WaterWayne
Guest
Summary: Lost three days due to stalled Hurricane Howard. Then over two days, dove Pelican Rock and Land's End in Bahia San Lucas; also dove Cabo Pulmo. I'll post Cabo Pulmo dive report separately for easier reading and searching, and because it's quite different than Bahia San Lucas.
Dive operator: Land's End Divers, who were only shop of six CSL outfits that responded to emailed questions. As per my earlier post, I choose not to dive with outfits that respond to simple questions with just a price list, or don't respond at all. Not only that, Land's End folks went above and beyond in retrieving left-behind gear, and in providing referrals.
Logistics:
Lodging: Stayed at superb Fiesta Americana Grand in the Corridor, using time-share exchange.
Transportation: I recommend renting a car, unless your holiday package includes free shuttles, and/or unless you're staying in CSL itself. You definitely want air-conditioning and standard transmission. On this trip, I rented $90/week VW Pointer wagon from Advantage, which proved to be a very good vehicle over widely varying roads (model not seen in U.S.) Flew Continental Air, which reduces its 3 Saturday flights to only one during off-season, resulting in overbooking. Returning through Houston Immigration/TSA on 9/11 was the worst delay I've ever seen at a U.S. airport in a lifetime of int'l travel; allow more than an hour for connecting flights through that site.
Food: Split dining between expensive resort restaurant, moderately priced local restaurants, and bulk Costco groceries. Water at resort is drinkable from the purified tap.
Weather: Hot, hot, hot, somewhat humid, but storm-free weather after hurricane passed on.
Dives:
Pelican Rock is the most popular dive site in the CSL harbor, for good reason. It can get somewhat crowded in this shoulder season, so I don't think I would recommend it during the high season. The rock is based at 56', walled on the east (harbor) side, where there is a Monterey Bay-like drop-off to 3,000+ feet. Water temp was a surprisingly cool 84 deg, with air temp ranging up to 90 deg in early afternoon at end of dives. Vis ranged from 40 ft immediately after the hurricane passed, to 80 feet several days later.
Land's End is the very tip of the Baja California peninsula, where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. There is a moderate-strong surge underwater, and can be too rough on the surface for the typical dive-op panga. (That's typically a 20', open, wooden, 6-pack boat.) Although it's only a few hundred meters from Pelican Rock, it has several different varieties of critters. Depth is a surprisingly uniform mid-50'. Water temp was a cooler 82 deg, with vis (when we finally made it) at about 80'.
Marine life: WOW! :11: Critters were abundant and varied: eagle ray and devil ray, both about 1.5 meters across; several wall-dwelling lobsters; several small octopi. Land's End also hosted a medium-sized school of California barracuda, as well as camouflaged rock bass, and a couple of very interesting bumphead parrotfish as well as their conventionally-headed cousins.
The most numerous fish were several branches of the tangs (aka surgeonfish). And they were numerous indeed! There were also impressive numbers of Moorish Idols. My overall favorites were the Guineafowl Puffers. I was beginning to recognize the differences between the Cocker Spaniel-eyed burrfish and other puffers.
The reason I'm providing links to other folks' photos is because my newly-purchased Sea&Sea MX-10 camera failed to advance the film roll. I know who's to blame, unfortunately; gonna feed that film leader way on through the next time.
Dive operator: Land's End Divers, who were only shop of six CSL outfits that responded to emailed questions. As per my earlier post, I choose not to dive with outfits that respond to simple questions with just a price list, or don't respond at all. Not only that, Land's End folks went above and beyond in retrieving left-behind gear, and in providing referrals.
Logistics:
Lodging: Stayed at superb Fiesta Americana Grand in the Corridor, using time-share exchange.
Transportation: I recommend renting a car, unless your holiday package includes free shuttles, and/or unless you're staying in CSL itself. You definitely want air-conditioning and standard transmission. On this trip, I rented $90/week VW Pointer wagon from Advantage, which proved to be a very good vehicle over widely varying roads (model not seen in U.S.) Flew Continental Air, which reduces its 3 Saturday flights to only one during off-season, resulting in overbooking. Returning through Houston Immigration/TSA on 9/11 was the worst delay I've ever seen at a U.S. airport in a lifetime of int'l travel; allow more than an hour for connecting flights through that site.
Food: Split dining between expensive resort restaurant, moderately priced local restaurants, and bulk Costco groceries. Water at resort is drinkable from the purified tap.
Weather: Hot, hot, hot, somewhat humid, but storm-free weather after hurricane passed on.
Dives:
Pelican Rock is the most popular dive site in the CSL harbor, for good reason. It can get somewhat crowded in this shoulder season, so I don't think I would recommend it during the high season. The rock is based at 56', walled on the east (harbor) side, where there is a Monterey Bay-like drop-off to 3,000+ feet. Water temp was a surprisingly cool 84 deg, with air temp ranging up to 90 deg in early afternoon at end of dives. Vis ranged from 40 ft immediately after the hurricane passed, to 80 feet several days later.
Land's End is the very tip of the Baja California peninsula, where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. There is a moderate-strong surge underwater, and can be too rough on the surface for the typical dive-op panga. (That's typically a 20', open, wooden, 6-pack boat.) Although it's only a few hundred meters from Pelican Rock, it has several different varieties of critters. Depth is a surprisingly uniform mid-50'. Water temp was a cooler 82 deg, with vis (when we finally made it) at about 80'.
Marine life: WOW! :11: Critters were abundant and varied: eagle ray and devil ray, both about 1.5 meters across; several wall-dwelling lobsters; several small octopi. Land's End also hosted a medium-sized school of California barracuda, as well as camouflaged rock bass, and a couple of very interesting bumphead parrotfish as well as their conventionally-headed cousins.
The most numerous fish were several branches of the tangs (aka surgeonfish). And they were numerous indeed! There were also impressive numbers of Moorish Idols. My overall favorites were the Guineafowl Puffers. I was beginning to recognize the differences between the Cocker Spaniel-eyed burrfish and other puffers.
The reason I'm providing links to other folks' photos is because my newly-purchased Sea&Sea MX-10 camera failed to advance the film roll. I know who's to blame, unfortunately; gonna feed that film leader way on through the next time.
) Three-mill would be appropriate for anybody, I think. Shorties were common.
