I stayed at the Solmar Suites. I dove the 23rd and 24th with Amigos Del Mar dive shop in the local Cabo area.
Amigos Del Mar (http://www.amigosdelmar.com/):
Great owner and employees. They were a short walk from my hotel (they are on the North side of the marina). If you are diving multiple days with them, they will rinse and store your gear there at the shop and have it on the boat waiting for you the next day you are diving with them. As their website says, they have larger boats than what I saw the other operators in the area using. The dives are DM-guided tours; I believe all dive shops in the area do this. After diving, they will haul your gear from the boat back to the dive shop where there is a dunk tank if you want to rinse your gear there on your last dive day instead of your hotel shower. I did one local trip and one "Across the Bay" trip (two tanks each). The local trip is to Land's End where all the dive boats go. The Across the Bay trip is up the gulf coast to where ever they think is good. On our trip is was the Chileno Beach and Santa Maria Beach areas.
Dives:
Local trip - Depth was on average around 40 feet. Water temp was 64 F at depth, which is unusually cold for this time of year. Vis was about 25 feet. I used my Pinnacle Arctic 7/5mm with a 3/5 hooded vest, 3mm gloves and 5mm boots. Only one sea lion on outside of the water - there are usually more but they have gone to find warmer waters. There was some swimming against fairly strong currents on both dives.
The first dive was Land's End rock, which is the big rock next to the little rock that is actually the Southern-most point of Baja. The dive is to make a loop around the rock, returning through a chute about 10 feet wide to the point of entry. There was a moderate current and fairly strong surge through the chute. On the dive we saw a sea turtle and a big school of fish.
The second dive was around another rock a little closer to the marina. At one point we hit 80 feet or so to look at a little sand fall. The DM was attentive to the fact that one guy diving with us was sucking air big time, so the DM kept us shallower on this dive. There is a wall here that goes down to 130 feet or so, and then the bottom makes its way to 1000 feet or so into the bay where the marina is. I saw an eel on the way back. Currents were strong going against us towards the end of the dive. The DM and the other guy where digging their hands in to the sand to go hand over hand on the bottom to make their way make to the boat. I swam over to a little cove thing near a rock where there wasn't much current...did my safety stop and went to the boat on the surface - it seemed easier on the surface.
Day 2 - Across the Bay trip. Water temps - 68 F at depth. Vis was about 30-40 feet. I used my Pinnacle Arctic 7/5mm with a beanie, 3mm gloves and 5mm boots. Mild to no current and mild surge. Overall, these were easier dives with more variety to see than on the local bay dives - schools of tropical fishies and coral looking stuff. We saw a little eel, some big lobster and a lot of fishies. These two locations are popular for snorkeling, so there were some snorkeler cattle boats in the area as well. I again noticed the other dive operators using smaller boats....we had a bigger boat and a total of four divers + DM.
Overall impression - The diving was better when I was last in Cabo in 2002 - I did four dives in the local bay then and saw more interesting things (u/w sea lion encounter; better vis). If a person can only dive for one day and they don't want to do the early morning departure (6am - 6:30am) for Cabo Pulmo, then try to do an Across the Bay trip. I think the one advantage of a local bay trip (as opposed to across the bay) is more opportunities to see sea lions. Was the local diving bad on this trip? Well, I got to go diving, I didn't get cold or sick and everyone made it back to the boat OK, so in that respect any day of diving that meets that criteria is a good day of diving.
Cabo Pulmo - I originally scheduled a Cabo Pulmo trip with Underwater Diversions de Cabo since they were doing the trip on a day I wanted to go, but due to some scheduling snafus I found that I had been canceled from the trip when we went in to pay for it the day before. The guy at Amigos del Mar was saying that the Cabo Pulmo conditions are not that great right now either.
Gordo Banks hasn't "opened up" yet due to the cold water that is still hanging around. Apparently the only reason to go is if the hammerheads will be there, and they aren't there in cold water.
Amigos Del Mar (http://www.amigosdelmar.com/):
Great owner and employees. They were a short walk from my hotel (they are on the North side of the marina). If you are diving multiple days with them, they will rinse and store your gear there at the shop and have it on the boat waiting for you the next day you are diving with them. As their website says, they have larger boats than what I saw the other operators in the area using. The dives are DM-guided tours; I believe all dive shops in the area do this. After diving, they will haul your gear from the boat back to the dive shop where there is a dunk tank if you want to rinse your gear there on your last dive day instead of your hotel shower. I did one local trip and one "Across the Bay" trip (two tanks each). The local trip is to Land's End where all the dive boats go. The Across the Bay trip is up the gulf coast to where ever they think is good. On our trip is was the Chileno Beach and Santa Maria Beach areas.
Dives:
Local trip - Depth was on average around 40 feet. Water temp was 64 F at depth, which is unusually cold for this time of year. Vis was about 25 feet. I used my Pinnacle Arctic 7/5mm with a 3/5 hooded vest, 3mm gloves and 5mm boots. Only one sea lion on outside of the water - there are usually more but they have gone to find warmer waters. There was some swimming against fairly strong currents on both dives.
The first dive was Land's End rock, which is the big rock next to the little rock that is actually the Southern-most point of Baja. The dive is to make a loop around the rock, returning through a chute about 10 feet wide to the point of entry. There was a moderate current and fairly strong surge through the chute. On the dive we saw a sea turtle and a big school of fish.
The second dive was around another rock a little closer to the marina. At one point we hit 80 feet or so to look at a little sand fall. The DM was attentive to the fact that one guy diving with us was sucking air big time, so the DM kept us shallower on this dive. There is a wall here that goes down to 130 feet or so, and then the bottom makes its way to 1000 feet or so into the bay where the marina is. I saw an eel on the way back. Currents were strong going against us towards the end of the dive. The DM and the other guy where digging their hands in to the sand to go hand over hand on the bottom to make their way make to the boat. I swam over to a little cove thing near a rock where there wasn't much current...did my safety stop and went to the boat on the surface - it seemed easier on the surface.
Day 2 - Across the Bay trip. Water temps - 68 F at depth. Vis was about 30-40 feet. I used my Pinnacle Arctic 7/5mm with a beanie, 3mm gloves and 5mm boots. Mild to no current and mild surge. Overall, these were easier dives with more variety to see than on the local bay dives - schools of tropical fishies and coral looking stuff. We saw a little eel, some big lobster and a lot of fishies. These two locations are popular for snorkeling, so there were some snorkeler cattle boats in the area as well. I again noticed the other dive operators using smaller boats....we had a bigger boat and a total of four divers + DM.
Overall impression - The diving was better when I was last in Cabo in 2002 - I did four dives in the local bay then and saw more interesting things (u/w sea lion encounter; better vis). If a person can only dive for one day and they don't want to do the early morning departure (6am - 6:30am) for Cabo Pulmo, then try to do an Across the Bay trip. I think the one advantage of a local bay trip (as opposed to across the bay) is more opportunities to see sea lions. Was the local diving bad on this trip? Well, I got to go diving, I didn't get cold or sick and everyone made it back to the boat OK, so in that respect any day of diving that meets that criteria is a good day of diving.
Cabo Pulmo - I originally scheduled a Cabo Pulmo trip with Underwater Diversions de Cabo since they were doing the trip on a day I wanted to go, but due to some scheduling snafus I found that I had been canceled from the trip when we went in to pay for it the day before. The guy at Amigos del Mar was saying that the Cabo Pulmo conditions are not that great right now either.
Gordo Banks hasn't "opened up" yet due to the cold water that is still hanging around. Apparently the only reason to go is if the hammerheads will be there, and they aren't there in cold water.
