Question about Cabo Pulmo + Gordo Banks

[bluesails]

Hello SB! My partner and I are thinking about planning a trip to try and see some big fish in early December, right after Thanksgiving. If we go with just us or a smaller group, I'd like to stick to avoiding Cabo San Lucas altogether and exploring Cabo Pulmo and La Paz instead. Was envisioning something like:

Monday 12/2: Arrive and drive to Cabo Pulmo
Tuesday, Wednesday: 4 or 5 tanks in CP, hopefully to see the bull sharks (and I still haven't gotten to hang out with a really solid school of jacks / any big bait balls)
Thursday: Drive to La Paz and catch up on work (we both work remotely)
Friday: Whale shark & sea lion snorkeling in La Paz
Saturday: 1 more day of diving / snorkeling or fly home

My main question is - if we added one more day to the itinerary, has anyone heard of dive ops in Cabo Pulmo doing day trips to Gordo Banks? I'm not 1000% sure we'd like to go, just because we might want to be more relaxed and not push ourselves too much -- we're both AOW with 60-70 dives and have dived Cozumel & the grouper aggregation in Jupiter FL -- but sometimes we just want to stay more in our comfort zone! Would love to know if 1) staying in CP and doing Gordo Banks is even possible, and 2) if in 2024 people still think it's worth it for the extra $$$...

Thanks so much in advance! Really excited to plan this one, I especially love to explore smaller towns and everything I've heard about CP sounds charming. The influx of campers doesn't bother me too much

 

[bluesails]

Would love to know if 1) staying in CP and doing Gordo Banks is even possible, and 2) if in 2024 people still think it's worth it for the extra $$$...

For anyone in the future reading this - I texted a few dive ops and was told that dive ops in CP won't do this as it isn't worth going that far when there is so much wonderful diving right at their doorstep! And given the nature of the Gordo Banks dive we have decided to stay more low-key anyway

 

[profmason]

Cabo Pulmo is a small remote diving community with very limited facilities. I am sure you can get 4/5 dives/day if you are willing to offer enough cash, but the dive ops typically run 2 dives / day. I don't know if there are limits from the park on how many dives / day, but the park definitely limits how many folks can go to each site.

The bait balls are GREAT! The sharks are there. Honestly this is much better diving then Gordo banks. I would reach out to Cabo Pulmo Dive house (one of the few dive ops actually located in Cabo Pulmo) and see if they can accommodate you.

Definitely not going out to Gordo banks from Cabo Pulmo as it is a LONG trip in those pangas.

 

[rudylgza]

I have done the trip to Cabo Pulmo for a day from Cabo (2 hour drive) but don't think anyone does it in reverse. As for Gordo it is hit or miss. Have done it 3 times at different times of the year and have only seen the hammers once and not very clearly. It is one of those dives that if you don't hit it there is nothing else really to see although during my last trip there were some silkies around.

 

[bluesails]

Thank you @profmason and @rudylgza - yeah I figured that if we go to CSL, why not check it out for the $$, but we wanted to avoid CSL, so why not just stay in CP hanging out with sharks and bait balls

And oops, I meant 4 or 5 tanks over 2 days! So 2-3/day. Only time I've done 4 in a day has been on a LOB and with lots of help hehe.

 

[Still Kicking]

I echo what others said. I enjoyed the slow pace of Cabo Pulmo. I dont care for CSL at all. We went out with Cabo Pulmo Divers and they were great.

I hear dive sites are closely regulated so I would contact the dive operator early and see if you can book spots going to best sites.

If you want to see bulls, try to get on an early boat as we were told they tend to show up for the first dive of the day.

Gordo Banks is a long haul fior potentially a deep dive to see nothing. I hear chances of hammers increase if water is colder.

Good luck.

 

[dlofting]

I echo what others said. I enjoyed the slow pace of Cabo Pulmo. I dont care for CSL at all. We went out with Cabo Pulmo Divers and they were great.

I hear dive sites are closely regulated so I would contact the dive operator early and see if you can book spots going to best sites.

If you want to see bulls, try to get on an early boat as we were told they tend to show up for the first dive of the day.

Gordo Banks is a long haul fior potentially a deep dive to see nothing. I hear chances of hammers increase if water is colder.

Good luck.

Cabo Pulmo sites are given out on a first come, first serve basis so no booking in advance. You get one good site and one other depending on what's left when you show up.

The only reason to get there early is to book the wreck site......the bulls can show up any time of the day and they can be seen at other sites.

 

[Still Kicking]

Cabo Pulmo sites are given out on a first come, first serve basis so no booking in advance. You get one good site and one other depending on what's left when you show up.

The only reason to get there early is to book the wreck site......the bulls can show up any time of the day and they can be seen at other sites.

Just passing along what I was told.

 

[bluesails]

Cabo Pulmo sites are given out on a first come, first serve basis so no booking in advance. You get one good site and one other depending on what's left when you show up.

The only reason to get there early is to book the wreck site......the bulls can show up any time of the day and they can be seen at other sites.

Is there still some lottery system that resets every Tuesday? Or is it different now?

 

[dlofting]

Is there still some lottery system that resets every Tuesday? Or is it different now?

The last time we were there, which was 18 months ago, there was no lottery system as far as I could tell. Sites still had weekly limits for boats and divers, but the popular sites required getting there early.

No problem getting to see the jacks or the better coral sites, but the wreck required getting in line early....don't know if that's changed in the interim.

We've been lucky enough to see large numbers of bulls a couple of times and it's great but really like Cabo Pulmo for the variety of large reef fish, schools, eels, occasional whitetips, mobula rays.....