinders (eight HP130s, four HP100s, and one Al40 of O2), four scooters, four drysuits, undergarments, spare parts, and a few articles of clothing in our truck! Despite news of drug trafficking, claims from our friends that we were going to get hijacked or killed, and whatever else, we made our way across the border and down to La Bufadora with no issues.
We made a quick stop into a grocery store for some essentials (water, Mexican pasteries, candy, etc
), and then to the house we were renting for the weekend. The house was a great two-bedroom house next door to Dales place (conveniently located near a dryer for those of us who dont have dry drysuits and the compressor for fills!). Finally, we drove to the boat ramp to begin our diving adventure.
Unfortunately for us, there was a huge swell in from New Zealand that would attempt to thwart our plans; but we never let a little swell stop us, despite Jens questioning, Are we really sure we want to do this? when we were half-way launched!
Launching of the pangas was a bit sporting. We would get the panga on the boat ramp, near the edge of the water, and then fill it with our many cylinders, scooters, and miscellaneous items. Then wed don our drysuits (and dry gloves!), wait for a wave to come in, push the boat out, and hop on, all while Alfredo (our panga captain!) rowed us out to water deep enough that he could drop the outboard motor and get it started.
Rumor has it theres decent shore diving, but who needs shore diving when the pangas are inexpensive (something on the order of $17/dive/person), the ride out to the sites is short, and the diving is breath taking? The diving is both literally and figuratively breath taking water temperatures in socal were in the mid-60s the week before Labor Day, so we were quite surprised to find that the water in La Bufadora was in the high-40's / low-50s. Dale said its because they get some Japanese current that brings the cold water in. However, due to this cold water, the marine life is incredibly abundant.
Pinnacles jut out of the water from 120+ feet below, giving marine life a perfect substrate to grow on. Each dive had numerous species of nudibranchs (with the two most common being P. nobilis and T. catalinae, lots of C. leutomarginata, D. sandiegensis, D. albopunctata, H. crassicornis, F. iodinea, M. porterae, C. macfarlandi, F. trilineata, C. limbaughorum, C. flavomaculata, and a handful of T. festiva, Berthella californica, A. albomarginata, and at least one P. hiltoni and one L. cockerelli) and thousands of individuals! It almost takes the Wheres Waldo? out of searching for nudibranchs! We also saw eels (both moray and spotted) on many of the dives, harbor seals, abundant and healthy purple hydrocoral, tons of anemones (Corynactis, Metridium, and Anthopleura), various species of sponges, rock fish (blue rockfish, treefish, vermilion, lingcods, cabezons), and way more than I can hope to capture in writing!
The diving at La Bufadora is eerily similar to the diving up in Monterey, with dramatic structures, life covering every inch of reef, as well as many similar species and very similar temperatures! Its amazing that Southern California diving can be so different from the diving roughly five hours north or south, but the diving surrounding socal can be so similar.
Our most exciting moment came when we were returning from our second day of diving. The previous day, we exited at La Joya rather than back at La Bufadora because the exit point is slightly more protected. When we left in the morning on the second day, conditions had improved drastically, so we figured it would be safe to exit there as well boy were we wrong! When we were sitting outside the cove waiting for a lull, Alfredo said we were going to aim toward the beach and then back the boat in. We thought it was a bad idea and that it would be better to exit onto the boat ramp, but we figured they knew better, so we went along with it.
There werent any real lulls coming, so when we got something that sort of resembled a lull, we went for it. We made it onto the beach quite a bit more gracefully than expected....until we realize the lull we went in on was not a lull after all. Huge surf came rolling in, picking up the large cobble stones and pelting us in the shins while we attempted to hold the boat steady. The surf kept rolling in and eventually water started filling up in the panga; the more water in the panga, the lower it floated in the water, thus letting even more water in. We realized the inevitable: this panga was going to sink if we didnt do something....fast!
We started pulling gear out and running it up the rocky beach to a point high enough that it would not get sucked back out to sea. We started with the heavy things (scooters, cylinders, rigs, weight belts) in hopes that it would be enough; it was not! The boat was almost completely submerged and we started grabbing items that were floating away (like hoods, spare parts) as the guys tried to bail water out. Eventually Dale said he needed to get the boat out of there and jumped in to turn the motor on and told Alfredo to join him. Alfredo took one look at him and yelled, No way, youre *%#@ing crazy, man! We eventually got all of the gear out of the boat and onto shore and managed to get the water out of the boat and the boat over to the boat ramp. We were all exhausted and out of breath....and realized we still had to move the gear from the beach to the boat ramp. After all of this, the only thing that we lost was a single lighter; though there might have been a couple things that were ruined after taking on saltwater. If only wed had video to document this ridiculous event!
Luckily, the diving was spectacular enough that the boat-sinking incident was almost forgotten in the end (not really, but totally worth it to get out the next day!). Additionally, we had some really delicious food while we were in the area. We found these mango gummy candies that were addictive and disappeared very quickly; we managed to get Jen and Stephen their fill of churros (we didnt even think that was possible!), we found homemade potato chips with hot sauce, lemon juice, and chili powder that were incredible, as well as some amazing tacos (fish, shrimp, cactus, chicken) and ceviche.
We left La Bufadora with our heads swirling from spectacular diving and our tummies full of delicious food. We also managed to cross the border in (a practically record-breaking) two hours and 13 minutes. This was an amazing weekend and we will be back....soon, if I have any say in it
Stephen took some amazing underwater shots while we were diving in La Bufadora! Check them out in the post below.
After months of preparation, we were ready to go; we managed to pack 13 cylinders (eight HP130s, four HP100s, and one Al40 of O2), four scooters, four drysuits, undergarments, spare parts, and a few articles of clothing in our truck! Despite news of drug trafficking, claims from our friends that we were going to get hijacked or killed, and whatever else, we made our way across the border and down to La Bufadora with no issues.
We made a quick stop into a grocery store for some essentials (water, Mexican pasteries, candy, etc
), and then to the house we were renting for the weekend. The house was a great two-bedroom house next door to Dales place (conveniently located near a dryer for those of us who dont have dry drysuits and the compressor for fills!). Finally, we drove to the boat ramp to begin our diving adventure.Unfortunately for us, there was a huge swell in from New Zealand that would attempt to thwart our plans; but we never let a little swell stop us, despite Jens questioning, Are we really sure we want to do this? when we were half-way launched!
Launching of the pangas was a bit sporting. We would get the panga on the boat ramp, near the edge of the water, and then fill it with our many cylinders, scooters, and miscellaneous items. Then wed don our drysuits (and dry gloves!), wait for a wave to come in, push the boat out, and hop on, all while Alfredo (our panga captain!) rowed us out to water deep enough that he could drop the outboard motor and get it started.
Rumor has it theres decent shore diving, but who needs shore diving when the pangas are inexpensive (something on the order of $17/dive/person), the ride out to the sites is short, and the diving is breath taking? The diving is both literally and figuratively breath taking water temperatures in socal were in the mid-60s the week before Labor Day, so we were quite surprised to find that the water in La Bufadora was in the high-40's / low-50s. Dale said its because they get some Japanese current that brings the cold water in. However, due to this cold water, the marine life is incredibly abundant.
Pinnacles jut out of the water from 120+ feet below, giving marine life a perfect substrate to grow on. Each dive had numerous species of nudibranchs (with the two most common being P. nobilis and T. catalinae, lots of C. leutomarginata, D. sandiegensis, D. albopunctata, H. crassicornis, F. iodinea, M. porterae, C. macfarlandi, F. trilineata, C. limbaughorum, C. flavomaculata, and a handful of T. festiva, Berthella californica, A. albomarginata, and at least one P. hiltoni and one L. cockerelli) and thousands of individuals! It almost takes the Wheres Waldo? out of searching for nudibranchs! We also saw eels (both moray and spotted) on many of the dives, harbor seals, abundant and healthy purple hydrocoral, tons of anemones (Corynactis, Metridium, and Anthopleura), various species of sponges, rock fish (blue rockfish, treefish, vermilion, lingcods, cabezons), and way more than I can hope to capture in writing!
The diving at La Bufadora is eerily similar to the diving up in Monterey, with dramatic structures, life covering every inch of reef, as well as many similar species and very similar temperatures! Its amazing that Southern California diving can be so different from the diving roughly five hours north or south, but the diving surrounding socal can be so similar.
Our most exciting moment came when we were returning from our second day of diving. The previous day, we exited at La Joya rather than back at La Bufadora because the exit point is slightly more protected. When we left in the morning on the second day, conditions had improved drastically, so we figured it would be safe to exit there as well boy were we wrong! When we were sitting outside the cove waiting for a lull, Alfredo said we were going to aim toward the beach and then back the boat in. We thought it was a bad idea and that it would be better to exit onto the boat ramp, but we figured they knew better, so we went along with it.
There werent any real lulls coming, so when we got something that sort of resembled a lull, we went for it. We made it onto the beach quite a bit more gracefully than expected....until we realize the lull we went in on was not a lull after all. Huge surf came rolling in, picking up the large cobble stones and pelting us in the shins while we attempted to hold the boat steady. The surf kept rolling in and eventually water started filling up in the panga; the more water in the panga, the lower it floated in the water, thus letting even more water in. We realized the inevitable: this panga was going to sink if we didnt do something....fast!
We started pulling gear out and running it up the rocky beach to a point high enough that it would not get sucked back out to sea. We started with the heavy things (scooters, cylinders, rigs, weight belts) in hopes that it would be enough; it was not! The boat was almost completely submerged and we started grabbing items that were floating away (like hoods, spare parts) as the guys tried to bail water out. Eventually Dale said he needed to get the boat out of there and jumped in to turn the motor on and told Alfredo to join him. Alfredo took one look at him and yelled, No way, youre *%#@ing crazy, man! We eventually got all of the gear out of the boat and onto shore and managed to get the water out of the boat and the boat over to the boat ramp. We were all exhausted and out of breath....and realized we still had to move the gear from the beach to the boat ramp. After all of this, the only thing that we lost was a single lighter; though there might have been a couple things that were ruined after taking on saltwater. If only wed had video to document this ridiculous event!
Luckily, the diving was spectacular enough that the boat-sinking incident was almost forgotten in the end (not really, but totally worth it to get out the next day!). Additionally, we had some really delicious food while we were in the area. We found these mango gummy candies that were addictive and disappeared very quickly; we managed to get Jen and Stephen their fill of churros (we didnt even think that was possible!), we found homemade potato chips with hot sauce, lemon juice, and chili powder that were incredible, as well as some amazing tacos (fish, shrimp, cactus, chicken) and ceviche.
We left La Bufadora with our heads swirling from spectacular diving and our tummies full of delicious food. We also managed to cross the border in (a practically record-breaking) two hours and 13 minutes. This was an amazing weekend and we will be back....soon, if I have any say in it
Stephen took some amazing underwater shots while we were diving in La Bufadora! Check them out in the post below.
