La Paz is well known for its excellent scuba diving conditions, and with countless tiny islets combined with three gorgeous islands, this area is a wonderful place to visit. The Sea of Cortez provides the area with abundant nutrients, and the algae blooms during Autumn and Spring draw whale sharks. During late summer and early autumn, visitors arrive in droves to see the Manta rays and schools of hammerheads that pass through the region, and each year, between December and March, the number of grey whales that visit the peaceful waters increases.
Diving conditions are wonderful year round, as the average temperature in winter here is about 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and 90 degrees in the summer. Local dive operators are happy to provide instruction and offer rentals, so even if it has been a while since you spent time on the bottom, you can do it here with ease.
Rocas Lobos
Rocas Lobos, or “Sea Lion Rocks” is an excellent dive for all levels. With depths ranging from twenty to one hundred feet, the site is peppered with caves and overhangs, where a multitude of fish, including amber jacks, wahoo, dorado, and others swim along with you. At night, the area is alive with invertebrates, and you can see parrotfish sleeping inside the cocoons they construct for themselves each evening as the sun goes down. Look for small fish among the coral heads here, and keep an eye out for the rays that rest on the sandy bottom. If you are lucky, you may see a few sharks, or even a few sea lions. Though the site is named after these pinnipeds, they rarely return in large numbers.
El Bajo Seamounts
If you want to visit La Paz to see the Hammerheads that school here, one of the best places to witness this incredible congregation is at El Bajo Seamounts. Here, an underwater mountain rises from deep below, to just sixty feet from the water’s surface. Whether you come during hammerhead season or not, you will more than likely be treated to the incredible sight of schooling pelagics. The nutrients that well up as the water surges against the seamount feed a variety of life, including tuna and jacks, sardines, and other fish.
If you do visit during hammerhead season, you’ll witness the incredible phenomenon that can be seen in only a few places on earth. When hammerheads school here, they seem to always travel in a clockwise direction. Sometimes there are only a few of them, and at other times hundreds of hammerheads swirl through the water.
Another interesting sight here is the colony of more than fifty Panamic Green Moray Eels that make their home in a small canyon here. You may also see octopus in the area, as well as giant pacific manta rays with wingspans exceeding ten feet, and you may even encounter a whale shark during the months they occupy the area.
Due to the current, which is strong, this dive is reserved for advanced divers and above, with recent experience logged.
The Colony
At Los Islotes, you will find a wonderful sanctuary for a colony of playfully mesmerizing California Sea Lions. While somewhat clumsy on dry land, these delightful, bewhiskered creatures are agile and as graceful as dancers once they slip beneath the water’s surface. Diving here can be a lot of fun, and while you should respect the sea lions’ boundaries, they are accustomed to divers and are quite interested in us. They will sometimes approach curiously, and have been known to play games! Besides the sleek sea lions, you will see schools of sardines and plenty of colorful fish in the area. If you get the opportunity to watch sea lions hunting you’ll be amazed – they swirl through the schools, making them increasingly smaller, until a single fish breaks ranks. Then, the sea lion nabs the fish in mid-flight – a wonderful thing to watch! The Colony is a great dive for all levels.
Whale Island
Off the west coast of Isla Espiritu Santo, you will is a tiny island. Whale Island features intriguing underwater caves, including one that has an air pocket inside. Odd as it may seem to dive into a cave from the ocean, and then emerge in a darkened, air-capped chamber, it is indeed possible! Here, you will also encounter a garden of conger eels that make their home on a sandy shelf. Each eel occupies a hole in the ocean floor, and rises to nibble at bits of food that float past. At twenty to sixty feet, this site is accessible to all. If you are fortunate, you may see a pod of dolphins or a school of rays while you are here!
Isla Cerralvo
Isla Cerralvo offers a few dive sites and is about an hour’s boat ride off La Paz. At La Reyna, which is a small rocky islet with a working lighthouse to the north of Isla Cerralvo, a reef which is home to brilliantly colored tropical fish, as well as big gorgonians, brain coral, and sponges, attracts the attention of the occasional shark or yellowtail, as well as other pelagics, such as dorado, wahoo, and tuna. At eighty feet and subject to currents, this dive is not for beginners.
La Reynita, which is located on the west side of Isla Cerralvo, is a small rock pinnacle with a steady moderate current that attracts a wide variety of fish. Here, schools of groupers and other fish swim in never-ending circles and swirl against the sunlight that penetrates the water. On the ocean floor, a group of conger garden eels sway with the current, while small fish nibble around the brain coral and gorgonians. This is one site where you may be able to see the massive pacific manta rays that sometimes visit the area.
La Punta Norte is located at the northern point of the island, as the site’s name suggests. Here, the maximum depth is just sixty feet and the reef is absolutely teeming with life. This is an excellent place to see green sea turtles, moray eels, and sharply grinning Mexican barracuda. Watch for shoals of sergeant majors flashing their silvery sides in the sun, and enjoy the sight of all the small creatures that nibble delicately at the coral heads as you swim by.
Diving in La Paz is both fun and economical – a great combination! Whether you want to explore reefs, walls, or caves, you are certain to enjoy your visit.