Love diving but dread long boat rides. Dying to see sea lions..

[morecowbells]

I have only been diving in the Caribbean and love it. Looking for somewhere new. Hoping for an encounter with sea lions. I have been checking out Cabo San Lucas, La Paz and Loreto. Of these places(open to other places too)which would offer shorter boat rides with a good chance of seeing sea lions? I would love to encounter some mantas and hammerheads, but from what I understand, odds are better if on a liveaboard. I am one of these unfortunate souls whom gets violently seasick. The Scop patch does help, but don't want to push my luck. Looking for a vacation in late July or August. Thanks in advance for any information

 

[mstclaire]

Greetings from Cabo!! Our Sealion dives are only 5-10 mins from the bay and are a great experience. We also offer dives out at Gordo Banks where it is common to encounter Mantas and Hammerheads but you are looking at a 20-30min boat ride for that.

Hope that helps

Mike

 

[greta-inbaja]

Hi,
Mu husband gets violently ill. I am lucky he dives wtih me. He puts on the patch the night before, right before he goes to sleep. He is 5'9 160ish, and cuts a small portion of the patch away around the edge, helps with the dry mouth and temporary blurry vision..La Paz has sealions at Los Islotes, still about 1-1.5 hrs ride, Cabo Pulmo, about 1.5+ hrs north of cabo san lucas(1 hr from airport) has a sealion colony at frailles. Maybe 15 min by boat, we have snorkeled with them. they are right off shore. August would be blistering hot there, no aircon if you are in cabo pulmo. But is it not a bad drive from san jose del cabo. The diving is all a short distance (10 minutes) form shore. We have seen a Tigershark at cabo pulmo,but.... supposedly they left last yr. You are lucky when you see hammerheads and mantas we saw multiple mantas a few yrs ago, but none since. You might see them in la paz. You are more likely to see whalesharks. Nothing like snorkeling with a 30 ft fish. You might think of more toward sept if you go to the sea of cortez. It is hurricane season, but nothing like the caribbean. The rarely get them. We went to Bonaire last yr because we do most of our close diving in the sea of cortez. Sea of Cortez is fish soup. Not much for coral, but many schools of fish. Don't expect colorful sponges and stuff of the caribbean, but the fishlife is incredible. We head out oct 17 until early december. The best diving is sept-oct. It can be very windy in november. My husband still gets sick about once a vacation, usually if he really exerts himself in current or if he is near the boat exhaust. We really like cabo pulmo and la paz. If you go we can tell you lots of stuff to do when you are not diving. Good luck, Have fun

 

[morecowbells]

Thanks Greata and mstclaire for the incredibly helpful responses! A 30 minute boat ride is no big deal, but an hour and half would be tempting fate. I checked out the summer weather and well, perhaps a vacation in Sept. would be better. I love the coral and macro scenery in the Caribbean-especially Curacao and Cozumel. Unfortunately, finding your larger pelegics and schools seem to be dwindling. I will keep you updated with my plans. Thanks again!

I have heard of people trimming down their Scop patches. It would be great to avoid the cotton mouth and dime sized pupils(I look like I am coked out)if possible. I also have read about taking the Scopal (oral version of Scopalimine) the night before and morning of diving. By evening if has usually worn off. A few options to consider. Seasickness is the absolute worst! Unfortunately as I enter middle age it gets worse. It used to be that I would hurl once and be completely better. Now it seems impossible to stop once I start. Thank God I have a saint of a husband who dives with me!

 

[ocdiver1]

As one person indicated already, the sea lion colony at Land's End in Cabo is a max 10 minute trip, and Gordo Banks is about 30 for pelagics. But when I dove La Paz from Club Cantamar where I stayed I want to say there was a sea lion colony only about a 15 minute trip away.

 

[drbill]

I've dived both Lands End, Cabo, and Los Islotes off La Paz. IMHO Los Islotes wins hands down for sea lions even though it is a much longer boat trip. Filmed a good portion of my "Playful Pinnipeds" cable TV episode at Los Islotes. My diving in both locations was between Nov and Mar so I can't say if other times of the year might be better.