Diving in Cabo

[Aggie01pa]

I will be in Cabo next week and want to get a few dives in. Can anyone recommend a good dive group and dive sites? I've heard there are sea lion dives? Thanks!

 

[Mossman]

We used Amigos del Mar for a couple days. They were good.

For a lot more information, check the Mexico forum.

 

[kmurray719]

I'm actually going to disagree with the recommendations above. Here's my tripadvisor review to explain why:

http://http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g152515-d1840249-r96460606-Amigos_del_Mar-Cabo_San_Lucas_Los_Cabos_Baja_California.html#REVIEWS

Maybe we were there on an off day, or maybe it depends on who from Amigos Del Mar you dive with, but we did not have a great experience with them. I found the actual diving in Cabo to be good though--lots of fish, and interesting topography.

 

[discokat]

My wife and I got our OW in Cabo and we used Land's End Divers. They were pretty good but the boat was rinky dink for sure!:shocked2:

I did see one sea lion but my wife missed it, which is easy to do because the visibility isn't all that great over there. Still was a lot of fun.

 

[enigmata]

Ah, Cabo San Lucas, BCS. I've gone with three different operations over three years (Baja Dive, Amigos Del Mar, Andromeda Divers) and not one of them has delivered a great experience. Don't let that deter you, though. Most use pangas to take divers out to sites around Land's End and occasionally the Pacific side of the cove, good topography and occasionally the chance to see pelagics amidst the dense schools Cabo is known for.

If you have the time, I highly recommend hitting up Cabo Pulmo about 60 miles north. There's a much larger reef system with more diversity, and Cabo Pulmo Divers is a great dive op.

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

I echo the sentiment on Amigos Del Mar. I was the first person to write a review on them on TripAdvisor after our trip with them last August and it was not pretty. Our worst experience we've ever had and none of our other dive shop experiences come anywhere close. Wished we had gone with Manta which was just around the corner, they seemed to have better boats at least. Diving was different and kinda cool but it was freezing for a 3 mil and poor visibility.

 

[Mossman]

Interesting reports on TripAdvisor. Either they're superb or terrible, depending on the reviewer, no middle ground. Our experience dates from 2004, so it's not very recent. Our dives weren't very long, but they weren't restricted to 30 min either. We dove 2 days. First day was 2 dives at El Arco, #1 was 61 ft max for 47 min, #2 was 92 ft for 36 min. (Reverse profile because I insisted on seeing the famous "sand falls" on the second dive and the DM accommodated us.) Second day was "across the bay", #1 was 54 ft max for 39 min, #2 was 44 ft for 42 min. We didn't care for these dives as much - viz was down and we had to kick a lot. We'll be there in December on a cruise ship and will either use Amigos again or we'll check out Manta, whose website specifically mentions they cater to cruise ship itineraries.

 

[kmurray719]

Interesting reports on TripAdvisor. Either they're superb or terrible, depending on the reviewer, no middle ground. Our experience dates from 2004, so it's not very recent. Our dives weren't very long, but they weren't restricted to 30 min either. We dove 2 days. First day was 2 dives at El Arco, #1 was 61 ft max for 47 min, #2 was 92 ft for 36 min. (Reverse profile because I insisted on seeing the famous "sand falls" on the second dive and the DM accommodated us.) Second day was "across the bay", #1 was 54 ft max for 39 min, #2 was 44 ft for 42 min. We didn't care for these dives as much - viz was down and we had to kick a lot. We'll be there in December on a cruise ship and will either use Amigos again or we'll check out Manta, whose website specifically mentions they cater to cruise ship itineraries.

They do seem to be all over the place, so it may be dependent on which DM you dive with. From reading UWBB's review, I'm pretty sure the DM they had is the same one we had. When I mentioned how our dives went to someone familiar with diving Cabo, they knew from my description of the briefings, etc exactly which person we had been diving with. Other of their DM/Instructors may be much better, but I wouldn't dive with them again. We didn't have any problem with their boat though.

 

[Laurie S.]

I dove with Baja Dive on New Year's Day this year and had three awesome dives. I highly recommend them.

 

[mstclaire]

Sunshine diving seems to have a fairly solid set of recommendations for tours....Around the arch tends to be the best for sea lions but you can see them on most of the dives if your lucky...Lots of Eagle rays around at the moment too