La Paz October 6th to the 13th...

[divergirl50]

I read alot of reviews about Club Cantamar and decided to try another place. I am going to East Cape on the 15th and staying at Bueno Vista Resort and using Vista Seasport so when I get back I will let you guys know what this is like. I have been caribbean diving too much and ready for a different experience. I was told the water is in the 80s. I sure hope that is true. I am counting the days now for this new experience. Hope it works good so we will do a group trip next fall when the water is once again warmest.
Has anyone been to this area or resort and dove???

 

[Scubabun]

Yes, please let us know! I loved La Paz and would like to go back so finding another dive operation would be great. I was told Fun Baja was a good operation, but have not seen any reviews.

The diving in La Paz is a bit different then the Caribbean. The surface may be warm, but it can get chilly below the Thermoclines. Vis is not as good and the water is more green then the bright, clear blue you are used to seeing. There can also be some strong currents.

The sea life is awesome! I have never seen so many puffers and porcupine fish! There was a whole school of them and my husband said they looked like a fighter plane squadron! They were just hovering in a huge school.

Macro life is great! Nudibrachs and blennies and jaw fish!

The Aztec Angelfish is beautiful! We saw our first Moorish Idol at La Reina and they are so bright!

Eels! Lots and lots of eels!

And of course, the sea lions! They are as much fun as everyone says. They bite your fins, blow bubbles in your face and dart around you. One laid across my husbands back and nuzzled his hair! I was not able to get a picture I was laughing so hard.

The trip out could be interesting. Mobelas would jump and we saw two schools of dolphins. Someone thought they saw a whale.

Do the whale shark trip. You swim like a madman but it is so worth it. The one we saw was 15 feet and I was speakless. They are just incredible!

We did not see hammerheads or manta's so that just means another trip! Bummer huh?

You will not be disappointed with the diving.

Have a great trip!

 

[BrewingDiver]

That sums up the diving part of the trip well. Los Islotes was my favorite spot. We went there 3 times and that was fine with me. The sea lions are great, and there is much more to see especially if you do the swim thrus to the opposite side of where you jump in. Great life on the walls in the swim thru, and many fish. Farther out our divemaster showed us jawfish at about 60 feet. I could dive a week there!

I want to add that the food in La Paz is excellent and very reasonable. We ate seafood almost every night since this is a fishing town, and can recommend Bismark-cito right on the malecon (cash only) for seafood. We also liked El Mar y Pena, which is a cab ride to the northeast part of town, and Rancho Viejo, which is open 24 hours. We never had a bad meal, though.

Finally, to vel525: It was good meeting you and diving with you. Please give us your impressions of the trip.

 

[vel525]

That sums up the diving part of the trip well. Los Islotes was my favorite spot. We went there 3 times and that was fine with me. The sea lions are great, and there is much more to see especially if you do the swim thrus to the opposite side of where you jump in. Great life on the walls in the swim thru, and many fish. Farther out our divemaster showed us jawfish at about 60 feet. I could dive a week there!

I want to add that the food in La Paz is excellent and very reasonable. We ate seafood almost every night since this is a fishing town, and can recommend Bismark-cito right on the malecon (cash only) for seafood. We also liked El Mar y Pena, which is a cab ride to the northeast part of town, and Rancho Viejo, which is open 24 hours. We never had a bad meal, though.

Finally, to vel525: It was good meeting you and diving with you. Please give us your impressions of the trip.

Sorry, for the lack of trip report...it's been super hectic since I've been back.

For the most part I have to agree with Scubabun and Brewing Diver's impressions. However, my experience with Cantamar was not that bad. I was on the Siempre Si most of the week so I was on the faster boat. Although I also saw that one or two of the DM's were touching things and "walking" on the reef and doing other things that I don't really agree with, the other DMs (Barbara and Mona (sp?)) were very good. Also, because I stayed at CC and was on the faster boat we didn't have to deal with shuttles before/after diving...I think we were back between 3-4pm most days and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging by the poolside and chatting with other divers. One thing I have to complain about was that I paid for a transfer on a shuttle to and from Los Cabos airport. When I arrived a guy who spoke no english (which was fine..lol) showed up with a Club Cantamar sign and help me with my bag (nice fella). Well, we are walking by all the shuttle vans and I am looking for the Baja Shuttle and we pass all the shuttles and keep walking and come up to a pick up truck! This was not even a full cab truck...it had little fold down seats in the back! My wife and I each spent an hour and half in the little fold out seat...luckily we are pretty small. I'm not sure how I would have fit if I was the size of an average american guy! Luckily I am laid back and willing to just go with the flow (you sort of have to when traveling in Mexico )

Couple things that I did like about Cantamar was they were in no rush (or strict about their schedule) and really just went with the flow. Whenever we saw whales or dolphins the captain just took us there and made sure we all got some great pics. Also, I did the whale shark trip twice and both times they gave us plenty of chances at swimming with the whaleshark. And they were very good about telling people NOT to touch the whaleshark.

Overall impressions of the diving was that the amount of sea life in the area is tremendous, it's just that you can't see it too well because the viz is not that great. Perhaps it was just because a hurricane came through the prior week, but the most viz I saw all week was maybe 60ft. The diving was still great and I was very happy with the trip. Will I return? Not likely, but not because the diving was not great, but because there are so many other places in the world I have not been to.....I'm going to the Bahamas in November and trying to get out to Palau next year!

Victor

P.S. - Scubabun and Brewing Diver, it was great meeting and diving with you.