saskatchewan
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Can anyone suggest any good dive locations in northern Baja and Sonora? I am contemplating going there in December and I am not sure if I want to drive all the way to southern Baja
Northern Baja and Sonora diving
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AZTinman
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San Carlos, Sonora, offers exceptional diving off Isla San Pedro Nolasco. The local dive ops (there are several) go out to the Island on a regular basis. Local diving tends to be hit & miss with visibility. The area is a major destination for Arizona dive shops.
There are a couple of new dive ops in Rocky Point (Puerta Penasco), Sonora. If you look through the threads in Mexico, you'll find a thread I wrote about diving Puerto Lobos. Lobos is about an hour and a half south of Rocky Point. It's an incredibly diverse area. The gal who is leading Lobos trips e-mailed me last week about diving with a whale shark there.
Hope this helps. If you need more information, pm me. I'm in Northern Sonora frequently.
-AZTinman
There are a couple of new dive ops in Rocky Point (Puerta Penasco), Sonora. If you look through the threads in Mexico, you'll find a thread I wrote about diving Puerto Lobos. Lobos is about an hour and a half south of Rocky Point. It's an incredibly diverse area. The gal who is leading Lobos trips e-mailed me last week about diving with a whale shark there.
Hope this helps. If you need more information, pm me. I'm in Northern Sonora frequently.
-AZTinman
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saskatchewan
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Thanks for the suggestions, I will look into those locations.
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Besides the viz as mentioned - one other consideration is that the water temperatures will start dropping in December.
Now it's 81o F in Rocky Point, the first of Dec. expect around 70o F near Dec. 1st. and by the end of the month mid-60's is pretty typical.
San Carlos drops off similarly - right now I'd be diving there in a t-shirt since it's probably 83-84o still but late Dec. it could easily be mid-60's also. The farther south you go the more influence the Pacific has so the colder it gets sooner. The Gulf being pretty shallow heats up later and cools down later in the year.
Visibility is better now typically as the algae starts to dive off. A few years ago off SPN Island it was probably 80'+ the 3rd week in Oct.
At least in San Carlos also check with the dive shops - trips are scheduled much less frequently in the winter months since most of their traffic comes from Arizona. If divers aren't down from AZ, there may not be enough local activity to pay to take the boat out - it's not a big town. This is most of them - San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico Diving
El Mar Diving also keeps a boat there: San Carlos Dive Boats, San Carlos Mexico, Sea Of Cortez
Now it's 81o F in Rocky Point, the first of Dec. expect around 70o F near Dec. 1st. and by the end of the month mid-60's is pretty typical.
San Carlos drops off similarly - right now I'd be diving there in a t-shirt since it's probably 83-84o still but late Dec. it could easily be mid-60's also. The farther south you go the more influence the Pacific has so the colder it gets sooner. The Gulf being pretty shallow heats up later and cools down later in the year.
Visibility is better now typically as the algae starts to dive off. A few years ago off SPN Island it was probably 80'+ the 3rd week in Oct.
At least in San Carlos also check with the dive shops - trips are scheduled much less frequently in the winter months since most of their traffic comes from Arizona. If divers aren't down from AZ, there may not be enough local activity to pay to take the boat out - it's not a big town. This is most of them - San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico Diving
El Mar Diving also keeps a boat there: San Carlos Dive Boats, San Carlos Mexico, Sea Of Cortez
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PM me if you come down to San Carlos. I have a house and boat down there and so am there almost every month diving. We go to much better spots than do the dive shops. My favorite is Ensenada Grande, which is several miles north up the coast from the marina. The dive shops don't want to spend the fuel to get to the good places like that, fortunately. I actually find San Pedro Nolasco rather boring.
AZTinman
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The major draw for divers at Isla San Pedro Nolasco off San Carlos tends to be opportunities to dive with sea lions in water with frequently decent visibility. It often is a remarkable experience. I never tire of photographing sea lions when diving the island on days when members of the colony are in engagement mode. In terms of species diversity, many local dive sites produce better than the island. I've got one particular favorite, but can't seem to get either of the dive ops I use to drop me there.
Diving in the immediate vicinity of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) is usually focused on Isla San Jorge (Bird Island). The big attraction is again, sea lions. I suspect the island has more sea lions per square foot than most places on earth and the pinnipeds tend to enjoy interaction with divers. The major drawback to diving with sea lions there is visibility. Daily tidal flows are extreme in the area. The tidal flows tend to stir things up and generate lots of current.
There is a livaboard dive boat operation in Puerto Penasco. I've never had the pleasure of spending a week on board the boat, but I've several friends who've had good experiences with the op. They've done trip down to the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez.
Puerto Lobos is probably a lot like what it was like diving in the 'old days' in Mexico. It's basically a fishing village that's seen some 'limited' real estate development since the village got electricity. Diving is all local and Lobos has not seen large amounts of diving activity. At an hour and a half south of Puerto Penasco, it's still far enough north to see as significant tidal flows, but has fewer visibility issues than Penasco. As a rule, species diversity increases if one begins on the north end of the Sea of Cortez and moves south. I've been impressed with how much different the Puerto Penasco and Puerto Lobos marine ecosystems are. Drift diving there is a hoot! There's lots of stuff to see.
If you're interested in seeing what's in the waters off the coast of Sonora, there are lots of photos on my website: www.cortezbluephotography.com
-AZTinman
Diving in the immediate vicinity of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) is usually focused on Isla San Jorge (Bird Island). The big attraction is again, sea lions. I suspect the island has more sea lions per square foot than most places on earth and the pinnipeds tend to enjoy interaction with divers. The major drawback to diving with sea lions there is visibility. Daily tidal flows are extreme in the area. The tidal flows tend to stir things up and generate lots of current.
There is a livaboard dive boat operation in Puerto Penasco. I've never had the pleasure of spending a week on board the boat, but I've several friends who've had good experiences with the op. They've done trip down to the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez.
Puerto Lobos is probably a lot like what it was like diving in the 'old days' in Mexico. It's basically a fishing village that's seen some 'limited' real estate development since the village got electricity. Diving is all local and Lobos has not seen large amounts of diving activity. At an hour and a half south of Puerto Penasco, it's still far enough north to see as significant tidal flows, but has fewer visibility issues than Penasco. As a rule, species diversity increases if one begins on the north end of the Sea of Cortez and moves south. I've been impressed with how much different the Puerto Penasco and Puerto Lobos marine ecosystems are. Drift diving there is a hoot! There's lots of stuff to see.
If you're interested in seeing what's in the waters off the coast of Sonora, there are lots of photos on my website: www.cortezbluephotography.com
-AZTinman
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