Best Diving in Baja?

[SoCalOffshore]

great info, thanks. i had recieved some infor regarding a development called the villages at loreto bay and wondered about the diving.

 

[ronrosa]

Have also been to La Paz. Longer boat rides, but some great sites!

How long are the boat rides ? My wife doesn't dive, so diving needs to be a morning thing for me. I try to be back late morning or early afternoon so I can spend the rest of the day with her.

 

[RogerL.]

that's relevent to the boats you go out on. It seems to me that the boats I went out on were pretty slow so diving was a most of the day thing. I do remember that there was on outfit that had real fast boats, we'd see the going out and they'd pass us coming in,. So again check out the outfit good, I think the fast company was Scubaja but I could be wrong. Ask around. By the way, if you go try to make sure you dive "El Bajo", it is the deep pinnicle I could not remember the name to. This is a world class dive, there have been pictures in magazines of schooling hammerheads there. Of course it all depends on the time of year you go there. DSAO, Roger

 

[thymex01]

Cabo Pulmo,
great diving , shallow (60 ft) and drift dives
check with Cabo Pulmo divers, new web site or directly with me,
cabopulmodivers.net
Thierry
thierrylannoy@hotmail.com

 

[pwraudio1]

I'm go'n to Loreto next spring for two weeks...

 

[thymex01]

cabo pulmo and la paz,
I would spend a day in Cabo san lucas to dive the falls and land s end
two/three days in Cabo Pulmo
two days in la paz, further sites (Bajo - islote...)

 

[Nay]

So Roger, what's the "right time of the year"?
We're going to be in La Paz Aug 17-22. YAY!!!!

Ronrosa, we're staying at Club Cantomar (this is my first trip so everything I know is second hand) and from what I've been told, it's got a good location in the bay which cuts 30-45 min off of the boat trip. And it's a decently priced 5 star.

Can't wait!!! How deep is El Bajo?

 

[RogerL.]

102 ft.. I can tell you that was no where near the bottom as I remember. Water was very clear and I have the temp recorded as 93 degrees, I noted that I saw a nice green morey, a grouper, butterfies and pufferfish. I remember I was a little distracted because there were a young married couple on their first open water dives since getting certified. And for some reason I thought someone should have been with them at this depth first time out! When we surfaced some said they had seen a 2-3 meter hammerhead, unfortunately I wasn't one of them. I've only been there the one time, September, but have had friends there at different times. I know the viz can be mixed depending on the algie bloom due to temps. Let me know how your trip goes, Roger

 

[widebody50]

So Roger, what's the "right time of the year"?
We're going to be in La Paz Aug 17-22. YAY!!!!

Ronrosa, we're staying at Club Cantomar (this is my first trip so everything I know is second hand) and from what I've been told, it's got a good location in the bay which cuts 30-45 min off of the boat trip. And it's a decently priced 5 star.

Can't wait!!! How deep is El Bajo?

Renee,

You picked a good place to stay for diving purposes. It is much further out than the other dive ops, which will save you about 30 minutes a day each way. The downside is that you will be quite far from town. But, if you are mainly diving, it is no problem. If anyone in your group is fishing, the kitchen will cook up the catch if you ask, as they did for us. What a meal! Wow. (If you like spicy food, ask the waitress nicely and she'll have her husband, the cook, make chilaquiles for breakfast for you. It's a very authentic Mexican dish. Excellent!)

We stayed at Club Cantamar over the Labor Day weekend last year. Unfortunately, it was at the very end of a hurricane that passed fairly close to Baja. The water was a bit colder than what I understand is normal for that time of year (73 degrees F at 100 fsw), but then again the air was too (whew...it is usually 100+ most days that time of year). We wore our shorties, and were OK, except for the jellies. I rented a full 3 mil suit for the remainder of the trip, but still got stings around the exposed areas of my face. You get used to them after a short time. Kind of like having to deal with mosquitos when you go camping.

We also dove a wreck, can't remember the name just now. It was a Chinese freighter, I think, that was purposely sunk by the Mexican government for trespassing in Mexican waters. It is sitting upright in about 70 fsw, and still in good condition.

Another dive took us to Isla Ballena (Whale Island). The is a cool swimthrough "cave", and a lot of interesting fish to see. I found a full bottle of Corona on the bottom, but left it there. See if you can find it for me! lol

The dive op, Baja Diving and Service, is right there at the hotel, and is run by the same family. Ask to get on the boat with Joe. He's a personal friend, and one of the DMs down there in the summer. You will have a good time with Joe. Ask him early on to ensure you go out to El Bajo. It is 3 pinnacles a good distance out in the middle of nowhere. We dove the center pinnacle. The top was at about 55-50fsw, and the ocean floor was at about 105 fsw. I couldn't believe all of the moreys we saw! And alot of puffers too. We didn't see any big animals when we were there, although they do advertise hammerheads, giant mantas, and even a variety of whales. I was very disappointed not seeing whale sharks or hammerheads.

El Bajo was our first deep dive, but we felt OK being with Joe, considering he was our OW instructor here in SoCal (he lives in Carslbad most of the year). Joe is excellent with new, or rusty divers.

Overall, we had an excellent time. Much of the trip was first time stuff for us, considering we had just certified in July. Boat diving, deep diving, inadvertent drift diving ( :11: ), diving around a wreck, and all of the wildlife! We normally dive La Jolla, and it is great diving. But that didn't prepare us for La Paz. It was great.

If you haven't done it yet, go to their website and check out the promotional video. It is pretty cool. http://www.clubcantamar.com/english/

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me, or post in this thread. Have a great time!

 

[uaflyer]

Found stuff in Ensenada and South, but on the East coast of Baja ?

Has anyone found anything near San Felipe ?