Baja California Sur, Mexico – Land-Based Exploratory Trip

Date: October 1999

Survey says: "Wow!" Or in eights words or less: hammerhead sharks, sea lions, whale sharks, manta rays! And that was just in the first three days of diving in La Paz.

But the excitement was not limited just to the big guys—we were enthralled with the smaller life, too. Chocolate Chip, Tans, & Gulf starfish that at least looked good enough to eat, a variety of eels unmatched by Caribbean offerings, pairs of Moorish Idols, schools of Yellowtail Surgeonfish Guineafowl pufferfish, crown of thorns, nudibranches, Cortez angelfish and more than we could take in.

La Paz, our first destination for the week, was a beautiful city by the waterfront—clean, with very friendly people, and not over-run by tourists! We dived with Baja Expeditions on the Rio Rita. The only part of this trip that was not ideal was the long distances to the dive sites and the speed at which we got there (3 hours or more). Also, the boat was over-booked and crowded due to a European travel agency screw-up. The water was smooth as glass, however, making the trip comfortable and relaxing. Exceptionally good hot Mexican breakfasts prepared fresh on the way out and hot lunches after two dives made the trip go faster.

The operation also offered all the soda and bottled water you wanted, snacks, and at the end of the day, freshly made margaritas. They do know how to take care of divers!

Day 1: The El Bajo Seamounts were the furthest site out, but the home of the hammerheads. Although Alfredo, one of our two divemasters, told us they were there, we still had low expectations of seeing them. Ten minutes into dive #1, however, and I was a believer. I was at 110’ or so and a school of six hammerheads swam about 20-30 feet below our group. Too deep and too far away for photographing them, and no way I was going to get them to stop and pose anyway. Still, very exciting to see them for the first time.

Dive #2 was in the same area but on a second and shallower seamount. Nothing special was going on until I turned to Sandy and noticed a 10’ hammerhead swimming towards her. He veered off; turning towards me for a moment, then executed a u-turn and quickly disappeared into the big blue. I suppose it got about 15’ from Sandy and not quite as close to me. We both had time for a single shot—time will tell if either shot worked.

Day 2: Isla Islotes, a sea lion rookery, was a site we were looking forward to. The dive was great and we could have spent all our time in 10-15 feet of water. There must have been dozens of young sea lions darting through the water almost faster than your eyes could follow. And while you were watching one, another might be grabbing your fins to take a look. We did two hour-long dives here because they were so shallow. Lots of fun and snorkelers would easily enjoy this location, too.

On the way back to La Paz, we heard from the Solmar V, a luxury live-aboard that was in the area, that they had spotted a couple whale sharks in the bay. We joined the hunt and ended up with about three encounters. On the longest, we snorkeled with the whale shark about 10 minutes as it glided about 6 feet below the surface. It was the fastest that I shot a roll of film, hoping all the time that the exposures were right (or a least close enough). The shark was easily 25 feet long, and it one of the big thrills of the week.

Day 3: At La Renya, Alfredo "promised" manta rays. If no mantas showed up, we thought, at least there were more sea lions to play with. We took this promise more seriously, however, since he was two-for-two. Sure enough, 15 minutes into the dive a couple rays showed up to thrill us. They circled three or four times, coming very close. Again, the shutter was snapping just about as fast as it could.

After two dives, we headed to an old 300-foot-long ferryboat wreck, the Salvatierra. The wreck is home for thousands of fish and it was a beautiful dive.

Except for the speed of the boat, we cannot say enough about Baja Expedition’s excellent operation. The crew was efficient, helpful, and fun to be with, and it may bare repeating, the cook was superb.

Cabo San Lucas. After three exceptional days in La Paz (diving, hotels, food—everything was great), we headed a hundred miles south in our rental car to Cabo San Lucas, stopping only once to wait for the cows to cross the highway. Cabo, too, was everything we expected—billions of tourists from the US and everything to go along with them. The good news? Planet Hollywood was closed, but there still was Hard Rock Cafe, Cabo Wabo, KFC, and countless bars, restaurants, timeshare opportunities, jewelry stores, "almost-for-free" silver (plated) bracelets and necklaces, fishing boats, golf, t-shirt shops...need I go on?

It was worth dealing with the commercialization, however, to see the beauty of Lands End, the southern most point of Baja and the point where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. The water, unique rock formations, the mountainous backdrop, beautiful white sand beaches are the lures, bringing thousands of tourists to Cabo. We, too, were captivated by the beauty of the area.

Diving summary: In Cabo, we dove with Underwater Diversions. They have a single dive boat that is comfortable and well designed for the short trips out to the dive sites. The dive masters are used to walk-up divers with a variety of skills, so they tend to be understandably on the controlling side. After a couple dives with us, however, we became less "supervised." All in all, the dive masters, Victor and Daniel, and the boat captain, Chamala, were excellent and fun to be with.

While the diving we experienced in Cabo over four days was nice, it was not exceptional. A day-long trip to Cabo Pulmo, the only hard coral reef west of the continent was very worthwhile, and we were surprised by schools of balloon fish, the largest numbering in the 70’s. Rarely have we seen more than a couple of balloon fish swimming together. Huge rock formations with large crevices 8-20 feet high, covered with both hard and soft corals, were the home to dozens of groupers, schools of goatfish, porkfish and grunts, and moray and jewel eels everywhere we looked. Victor also spotted the "mother of all" scorpion fishes. After two dives, we were treated to a freshly cooked Mexican lunch under a thatched-roof pavilion on a white sand beach. Getting there required a 2-hour drive, mostly on paved roads, and it was well worth it.

Right outside the Cabo Harbor is Pelican Rock. We did two night dives there, circling the rock and finding dozens of interesting critters to photograph, including one of the largest green moray eels we have ever seen, octopus, three types of nudibranchs, shrimps, crabs, and more. A day dive near the same spot revealed a steep, white sand slope that reminded me of a snow covered ski hill. At the bottom of the slope around 90-100’, the sand fell like a waterfall over the rocky ledge below. As we came back up from depth, one of the towering submerged rock formations became the focus of our interest as we saw an electric ray, schools of Yellowtail surgeonfish, Moorish Idols, and green moray eels.

Summary: Bottom line, the trip exceeded our expectations in every way. As recommended to us, October was the perfect time to enjoy warm weather and water temperatures in the low 80s.The recommendations were right on as the weather was picture perfect.

A repeat trip is planned for October 2000 on the Solmar V live-aboard. We can’t guarantee a repeat performance by hammerheads, whale sharks, and mantas, but I think we can promise a unique trip, different than the Caribbean, but one not to miss.