Sea of Cortez San Carlos, Mexico Great diving

[AzSnake]

I dive both San Carlos and Cozumel each year.
2 different worlds.
The Sea of Cortez is relatively new geologically speaking. Theirs not too much in the way of coral. Sure you have colonies. I know of some large colonies of Black Coral, Sun Coral, bunches of polyps, etc. They got a lot of Fish in the area which is a big attraction and the locals have started to embrace the seat turtles more which are causing them to come back to the area. The Salinity in the Sea of Cortez is pretty high, along with the high temps that depletes the oxygen in the water, especially in the shallows these 2 factors have an effect on the coral flora in the area (don’t get me wrong, you can be surprised on the actually amount of coral that see, it’s just less of a variety). The vis is OK and in the right places during the right time of year you can get vis of around 75’. The spring isn’t the best time in San Carlos because they typically have a large alga bloom that makes the vis pretty poor is not none existent. San Pedro Island (commonly known as seal island) is a great spot to frequent. It’s a seal rookery and has many friendly seals. The key to San Carlos is to make sure you have a speedy boat (it can get so hot there that a slow boat can really make the afternoon trip back tot eh docks really miserable. All in all the towns people are VERY friendly and I actually feel more comfortable walking around San Carlos at night than I do walking around Tucson at night.

Rocky Point isn’t any good for diving. It’s because of the tides. The tidal action in that most northern part of the gulf just makes the vis REALLY bad. In edition to human issues like over fishing and other problems in the area. Rocky Point is a great town to unwind at with many cervezas if you like hanging out with the college crowd.
Cozumel on the other hand is a treasure to the Mexican government. Located off the Eastern shore of Mexico off the Yucatan (just south of Cancun). Vis that can be over 100’, some of the widest variety of coral you will find in the northern hemisphere, and an amazing of reef and pelagic reef life. I actually opted to skip my San Carlos trips this year so I could go on an extra Cozumel trip this Feb. I will resume my 3 trips a year to San Carlos but I end up driving down their every trip and that drive can make the trip a real bummer.
I would recommend looking at diving with Desert Divers.
www.desertdivers.com
They own 2 boats, and have 3 shops (2 in tucson and run one in San Carlos) The boats consist of a live aboard and one day boat, the Day Boat is the Ocean Spirit and it can book it out to the various sites.

I have dove with them in Cozumel and in San Carlos and can’t recommend them enough with their professionalism and friendliness.

 

[shaxs]

I dive both San Carlos and Cozumel each year.
2 different worlds.
The Sea of Cortez is relatively new geologically speaking. Theirs not too much in the way of coral. Sure you have colonies. I know of some large colonies of Black Coral, Sun Coral, bunches of polyps, etc. They got a lot of Fish in the area which is a big attraction and the locals have started to embrace the seat turtles more which are causing them to come back to the area. The Salinity in the Sea of Cortez is pretty high, along with the high temps that depletes the oxygen in the water, especially in the shallows these 2 factors have an effect on the coral flora in the area (don’t get me wrong, you can be surprised on the actually amount of coral that see, it’s just less of a variety). The vis is OK and in the right places during the right time of year you can get vis of around 75’. The spring isn’t the best time in San Carlos because they typically have a large alga bloom that makes the vis pretty poor is not none existent. San Pedro Island (commonly known as seal island) is a great spot to frequent. It’s a seal rookery and has many friendly seals. The key to San Carlos is to make sure you have a speedy boat (it can get so hot there that a slow boat can really make the afternoon trip back tot eh docks really miserable. All in all the towns people are VERY friendly and I actually feel more comfortable walking around San Carlos at night than I do walking around Tucson at night.

Rocky Point isn’t any good for diving. It’s because of the tides. The tidal action in that most northern part of the gulf just makes the vis REALLY bad. In edition to human issues like over fishing and other problems in the area. Rocky Point is a great town to unwind at with many cervezas if you like hanging out with the college crowd.
Cozumel on the other hand is a treasure to the Mexican government. Located off the Eastern shore of Mexico off the Yucatan (just south of Cancun). Vis that can be over 100’, some of the widest variety of coral you will find in the northern hemisphere, and an amazing of reef and pelagic reef life. I actually opted to skip my San Carlos trips this year so I could go on an extra Cozumel trip this Feb. I will resume my 3 trips a year to San Carlos but I end up driving down their every trip and that drive can make the trip a real bummer.
I would recommend looking at diving with Desert Divers.
www.desertdivers.com
They own 2 boats, and have 3 shops (2 in tucson and run one in San Carlos) The boats consist of a live aboard and one day boat, the Day Boat is the Ocean Spirit and it can book it out to the various sites.

I have dove with them in Cozumel and in San Carlos and can’t recommend them enough with their professionalism and friendliness.

Thaks for the ehads up! Would a MArch dive be worthless then? Or is visibility goign to be good in late March? Im about ready to book a Condo in San Carlos for that time.

-Jason

 

[AzSnake]

I believe March is still safe because the water temps are still fairly low. I haven't been diving and San Carlos in March but the Bloom is due to water temps and high dissolved organics in the water that’s attributed to the low temp/high 02 of the water in the winter. The Northern part of the Sea of Cortez takes a little longer to warm up in the spring than other areas on its Longitude due to it's isolation from the larger ocean currents. This also tends to mean that it takes longer to cool off. I’m willing to bet you would be good but I would recommend you bust out your cold water gear or rent it because it's going to be in the 60's in not 50's for the water temp.

 

[shaxs]

I believe March is still safe because the water temps are still fairly low. I haven't been diving and San Carlos in March but the Bloom is due to water temps and high dissolved organics in the water that’s attributed to the low temp/high 02 of the water in the winter. The Northern part of the Sea of Cortez takes a little longer to warm up in the spring than other areas on its Longitude due to it's isolation from the larger ocean currents. This also tends to mean that it takes longer to cool off. I’m willing to bet you would be good but I would recommend you bust out your cold water gear or rent it because it's going to be in the 60's in not 50's for the water temp.

I dive San Diego, so I already have 5mm-7mm gear for everything, including a 7mm wetsuit

 

[RSdiver]

Puerto Penasco is nearly at the top of the Sea of Cortez while San Carlos is ~300 miles South.

San carlos has nice diving because of the rock structures that even have many arches. It is similar to Baja with seals, octopi, parrot fish, painted lobsters etc.
Puerto Penasco is a sandy bottomed area and there are a lot of shrimp boats that are based there. It is nice for topside photography as these ships will be left dry on a muddy, exposed sea bottom when the tide goes out, yet fully floating when the tide is high.

 

[WaterWayne]

Howdy, I'll be diving with Gary's Dive Shop on Friday afternoon and Saturday, June 18. Anybody else going to be in San Carlos then? On Sunday I want to do some snorkeling before my evening flight out of Hermosillo. Is there beach-accessible snorkeling, or should I plan on taking another boat trip?

--Wayne

 

[DanielVance]

Wayne,

Gary can take you snorkling. Snorkling beaches are Martini Cove, Punta San Antonio, Frenchie's Cove and the San Carlos Plaza Hotel's Catch 22 Beach.

The San Carlos Plaza Hotel is nice place to swim and snorkel or just kick back and catch the sights and sunset. No charge, just walk through the lobby to the pool and beach areas. Sometimes there is a guard at the parking lot just wave to him "if" he looks up. I've been going there for over 10 years, I do not I've ever been stopped by the guard. Ice coolers are not allowed in the hotel. Check the hotel at San Carlos link at http://www.vancesystems.com/scuba or http://www.sancarlosmexico.com/hotels.html

Daniel

Howdy, I'll be diving with Gary's Dive Shop on Friday afternoon and Saturday, June 18. Anybody else going to be in San Carlos then? On Sunday I want to do some snorkeling before my evening flight out of Hermosillo. Is there beach-accessible snorkeling, or should I plan on taking another boat trip?

--Wayne

 

[WaterWayne]

In my first visit to San Carlos, I enjoyed four day dives in two days with Gary's Dive Shop. All dives were from the 44' Cortez Explorer, the biggest of the several boats run by this operator. Below the dive details are additional comments about the boat, lodging, etc.:

Window Rock -- Temp was 82 deg; vis was 40'-50'; almost all rocks. Current around the rock was negligible, although if you ventured out of the "shadow", I was told it could be dangerous. The swim-through of about five meters was just right for a first dive. Marine life was fair-to-good. Boat transit time from the dock was 20 minutes or so.

San Antonio -- Temp was 81 deg; vis was down to no more than 30' on the mostly-sandy bottom. It's a sheltered cove, so whatever floats in there tends to stay there. Marine life was good. Boat transit time back to the dock was 20 minutes or so.

North Point -- Off San Pedro Island (aka "Seal Island"), we did two dives here on Saturday. The original plan was to dive the west side (sea side) of the island, but currents were too strong. By the end of our dives, there were up to five other boats on the north end, but there was no crowding at all. Transit time from the dock on the "Explorer" was about an hour. Coming back, seas were strong enough that they might have sickened someone who's susceptible to motion sickness.

But the SEA LIONS! This was my first time around marine mamals, and they made my trip. On the first dive, at about 30', I was buzz-bombed by a playful pair. I felt as if I were in a WW1-era biplane, and they were a pair of Stealth jet fighers. Completely taken aback, I managed not to suck down more than a couple of hundred pounds at first gasp. :icon10: They really did swim circles around us, in three dimensions, on their backs, sides and upside down. They approached within a meter, and some divers managed to stroke their bodies.

However, there are cautions: sea lions don't like to be touched around their (laughingly open) mouths; in Feb-March, the first divers of the season are subjects of such curiosity that the sea lions can dominate all the dive time; and most perilous of all, a protective bull can bark underwater when a diver seems to be intruding on the clan. I also learned that sea lions have external ears, whereas seals have internal ears.

Oh, yeah, the other dive details of North Point: vis was good for the Sea of Cortez, at about 40'. Temps were the coldest I've ever dived without a suit, decreasing from 81 deg at the surface to 75 deg at depth. (Pre-trip predictions were for a uniform 82 deg.) Non-mammalian sea life was good-very good. Current was negligble at North Point, especially in the mini-coves. There are a few interesting swim-ins, not quite caves. Bottom is half-rock, half-sand, with a precipitous drop-off.

Boat comments: Provided lunches were tasty and nutritious. Crew was good-excellent, quietly helpful. At first I was concerned about sharing a cattle boat (14 people on Friday, about 20 on Saturday). However, this solo traveler (not a solo diver) learned happily that the difference between a cattle-boat operation and a good group experience is the quality of the divers with whom you're MOO-ving. Thanks very much to Greg Trainor, my new buddy Glen, and all the friendly folks with the RTeam Scuba Club from Arizona. They were kind enough to let me dive with them. Their club sets a high standard for safe, welcoming diving. I liked the discipline of pre-dive briefings, head counts, and more, without any oppressive mommy-ing. Above all, I wouldn't have been able to plan the trip without Daniel Vance's pointers through Scubaboard.com.

Lodging, dining comments: The Hotel Fiesta/Fiesta Real is cheap, at $64/night for a room with two double beds. (Online they're listed as the Fiesta, whereas their sign claims that they're the Fiesta Real.) They have no TV's nor telephones in the rooms, which suits me. The restaurant on premises is mediocre, based on one dinner only. Dining in town was cheap, starting with the 35-peso, filling, breakfast croissants at Barracuda Bob's at the marina.

Shopping and touristing: I found the souvenir shops above Gary's to be the friendliest, cheapest and most original of the handful into which I poked my head. I drove into Guaymas, about 20 minutes away, and left unimpressed with that historical, economically important town. The lookout point above Lalo's Cove, about five miles north of town, is well worth a visit and some snapshots. I also detoured through Bahia Kino on the way back to Hermosillo; it was OK, but not worth a visit for itself.

Hope this helps someone else as much as I've been helped through Scubaboard and in person!

 

[Queen]

...Hope this helps someone else as much as I've been helped through Scubaboard and in person!

I realize this is almost a year old but wanted to say thanks to those who posted such great info! I just moved from Central Illinois to Tucson and have wanted to dive the Sea of Cortez since the ealy 80's when I read Benchley's Girl of the Sea of Cortez...looks like I'll get my chance soon.