Cabo San Lucas

[Chavodel8en]

Those pics are spectacular!

I had never been that interested in Baja, partly b/c diving in kelp, w/ sea lions isn't novel for me, I get that in my local waters in California. If I am going to travel, I would prefer someplace with really warm, tropical water, and tropical marine life -- and tropical clear waters.

But I am rethinking that. We don't get rays or whalesharks locally. Or that volume of fish. It would be an easier flight for me... Next trip may need to be Baja.

 

[ibj40]

Those pics are spectacular!

I had never been that interested in Baja, partly b/c diving in kelp, w/ sea lions isn't novel for me, I get that in my local waters in California. If I am going to travel, I would prefer someplace with really warm, tropical water, and tropical marine life -- and tropical clear waters.

But I am rethinking that. We don't get rays or whalesharks locally. Or that volume of fish. It would be an easier flight for me... Next trip may need to be Baja.

Thanks, using a SeaLife 1400, with the optional flash, nothing special, but we use it to capture memories. Plus, I also don't edit them, to correct color, or backscatter.

I have to admit that I have been diving since the mid-80's, and being from the Dallas area, the instant response whenever you asked about diving was "Well, Cozumel, of course!"

For us, the air time between DFW and Cancun, and DFW and San Jose Cabo was very similar. What we found when we got to Cabo was a nice vibe around the marina. We stayed at an AI but it is clear that within a couple of blocks of the marina there are plenty of places to eat, so we'll go condo next trip.

We picked the particular week we were there due to the research my wife did on water temp, and the weather for that week was perfect.

We like Pacific diving because of the large schools, and the different structure, clearly it doesn't support the corals and other distinctions of Caribbean diving, but the other features make up for it.

Clearly, from the US West Coast, this should be a natural destination. We strongly recommend it, and will be back.

 

[donvito]

This is really helpful. Were planning on a Cabo trip in feb, i'm the only diver so i would like to get 2 days of diving in. Looks like Manta Scuba and Manta diver are recommendations, any other advise? My dives have been in the caribbean side?

 

[tarponchik]

My wife and I were there the first week in November. We've dived the Pacific in Costa Rica before, and wanted a change from Caribbean diving.

We did three days with Manta Divers; two tanks at Land's End, a whale shark and sea lion one-tanker from La Paz, and two tanks on the Corridor.

Stayed at an AI, so not a lot of local information on food and entertainment, but we loved the diving and already planning next trip.

Wasn't going to do a trip report, but would be happy to respond to any questions.

We did some boat dives with them back in 2012. They also agreed to rent us tanks for shore diving under condition that we did boat dives with them; this left both sides happy.

 

[tarponchik]

Bold emphasis mine. This is an important issue I'd prefer not to gloss over. One of my favorite forum subjects is why one destination is (or isn't) as popular as another, and what's keeping some destinations from climbing to greater prominent (e.g.: if the diving is good at St. Eustatius, Grand Turk, Dominica & Tobago, what's keeping them so far behind Cozumel, Bonaire, Roatan & Belize in forum mindshare?).

IIRC, the Cabo region offers sea lion encounters, like California, but at least part of the year you can dive it with warm water (which I presume means you don't get the kelp forest, though many people prefer warm water).

So, why isn't the Cabo area in more discussions & trip reports on Scuba Board? Why don't I see more local dive shop-organized trips to it?

Richard.

Cabo is great if the weather is fine. We spent a week there and for 2 days the waters were borderline divable (poor vis).

 

[jonhall]

Looks like Manta Scuba and Manta diver are recommendations

I think these are one and the same if the location is CaboSL. The website I've contacted is:

Manta - Scuba Diving in Cabo San Lucas | Dive Los Cabos, Mexico

They replied pretty quick and have some good reviews through SB and TripAdvisor and others. Although I already have 2 days of diving booked through another op, I plan to use Manta Scuba Diving for the rest.

So, why isn't the Cabo area in more discussions & trip reports on Scuba Board?

Hope to find the answer to this. The latest "Sport Diver" magazine (the Top 100 dive sites in the world) mentions 1) the sea lions in the Sea of Cortez and 2) Cabo Pulmo, specifically the Los Morros site. La Paz gets a mention for topside activities enjoyed by the local dive pros. In the "World's Best Diving, Resorts and Liveaboards" issue, Cabo Pulmo makes the top 10 for favorite dive sites for advanced divers and Los Morros makes the dynamic dives list.

Cabo is great if the weather is fine. We spent a week there and for 2 days the waters were borderline divable (poor vis).

Time of year can definitely make a difference in water conditions. That's why I look to SB for trip reports from different times of the year (and there are not enough.) I read from a review that conditions in the Sea of Cortez are similar no matter where you are along the coast. Not sure if that's true or not. So unlike being on an island (like Grand Cayman) where you can usually go to a calmer side), it seems a diver has to be hopeful of a great day in Cabo.

I just hope the weather the middle 2 weeks in January are perfect!

 

[ibj40]

I think these are one and the same if the location is CaboSL. The website I've contacted is:

Manta - Scuba Diving in Cabo San Lucas | Dive Los Cabos, Mexico

They replied pretty quick and have some good reviews through SB and TripAdvisor and others. Although I already have 2 days of diving booked through another op, I plan to use Manta Scuba Diving for the rest.

Hope to find the answer to this. The latest "Sport Diver" magazine (the Top 100 dive sites in the world) mentions 1) the sea lions in the Sea of Cortez and 2) Cabo Pulmo, specifically the Los Morros site. La Paz gets a mention for topside activities enjoyed by the local dive pros. In the "World's Best Diving, Resorts and Liveaboards" issue, Cabo Pulmo makes the top 10 for favorite dive sites for advanced divers and Los Morros makes the dynamic dives list.

Time of year can definitely make a difference in water conditions. That's why I look to SB for trip reports from different times of the year (and there are not enough.) I read from a review that conditions in the Sea of Cortez are similar no matter where you are along the coast. Not sure if that's true or not. So unlike being on an island (like Grand Cayman) where you can usually go to a calmer side), it seems a diver has to be hopeful of a great day in Cabo.

I just hope the weather the middle 2 weeks in January are perfect!

My wife did a great deal of research on weather and diving conditions before we booked our trip for the first week in November. Conditions were perfect for our first day of diving on Land's End, wind picked up and was in our face on the way to dive with the Sea Lions at Los Islotes out of La Paz, and there was a little bit of chop when we did our two Corridor dives. Water temps (I wear a 5mm, she wears a 3mm) we acceptable, except for the fresh water upwelling we experienced off of Land's End (which seemed colder than what we experience in the Yucatan cenotes).

 

[Elevatorguy2]

I've been down to Cabo for one reason or another around 9 or 10 times in the past 10 years. I have around 60 – 70 dives in during that time. I have used 4 different shops. The aspect I find most amazing about the diving there is the variety of life. You just never know what you might see. I have seen seahorses all the way up to a baby whale shark which we saw on our last trip in November 2017 and almost everything in between. For the past 5 or 6 trips I’ve used PuraBaja. They are a smaller outfit with smaller groups which allows them to be able to personally focus on each diver to ensure quality dives. Not like some of the cattle drives you see out there from some of the larger companies mentioned.
Hope this helps.

 

[foob]

Go with www.diveninjaexpeditions.com (Jay) or adventuresinbaja.com (Karen).

Custom service. You will need a guide for Cabo Pulmo.

 

[drbill]

I used to dive Cabo when I worked as marine biology/underwater videographer on Lindblad Expeditions cruises. I found f many of the fish species were more accustomed to human presence and easier to film. However there was a lot of boat traffic at the surface which introduced potential safety issues.