devingordon
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We were in Baja California Sur for a combined dive and beach trip, so I thought I'd post a quick trip report.
Our group of three dove one day in La Paz and did a three-tank dive with Cortez Club. We did two dives at the sea lion colony at Los Islotes (our choice to stay there for two dives) and one wreck dive. We had the boat and a dive master to ourselves, which was quite nice.
The dives with the sea lions were great. The visibility was far better than we expected (at least 80 feet, maybe more), and the non-sea lion portion of the dive was quite interesting. There's very little coral, primarily just in one swim-through section, with a rocky bottom predominant. In addition to large schools of bait fish and your usual suspects, we saw a number of eels (green moray and spotted), Moorish idols, puffers and literally hundreds of sea stars of several varieties.
The sea lions were quite curious but not as interactive as we had hoped. The first dive was on the north-ish side of the island, which seems to be the most popular area. When we arrived, there was one other boat with snorkelers. We entered the water, did the dive tour including the swim-through, then went to where the sea lions were congregating. By that point, there were at least a dozen other divers and snorkelers, including a very irritating dive master from another company who was shaking a noise-maker incessantly and waving a bandanna in an attempt to interest the sea lions. So deduct several points for the dive master. If we had gone to see the sea lions at the beginning of the dive, we would have been there for 30 minutes or so by ourselves. There were perhaps a dozen sea lions in the water on that dive.
We did the second dive on the south side of the island, and we were the only divers, which was really nice. During our surface interval one sea lion spent quite a bit of time swimming next to the boat. We probably saw at least two dozen sea lions in the water on that dive, some of whom came very close to play near us. Two boats of snorkelers joined later but did not to interfere with our enjoyment. The south side of the island had more bait fish but virtually no other fish except for the occasional snapper, etc.
We then dove the Fang Ming wreck on the way back to La Paz. Overall it was a bust for all of us. The visibility was very poor (20-30 feet), which we learned was common. Even though the intentional wreck was sunk in 1999, there was very little sea life. If the visibility had been better, the wreck penetration may have been interesting, but overall it's not a dive we would do again. In retrospect, we would have stayed and done a third dive with the sea lions if we had known.
As for Cortez Club, it was somewhat a mixed bag. They were very friendly and helpful, and the boat was fine - probably a 24-foot, panga-style, single engine. It was a fairly small boat for the length of the trip - a solid hour to get to Los Islotes - and we were passed by larger, twin-engine boats on the way out. The dive master was very nice and informative, but she wasn't the best underwater. In addition to the aforementioned miss (in my opinion) of not going to the sea lions initially on the first dive, she lost sight of me several times because I suffered leg cramps a couple of times while getting used to new fins. It wasn't a huge deal, but I never expect to have to look for a dive master. When we returned, the crew cleaned our gear perhaps better than any dive shop ever has. The downside was the price - three-tank dives for three people, plus lunch on the boat, tax and marine park fees - $755 US.
We were supposed to also spend several days diving Cabo Pulmo, but a storm came in and made that impossible, so we had to change plans.
Here are a few photos and videos:
Our group of three dove one day in La Paz and did a three-tank dive with Cortez Club. We did two dives at the sea lion colony at Los Islotes (our choice to stay there for two dives) and one wreck dive. We had the boat and a dive master to ourselves, which was quite nice.
The dives with the sea lions were great. The visibility was far better than we expected (at least 80 feet, maybe more), and the non-sea lion portion of the dive was quite interesting. There's very little coral, primarily just in one swim-through section, with a rocky bottom predominant. In addition to large schools of bait fish and your usual suspects, we saw a number of eels (green moray and spotted), Moorish idols, puffers and literally hundreds of sea stars of several varieties.
The sea lions were quite curious but not as interactive as we had hoped. The first dive was on the north-ish side of the island, which seems to be the most popular area. When we arrived, there was one other boat with snorkelers. We entered the water, did the dive tour including the swim-through, then went to where the sea lions were congregating. By that point, there were at least a dozen other divers and snorkelers, including a very irritating dive master from another company who was shaking a noise-maker incessantly and waving a bandanna in an attempt to interest the sea lions. So deduct several points for the dive master. If we had gone to see the sea lions at the beginning of the dive, we would have been there for 30 minutes or so by ourselves. There were perhaps a dozen sea lions in the water on that dive.
We did the second dive on the south side of the island, and we were the only divers, which was really nice. During our surface interval one sea lion spent quite a bit of time swimming next to the boat. We probably saw at least two dozen sea lions in the water on that dive, some of whom came very close to play near us. Two boats of snorkelers joined later but did not to interfere with our enjoyment. The south side of the island had more bait fish but virtually no other fish except for the occasional snapper, etc.
We then dove the Fang Ming wreck on the way back to La Paz. Overall it was a bust for all of us. The visibility was very poor (20-30 feet), which we learned was common. Even though the intentional wreck was sunk in 1999, there was very little sea life. If the visibility had been better, the wreck penetration may have been interesting, but overall it's not a dive we would do again. In retrospect, we would have stayed and done a third dive with the sea lions if we had known.
As for Cortez Club, it was somewhat a mixed bag. They were very friendly and helpful, and the boat was fine - probably a 24-foot, panga-style, single engine. It was a fairly small boat for the length of the trip - a solid hour to get to Los Islotes - and we were passed by larger, twin-engine boats on the way out. The dive master was very nice and informative, but she wasn't the best underwater. In addition to the aforementioned miss (in my opinion) of not going to the sea lions initially on the first dive, she lost sight of me several times because I suffered leg cramps a couple of times while getting used to new fins. It wasn't a huge deal, but I never expect to have to look for a dive master. When we returned, the crew cleaned our gear perhaps better than any dive shop ever has. The downside was the price - three-tank dives for three people, plus lunch on the boat, tax and marine park fees - $755 US.
We were supposed to also spend several days diving Cabo Pulmo, but a storm came in and made that impossible, so we had to change plans.
Here are a few photos and videos:
