Went to San Carlos over the 8-9th of July, 2006. Booked thru Desert Divers of Tucson( in conjunction with Ocean Sports of Sn. Carlos), Arizona. $299 for two nite stay at a nice hotel( dbl occupancy) and 4 dives( 2 on Friday, 2 on saturday). Caravaned into San Carlos Down hiway 15 to Nogales,Arz/Son. then down Ruta 15 Cuota( toll )road thru Hermosillo to San Carlos( tolls ran about $12.00 if you didn't have pesos, each way...). about a 4 & half hour trip....Good road ( for Mexico) 4 lanes averaged about 75-80 all the way.
the Dives, WARM WATER!!! never dove in a Jacuzzi before!! 1st day's dives were in a places called Zorro and Catalina deepest point on first dive was about 30' almost half the folks on the boat( carried a ton!! 20-30 divers) were getting their certification OW dives in...the rest of us just buddied up and saw what we could find...Some fish, manta's ( small) and various star fish I had not seen before( choc. Chip...) spotty eels. the real shock was , as warm as the water was going in 80 degrees plus, as you got close to shore, it was even warmer( my Suunto showed it to be 88-90 degrees!!!). Catalina was sloping deeper, down to 57 feet still warm, still clear at 25-35 feet vis.
Saturday was their morning dives to San Pedro or Seal island. vis was 50-90 feet, sea lions came out to play!! and on the way a pod of 30 Dolphins did some wake diving, and water clearing jumps in tandum( 3-5 at a time). We had such a good time that after we got out, we hung around and snorkled for about another hour.
all in all a good trip, little pricey for 4 dives, San carlos has about 5,000 folks W/lotsa Americans, English widely spoken, solid hotels with stark Desert Scenery...I plan on going back in the fall October early november when the water is more in the 70-78 degree range and look to do some more dives ( if you booked it right, you can get in 4 dives on saturday, and 2 more on sunday) Gary's dive shop and Del Mar are the two competing dive operators in the Town Dives run about $45 for a single tank with 2 tanks running in the $80-95 range....Nitrox is very Available and is on every outing.
hope this helps anyone looking for A Gulf of Calif. /Sea of Cortez outing....
the Dives, WARM WATER!!! never dove in a Jacuzzi before!! 1st day's dives were in a places called Zorro and Catalina deepest point on first dive was about 30' almost half the folks on the boat( carried a ton!! 20-30 divers) were getting their certification OW dives in...the rest of us just buddied up and saw what we could find...Some fish, manta's ( small) and various star fish I had not seen before( choc. Chip...) spotty eels. the real shock was , as warm as the water was going in 80 degrees plus, as you got close to shore, it was even warmer( my Suunto showed it to be 88-90 degrees!!!). Catalina was sloping deeper, down to 57 feet still warm, still clear at 25-35 feet vis.
Saturday was their morning dives to San Pedro or Seal island. vis was 50-90 feet, sea lions came out to play!! and on the way a pod of 30 Dolphins did some wake diving, and water clearing jumps in tandum( 3-5 at a time). We had such a good time that after we got out, we hung around and snorkled for about another hour.
all in all a good trip, little pricey for 4 dives, San carlos has about 5,000 folks W/lotsa Americans, English widely spoken, solid hotels with stark Desert Scenery...I plan on going back in the fall October early november when the water is more in the 70-78 degree range and look to do some more dives ( if you booked it right, you can get in 4 dives on saturday, and 2 more on sunday) Gary's dive shop and Del Mar are the two competing dive operators in the Town Dives run about $45 for a single tank with 2 tanks running in the $80-95 range....Nitrox is very Available and is on every outing.
hope this helps anyone looking for A Gulf of Calif. /Sea of Cortez outing....
