Cabo San Lucas Diving in August

[Richard_T]

I am planning a family trip (2 divers) for CSL in August. I have reviewed many of the threads on diving in CSL. I am a little disappointed to see the following:

1. No more schooling hammerheads at Gordo Banks due to reckless/overfishing;
2. Cold thermoclines in August that appear to dissipate by September and October (don't get me wrong, I dive SoCal and cold waters is the name of the game); and
3. Poor viz in August.

If any of the above can be debunked or anything helpful can be added about diving CSL, I would most appreciate the banter.

Thanks,
RT

 

[clasoncj]

Wife and I just dove Gordo Banks on Tuesday this week, didn't see much on the first dive but got lucky and hit a school of yellow fin tunas that swam around us a bit on the second dive. Dive can be a bit challenging, storm blew in this week so had 3m+ swells which snapped our anchor line on the first dive. Ended up doing a hot drop on the second dive and landed right in the canyon. Expect 10-15 minutes at depth (130ft+), then another 20 or so hanging out around 70 feet hoping something big swims by. We had bad viz so decided to push the depth a bit to get closer. Was told nobody does this site as a tech dive due to the strong currents and concern of drifting several miles from the boat. You're going to be balancing PO2 and NDL limits to keep this as a recreational dive, 28% is what most people use to dive this site.

Honestly the diving in Cabo wasn't that great and wasn't really too upset that the storm had us cancel one day. We ended up heading to La Paz for a little bit different diving, later in the year is better. Conditions were too rough to dive the corridor, the sites near the marina were decent at best. Neptunes Finger is a good warm up to Gordo Banks that most operators will have you go to so they can make sure you can handle a deep dive (gradual decent along a wall to 130ft+).

Northern California myself, so the warm water was nice at least. Took a 5mm suit and it was overkill for everything except Gordo Banks. Dove with Manta in CSL, and Cortez Club in La Paz. Let me know if you want more details...

 

[Richard_T]

Thank you clasoncj. At least it sounds like a 3mm would do the trick.

The more details the better.