Where to dive in South Baja California

[pimouss]

Hello

I go to south Baja California for 10 days at the end of february. Id'like to dive (scuba and snorkel/free dive for sealion).
I saw there are various spots (La paz, Cabo Pulmo, Loreto, Cabo san Lucas ...). Which one would be the best ?
I'll have a car, so no worries, and I'm CMAS 3 stars with 200+ dives.
Is there place where free dive/ snorkeling will be a good option, if possible from the shore without boat ?

Thanks for your answer

JC

 

[elgoog]

Here's a link to the trip report from when we went to Cabo Pulmo and La Paz last October, should give you some details that may be helpful.

Few additional thoughts based on your OP that are not in the report above -
- Cabo Pulmo will be your best bet for snorkeling and free diving from shore. There is no shore diving/snorkeling/freediving in La Paz - all of it is a fairly long boat ride away. However, having said that, there are a few freediving and spearfishing trips that depart from La Paz (Tailhunters were the biggest op I saw with these trips - check the season to see if they are still running in February). Make sure to take a float with you if you go more than 100ft or so from the shore in Cabo Pulmo - when we were there, the park DMs and rangers stopped our dive boat for almost every snorkeler and gave them a bit of a lecture about it. There is a lot of dive boat activity even near the shallow reefs so you need to be careful and make yourself as visible as possible.
- We did sea lion dives in both places - Los Islotes near La Paz is by far the more famous and reliable one. I think you can do a snorkel trip there but would recommend a SCUBA dive as you can go inside a submerged cave and hang out there for a good 30min or so playing with the sea lions. Also, it's a looong boat ride from La Paz and not worth just doing one snorkel trip - might as well get 2 or 3 dives including your sea lion dive.
- February is probably not the best time for the region as it may be quite windy and boat trips could get blown out. If you're going from shore, may not be as big an issue if you're used to some surface chop.

That's all I can think of right now. Let me know if you have any more questions.
HTH,
elgoog