Dive operator La Paz

[Swiss Icebear]

Hi there

I am Patrick from Switzerland and I will visit the Baja Area this November. I'm looking for a decent, trustful dive base in La Paz.


Could you recommend an outfit? We (my wife and me with over 200 logged dives trough several areas all over the world) would like to go for two or three days out of La Paz and we will have a car and therefore mobility is not an issue.


Would love to hear recommendations from all of you. Thanks in advance and sunny days.

 

[TheSaltySeaTurtle]

I highly recommend the Cortez Club. I drove up from Cabo and was delayed because I was in a traffic accident on the way there. Even though that caused me to miss the regularly scheduled boat, they still took me out by myself on a boat and had a DM dive with me. I thought my day would be ruined by the accident, but they went out of their way to accommodate me and I can't say enough good things about them!

 

[PatrickCBlakes]

I work and live in La Paz about 6 months a year and try to get out diving most weekends.
Usually I dive with local friends on private boats, but recently I went out with a couple different dive centers specifically to go to El Bajo and see the hammerhead sharks. I tried one of the bigger shops for the trip to El Bajo, the boats were nice, but no sharks and the dives were quite short. I tried another smaller dive company and still no luck but we were in a small group and had a much nicer dive. Apparently the hammerheads can be there year round but you have a much better chance of seeing them in the fall, something the people I talked with when I booked the dives forgot to mention.

I don't have a lot of experience with dive centers in the area but I can tell you they are all roughly the same price, you just need to decide what type of group you want to be in, you can either go the small group/small boat route or sign up with one of the bigger shops and have a nicer boat ride with the risk of ending up in a bad group.
I did do a whale shark tour with myself and my two young kids, we went with a small place called Baja Connections. The tour was awesome and he did a discovery dive for my oldest afterwards. I didn't actually go scuba diving with them but from what I saw on the boat and learned from the DM about whale sharks I'm sure their dives are just as good as their whale shark tours.
I found them on-line when I was cruising the trip advisor forums.

Also, if you have a car there is a shore diving spot that you can go to on your own. It's in a town called La Ventana which is about an hour away. Very shallow dive but a lot of fish and rays. We hit that up on the weekends sometimes when the wind is up. If you want directions let me know and I will post a map.

 

[tursiops]

My group dived with Fun Baja, the M/V Valentina. We had a terrific time, it was a well-run operation.

 

[BrewingDiver]

I have no experience with Fun Baja but have heard nothing but good about them. If and when we make it back to La Paz (which we really enjoyed a few years ago in September), we will probably go with them.

 

[elgoog]

We dove with Fun Baja last year - great outfit and they are very flexible if you call them ahead of time and have any requests regarding dive sites, group size, etc.

 

[sandita16]

You cannot go wrong with Trevor and Solitude Divers. Wonderful shop that tailors its excursions for small groups and experienced divers. Welcome to Solitude Divers - Scuba Diving and Snorkeling trips in beautiful La Paz, Mexico or email Trevor at info@divinginlapaz.com

 

[Zung]

I've been in La Paz maybe 7-8 times, and the experience was amazing; my avatar was shot there, 1991. I've only used Club Cantamar run by the Aguilar family. Because I'm totally satisfied with their services, I see no reason to change.

 

[Buoy_A]

Another vote for Fun Baja. Excellent operation. One thing you might consider is the speed of the boats (Fun Baja has some very fast pangas. The rest of their fleet, not as fast). We noticed that the dive trip was considerably different when you could do the dives, then get back to the hotel in time to enjoy the town in the early evening. When we did the trip in a different year on the slower, larger boats, by the time we got back it was dark or near dark and everyone just wanted to stay at the hotel (Costa Baja Resort).

By the way, both Fun Baja and Costa Baja are in the same marina, just outside of town. IMO you can't go wrong with the combination for both quality and convenience. And the Resort also has a complimentary shuttle that rotates on a schedule that can take you into town.

We went in October. Excellent conditions. Water was 82 degrees F. We did see hammerheads at El Bajo, but just barely. They were more like shadows in the darkness of the depths. But still, a really cool dive, IMO.

 

[CantamarLaPaz]

Hello, at Cantamar we have had a lot of work improving our services everyday.

Our boats have been fully refurbished, running the cleanest Cummins in the industry, appointed with onboard lavatories, diving platforms and ladders, and of course the capacities of our dive center are second to none: decompression chamber, NITROX machine and awesome crews.

We have hotel pickup on any major hotel in La Paz, and a nice sports resort in Pichilingue bay, with own beach, condos and nice, clean rooms with Wifi and SatTV.

I´ll be at your service anytime!