Northwest Dive Club

Curious if anyone has some recommendations on sites near Cabo San Lucas. Looking for sites that are less than a 2 hour drive from Cabo. Not looking for a live-aboard situation (hopefully next time).

FYI: we will be in Cabo the first week of January, in case the time of the year impacts the conditions at the various sites differently.

Thanks for your input.

I've dove in Cabo but it's not really a great dive destination. Most of the diving is a 5 minute boat ride out of the harbor and you dive on the pinnacles by the arch.

One really cool dive we did was through the channel between the arch and the sea lion colony. The dive goes like this...
The boat drops you off in a protected cove and you drop down to 60 ft. In buddy teams you move out of the cove and get sucked into the channel by the surge. When the surge starts to pull you backward you dig your hands into the bottom and wait for it to change directions. All during the dive massive sea lions are buzzing back and forth and playing in the surge. You eventually get spit out on the other side of the channel where the boat picks you up.

Another option to check out is Cabo Pulmo which is a 2-3 hour drive from CSL on the Sea of Cortez side. Cabo Pulmo is a marine preserve and is supposed to have great coral and tons of life. The only problem is that because of wind conditions you run the risk of heading out there and not being able to dive.

If I ever get back to Cabo I Would look into this,Cabo Pulmo area!

Hope you give us a dive report, when you get back!


Enjoy!

Keith.

You should be aware that the coast between La Paz and Los Cabo, including Cabo Pulmo, is a windsurfing mecca between Nov. and March due to the reliable strong winds. When I was down there for three months we had wind 4-5 days a week with wind so strong that I didn't feel safe sailing the few days I was at Cabo Pulmo. The typical wind is a 15-25 kt. Northerly which would make boat diving uncomfortable and mess up the viz.

Be sure to have alternate plans when you are down there. One of my favorite days was a hike up a canyon at Agua Caliente near Santiago (the town with a little zoo). The hot springs were basically a dirty livestock trough but there were lovely clear freshwater pools up the canyon and I was pleasantly surprised when the ladies we had just met decided to go skinny dipping. Although the area is known for beaches I wouldn't neglect visiting the desert and mountains. I also found La Paz to be a very nice city, not a tourist trap, and it is common vacation destination for middle class Mexicans from the mainland.

I thought I'd bump this thread again to see if anyone has any additional info . I just booked airfare to Cabo San Lucas for June 11-16th and I'd like to do a day or two of diving if possible while I'm there.

Check out Gordo Banks if it's open.
http://caboscubadive.com/cabo-dive-sites.html

I enjoyed diving the North Wall of the arches. It drops down pretty quickly to a shelf at about 130, and then disappears in to darkness as it descends to 4000fsw (or so I've been told). They have sand falls out there as well. It's pretty wild, and a lot of fun.

D

I would second Cabo Pulmo. I did Gordo Banks and spent the dives hanging in the water with nothing to see....apparently it's pretty awesome if there's lots of pelagic life in the area. Check the currents before you go - if there's not much current there's not much to see.

Cabo Pulmo is awesome for sheer amount of life, but it's a heckuva boat trip if you leave from Cabo (especially when there's bad weather on the return trip like we had).

Gordo Banks is awesome when conditions are right -- in the space of 5 minutes there we saw a huge school of hammerheads and a huge marlin, both on our safety stop

Scott