FettSolo
Contributor
I just returned a few days ago from a trip to Baja California. I spent one day diving in Cabo San Lucas, then I went on the Nautilus Gallant Lady liveaboard to the Sea of Cortez, and then four more days of diving in CSL.
Why the Sea of Cortez on the Nautilus Gallant Lady?
Last year, I bid in a charity auction on a Nautilus liveboards gift certificate. I ended up paying $650 for this $1,000 certificate (not bad!), and as I had already been with Nautilus to Guadalupe and Socorro, I figured it was time to do their (at the time of booking) only other destination - the Sea of Cortez.
Since the liveaboard is only five nights, I figured I should stick around a couple nights and dive in Cabo San Lucas as well.
Getting There
I used American Airlines miles to book round-trip from Boston to San Jose Del Cabo. On the way there, it was Boston to Dallas, Dallas to SJD. On the way back, it was SJD to LA, then a red-eye to Boston. I ended up in first class on my Dallas to SJD flight so someone could sit with their girlfriend, which was nice since I was originally in economy! If I was in first class and my girlfriend was in economy, I'd have stayed in first class...
As for the dreaded SJD camera housing tax, I was never even asked about a housing. I had the same strategy as my last visit a year ago, which was to appear as innocuous as possible - dive gear was in a duffel bag, housing in a carry-on suitcase and cameras in a normal backpack.
Dive Operator and Boat
Since I had been with Nautilus on two previous trips, I had high expectations! They were certainly met.
The Nautilus Gallant Lady is a lovely boat. It holds 12 divers, but we had only 8, so I had my room to myself. This was only my sixth liveaboard, but definitely my most luxurious experience yet. I think the boat would have felt a little crowded with 12, but with 8 it felt very spacious.
Nautilus has instituted new safety briefings, equipment (fire hoods), and safety hatches (you could tell they had been added on relatively recently) after the Conception fire. They also had new safety rules for Covid-19, with crew wearing masks at all times and hand sanitizer available everywhere. I felt very safe on this boat, especially after having seen on a recent liveaboard trip that not all operators have made post-Conception changes.
The crew was wonderful and I absolutely loved them. My favorite was Juan David, the divemaster. He clearly loved diving and had an infectious enthusiasm for everything underwater.
The food was delicious. My one complaint (which I noted on my feedback form to Nautilus) was I wish there was more Mexican cuisine incorporated, as we were obviously in Mexico and the food there is exquisite. I appreciate eggs Benedict or a nice steak, but I'd rather see chilaquiles or huarache.
As for post-liveaboard: Nautilus owns a dive shop in CSL, SeeCreatures. They offer a complimentary dive before a Nautilus liveaboard trip, and they gave me a 25% discount on dives after the trip. Marie at SeeCreatures organized everything for me, even booking dives for me with another dive shop the one day SeeCreatures was fully booked. All of the staff was SeeCreatures was very personable and professional. At the end of my time there, they even gave me a free t-shirt for myself and a stuffed animal manta for my girlfriend (who wasn't even there!), which I thought was sweet.
The Dives
First, I did two dives with SeeCreatures (1 complimentary and 1 I paid for) prior to the Gallant Lady trip. I was the only guest, which was nice. We went to Land's Arch and Pelican Rock, the two most commonly visited dive sites from CSL. These were both lovely dive sites, minus the sounds of boat motors above. Land's Arch has a shipwreck and sea lions. I especially enjoyed the massive school of sardines at Pelican Rock. I also saw jumping mobulas on the return to the marina, which was awesome.
On the Gallant Lady, I did a total of 16 dives (4/day). That was the maximum offered. I don't think anybody else on board did more than 14, as the others usually skipped the fourth dive.
First day on the Gallant Lady was to the famous Cabo Pulmo. Since it's a national park, local operators had to come pick us up in pangas. The water was very choppy and the Gallant Lady had to be parked the next bay over, so panga rides were anywhere from 15-45 minutes. Dives 1-3 were unimpressive rocky reefs with lots of fish. Dive 4, which was just me and the DM, was 45 minutes with the famous "jack tornado" of CP. That was utterly amazing, and would ultimately be my second favorite dive of the entire trip.
I admit it annoyed me that Nautilus heavily markets this trip with the bull sharks of Cabo Pulmo, yet due to CP's dive site reservation system, we had no guarantee of even visiting the sites known for bull sharks (and ended up seeing none). I know they're wild animals, but when they market Guadalupe with great whites (and you will 100% see them), Socorro with mantas (and you will 100% see them), and then Sea of Cortez with bull sharks (and you may see them on one day of the trip if they happen to be able to visit the appropriate site)... the marketing just felt deceptive in retrospect.
Second day was diving around San Francisco (not the American city, obviously). Dive sites were pretty and had lots of fish, with a few sea lions as well. Since this wasn't a national park, we could use the Gallant Lady's own panga (nicest one I've ever been on, with a wooden floor), it was only a few minutes to each dive site, and we could return to the boat after each dive. This made for a much more comfortable experience than Cabo Pulmo.
Third day was to another national park, Espiritu Santo. This is home to Los Islotes, a sea lion colony. We spent three dives with adorable sea lions that would fly all around us as they nipped at fins, wetsuits, cameras... one even yanked my snorkel out of the mask (was unable to recover it, sadly)! The first dive of the day was my favorite dive of the whole trip, and definitely one of my favorite dives ever. I could have spent days there. Fourth dive was a night dive outside the park.
Fourth day was to La Reina, a beautiful dive site with lots of fish, an impressive wreck, and sea lions. This was a nice cap to the liveaboard trip.
After the liveaboard, I did 10 dives in CSL with SeeCreatures. 2 dives on 11/25, 2 on 11/26, 3 on 11/27, and 3 on 11/28. Unfortunately, due to other divers needing to do their respective liveaboard check-out dives, I usually ended up at Land's End and Pelican's Rock. But both sites are enjoyable for repeat viewings, especially as I frequently saw massive schools of cownose rays flying by (with the occasional mobula mixed in). One day we made it out to the Corridor, which was a welcome change. With the 25% discount, my 10 dives only came out to $315, which is pretty cheap.
Bottom Line
I had a wonderful time on the Nautilus Gallant Lady. The boat itself was great, and I enjoyed the majority of the dives. That being said, I'm not sure if I would return. I think I would prefer to explore the northern Sea of Cortez with Rocio Del Mar.
I also really loved the staff at SeeCreatures, and if I was coming through CSL I would book some dives with them. However, CSL in of itself is definitely not a dive destination, and I would only dive there again if I was coming to/from another liveaboard trip.
Why the Sea of Cortez on the Nautilus Gallant Lady?
Last year, I bid in a charity auction on a Nautilus liveboards gift certificate. I ended up paying $650 for this $1,000 certificate (not bad!), and as I had already been with Nautilus to Guadalupe and Socorro, I figured it was time to do their (at the time of booking) only other destination - the Sea of Cortez.
Since the liveaboard is only five nights, I figured I should stick around a couple nights and dive in Cabo San Lucas as well.
Getting There
I used American Airlines miles to book round-trip from Boston to San Jose Del Cabo. On the way there, it was Boston to Dallas, Dallas to SJD. On the way back, it was SJD to LA, then a red-eye to Boston. I ended up in first class on my Dallas to SJD flight so someone could sit with their girlfriend, which was nice since I was originally in economy! If I was in first class and my girlfriend was in economy, I'd have stayed in first class...
As for the dreaded SJD camera housing tax, I was never even asked about a housing. I had the same strategy as my last visit a year ago, which was to appear as innocuous as possible - dive gear was in a duffel bag, housing in a carry-on suitcase and cameras in a normal backpack.
Dive Operator and Boat
Since I had been with Nautilus on two previous trips, I had high expectations! They were certainly met.
The Nautilus Gallant Lady is a lovely boat. It holds 12 divers, but we had only 8, so I had my room to myself. This was only my sixth liveaboard, but definitely my most luxurious experience yet. I think the boat would have felt a little crowded with 12, but with 8 it felt very spacious.
Nautilus has instituted new safety briefings, equipment (fire hoods), and safety hatches (you could tell they had been added on relatively recently) after the Conception fire. They also had new safety rules for Covid-19, with crew wearing masks at all times and hand sanitizer available everywhere. I felt very safe on this boat, especially after having seen on a recent liveaboard trip that not all operators have made post-Conception changes.
The crew was wonderful and I absolutely loved them. My favorite was Juan David, the divemaster. He clearly loved diving and had an infectious enthusiasm for everything underwater.
The food was delicious. My one complaint (which I noted on my feedback form to Nautilus) was I wish there was more Mexican cuisine incorporated, as we were obviously in Mexico and the food there is exquisite. I appreciate eggs Benedict or a nice steak, but I'd rather see chilaquiles or huarache.
As for post-liveaboard: Nautilus owns a dive shop in CSL, SeeCreatures. They offer a complimentary dive before a Nautilus liveaboard trip, and they gave me a 25% discount on dives after the trip. Marie at SeeCreatures organized everything for me, even booking dives for me with another dive shop the one day SeeCreatures was fully booked. All of the staff was SeeCreatures was very personable and professional. At the end of my time there, they even gave me a free t-shirt for myself and a stuffed animal manta for my girlfriend (who wasn't even there!), which I thought was sweet.
The Dives
First, I did two dives with SeeCreatures (1 complimentary and 1 I paid for) prior to the Gallant Lady trip. I was the only guest, which was nice. We went to Land's Arch and Pelican Rock, the two most commonly visited dive sites from CSL. These were both lovely dive sites, minus the sounds of boat motors above. Land's Arch has a shipwreck and sea lions. I especially enjoyed the massive school of sardines at Pelican Rock. I also saw jumping mobulas on the return to the marina, which was awesome.
On the Gallant Lady, I did a total of 16 dives (4/day). That was the maximum offered. I don't think anybody else on board did more than 14, as the others usually skipped the fourth dive.
First day on the Gallant Lady was to the famous Cabo Pulmo. Since it's a national park, local operators had to come pick us up in pangas. The water was very choppy and the Gallant Lady had to be parked the next bay over, so panga rides were anywhere from 15-45 minutes. Dives 1-3 were unimpressive rocky reefs with lots of fish. Dive 4, which was just me and the DM, was 45 minutes with the famous "jack tornado" of CP. That was utterly amazing, and would ultimately be my second favorite dive of the entire trip.
I admit it annoyed me that Nautilus heavily markets this trip with the bull sharks of Cabo Pulmo, yet due to CP's dive site reservation system, we had no guarantee of even visiting the sites known for bull sharks (and ended up seeing none). I know they're wild animals, but when they market Guadalupe with great whites (and you will 100% see them), Socorro with mantas (and you will 100% see them), and then Sea of Cortez with bull sharks (and you may see them on one day of the trip if they happen to be able to visit the appropriate site)... the marketing just felt deceptive in retrospect.
Second day was diving around San Francisco (not the American city, obviously). Dive sites were pretty and had lots of fish, with a few sea lions as well. Since this wasn't a national park, we could use the Gallant Lady's own panga (nicest one I've ever been on, with a wooden floor), it was only a few minutes to each dive site, and we could return to the boat after each dive. This made for a much more comfortable experience than Cabo Pulmo.
Third day was to another national park, Espiritu Santo. This is home to Los Islotes, a sea lion colony. We spent three dives with adorable sea lions that would fly all around us as they nipped at fins, wetsuits, cameras... one even yanked my snorkel out of the mask (was unable to recover it, sadly)! The first dive of the day was my favorite dive of the whole trip, and definitely one of my favorite dives ever. I could have spent days there. Fourth dive was a night dive outside the park.
Fourth day was to La Reina, a beautiful dive site with lots of fish, an impressive wreck, and sea lions. This was a nice cap to the liveaboard trip.
After the liveaboard, I did 10 dives in CSL with SeeCreatures. 2 dives on 11/25, 2 on 11/26, 3 on 11/27, and 3 on 11/28. Unfortunately, due to other divers needing to do their respective liveaboard check-out dives, I usually ended up at Land's End and Pelican's Rock. But both sites are enjoyable for repeat viewings, especially as I frequently saw massive schools of cownose rays flying by (with the occasional mobula mixed in). One day we made it out to the Corridor, which was a welcome change. With the 25% discount, my 10 dives only came out to $315, which is pretty cheap.
Bottom Line
I had a wonderful time on the Nautilus Gallant Lady. The boat itself was great, and I enjoyed the majority of the dives. That being said, I'm not sure if I would return. I think I would prefer to explore the northern Sea of Cortez with Rocio Del Mar.
I also really loved the staff at SeeCreatures, and if I was coming through CSL I would book some dives with them. However, CSL in of itself is definitely not a dive destination, and I would only dive there again if I was coming to/from another liveaboard trip.
