I'm currently in my hotel waiting to go to the airport, so here's a report on my dive trip this week!
I flew into the Los Cabos International airport, and Cabo San Lucas is about 30 minutes or so away by shuttle. Be sure to book your shuttle round trip, because apparently the shuttle companies can't book one-way routes back to the airport once you're in the country (and taxis are expensive here). It's a beautiful drive from the airport to Cabo San Lucas.
I stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which was about a 20 minute walk down to the marina. The hotel itself was fine, but there are a lot of noisy spring breakers here at the moment (but hotel security was quick to respond to noise complaints). The marina was the social hub of the area, with huge yachts alongside the dive boats and whale watching pangas. You'll find lots of upscale restaurants and shopping right at the marina too, but be prepared for the locals to try to sell you on a "water taxi" or whale watching tour every five steps.
Now to the diving... Most of my diving so far has been in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic; this was my first time diving in the Pacific and Sea of Cortez. I spent 3 days diving with Amigos del Mar, who have a shop and 3 boats in the main marina. March is low season for diving, so the first day I was the only diver and had the whole boat to myself, the next day there was one diver besides me, and the 3rd day there were 2 other divers. Jonathan, the manager of Amigos del Mar, is very quick to answer emails and get your dives booked. The rest of the staff was very nice and great to dive with. We went diving by the arch where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean, where we saw a sea turtle, nurse sharks, tons of puffers, Moorish idols, electric rays, and sea lions were up above us on the rocks (none in the water when we were diving). We also did a couple wall dives in the area near Pelican Rock, and we found several nudibranch in that area, along with huge green morays, lobsters, and lots of fish (especially puffers). The 3rd day we went on their "Across the Bay" trip to Chileno, where baby gray whales were breaching near the dive boat. Water temps were 70-72 degrees F.
While I was not originally planning to go to La Paz, I heard such great things about it during my stay in Cabo that I decided to rent a car and make the 2 hour drive. I booked a 2-tank + swim with whale sharks with the Cortez Club. The meeting time was 8 am, so I left Cabo before dawn to make it in time. Unfortunately, on my way there, a local lady who had had a few beers ran through a stop sign and plowed into my rental car. It was dark outside, and I was in an area where only myself and one local spoke English. I paid a local $10 to call the local police to make a report, then one of the policemen rode in my car with me to the police station. Luckily, my rental car insurance took care of me and all I had to do was bring the car back and switch it out with no fees.
By the time I had sat at the police station for over an hour while insurance agents came out, there was no way I was making it to La Paz in time for the scheduled boat departure. I called the owner of the Cortez Club (dive shop in La Paz) and he said he would do his best to get me on a boat. I got to La Paz as quickly as possible, but the next challenge was navigating my way to the shop because there was a big triathlon going on and the main road to the shop was closed off. After getting lost for about 30 minutes and feeling like I would never find the dive shop, I finally found my way over the mountain to Cortez Club.
I am really grateful to Cortez Club because they took the boat out just for me, even though I didn't get in until after 10 am. We went diving on one of the large wrecks, where we saw a sea turtle, morays, and large schools of fish. After that, we ate lunch then went diving with sea lions, which was pretty amazing. We also saw some large bait balls on that dive. The last stop was swimming with a whale shark, and on our way we saw schools of mobula rays jumping high out of the water. The captain spotted a whale shark feeding near shore, so I was able to hop in and snorkel with it, a truly amazing experience.
If I would have had one more day, I probably would have gone diving at Cabo Pulmo, since I heard many recommendations for the diving there as well. All in all, I was very happy with my experience in Cabo San Lucas with Amigos del Mar, as well as diving with Cortez Club near La Paz.
I flew into the Los Cabos International airport, and Cabo San Lucas is about 30 minutes or so away by shuttle. Be sure to book your shuttle round trip, because apparently the shuttle companies can't book one-way routes back to the airport once you're in the country (and taxis are expensive here). It's a beautiful drive from the airport to Cabo San Lucas.
I stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which was about a 20 minute walk down to the marina. The hotel itself was fine, but there are a lot of noisy spring breakers here at the moment (but hotel security was quick to respond to noise complaints). The marina was the social hub of the area, with huge yachts alongside the dive boats and whale watching pangas. You'll find lots of upscale restaurants and shopping right at the marina too, but be prepared for the locals to try to sell you on a "water taxi" or whale watching tour every five steps.
Now to the diving... Most of my diving so far has been in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic; this was my first time diving in the Pacific and Sea of Cortez. I spent 3 days diving with Amigos del Mar, who have a shop and 3 boats in the main marina. March is low season for diving, so the first day I was the only diver and had the whole boat to myself, the next day there was one diver besides me, and the 3rd day there were 2 other divers. Jonathan, the manager of Amigos del Mar, is very quick to answer emails and get your dives booked. The rest of the staff was very nice and great to dive with. We went diving by the arch where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean, where we saw a sea turtle, nurse sharks, tons of puffers, Moorish idols, electric rays, and sea lions were up above us on the rocks (none in the water when we were diving). We also did a couple wall dives in the area near Pelican Rock, and we found several nudibranch in that area, along with huge green morays, lobsters, and lots of fish (especially puffers). The 3rd day we went on their "Across the Bay" trip to Chileno, where baby gray whales were breaching near the dive boat. Water temps were 70-72 degrees F.
While I was not originally planning to go to La Paz, I heard such great things about it during my stay in Cabo that I decided to rent a car and make the 2 hour drive. I booked a 2-tank + swim with whale sharks with the Cortez Club. The meeting time was 8 am, so I left Cabo before dawn to make it in time. Unfortunately, on my way there, a local lady who had had a few beers ran through a stop sign and plowed into my rental car. It was dark outside, and I was in an area where only myself and one local spoke English. I paid a local $10 to call the local police to make a report, then one of the policemen rode in my car with me to the police station. Luckily, my rental car insurance took care of me and all I had to do was bring the car back and switch it out with no fees.
By the time I had sat at the police station for over an hour while insurance agents came out, there was no way I was making it to La Paz in time for the scheduled boat departure. I called the owner of the Cortez Club (dive shop in La Paz) and he said he would do his best to get me on a boat. I got to La Paz as quickly as possible, but the next challenge was navigating my way to the shop because there was a big triathlon going on and the main road to the shop was closed off. After getting lost for about 30 minutes and feeling like I would never find the dive shop, I finally found my way over the mountain to Cortez Club.
I am really grateful to Cortez Club because they took the boat out just for me, even though I didn't get in until after 10 am. We went diving on one of the large wrecks, where we saw a sea turtle, morays, and large schools of fish. After that, we ate lunch then went diving with sea lions, which was pretty amazing. We also saw some large bait balls on that dive. The last stop was swimming with a whale shark, and on our way we saw schools of mobula rays jumping high out of the water. The captain spotted a whale shark feeding near shore, so I was able to hop in and snorkel with it, a truly amazing experience.
If I would have had one more day, I probably would have gone diving at Cabo Pulmo, since I heard many recommendations for the diving there as well. All in all, I was very happy with my experience in Cabo San Lucas with Amigos del Mar, as well as diving with Cortez Club near La Paz.
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