Diving in Baja
The 700-mile-long Baja Peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Cortez, creating a nautical crossroads at Cabo San Lucas, its southernmost point. These fish-rich waters have much to offer divers and fishermen, but even greater things await to the south. Some 230 miles from Cabo lies the Revillagigedo Archipelago, a group of uninhabited rock islands which included Socorro, Clarion, San Benedicto and Roca Partida. These islands are sometime called the Socorros because it easier to pronounce. But, no matter what you call it, this is one of the world’s hot spots for big animals and giant manta encounters in open water. Mantas can be seen at a majority of dive sites around the area, with one of the best being a cleaning station at San Benedicto Island where mantas show up for grooming with predictable regularity. The undersea landscape of the islands present a series of volcanic slopes, steps and ridges near the shoreline, along with offshore pinnacles. Visibility often ranges between 30 and 60 feet, but can sometimes reach 100. In addition to mantas, these remote islands also attract passing pelagics, including large pods of dolphin, schools of jacks and yellowfin tuna and a variety of whales that includes humpbacks, false killers and pilot whales, plus a showcase of sharks that includes white tips, silver tips, silkies, hammerheads, Galapagos, threshers, and occasionally tigers. Closer to Cabo San Lucas there’s underwater opportunities for all levels of divers. Sites just five minutes from the harbor feature encounters with curious sea lions, schools of Moorish idols, giant moray eels and sea turtles. Top sites include Land’s End, Sand Falls, and Neptune’s Finger. Further out is Gordo Banks, a seamount about 8 miles from shore that delivers schooling hammerheads, whale sharks, mobula and manta rays, dolphin and bait balls pursued by marlin. The Sea of Cortez plunges to depths of more that 14,000 feet, and is one of the richest and most active seas in the world. Gray whales migrate to the San Felipe area to calve, and whale sharks make the sea a regular haunt. At the marine reserve of Cabo Pulmo you’ll find large schools of fish and legions of eels, while islands such as Espiritu Santo near La Paz are home to playful colonies of seals and giant sea lion rookeries. On the Pacific side of the peninsula, not far from the US border, the small volcanic profile of Guadalupe Island sits 150 miles offshore. Here divers are provided a rare chance to view great white sharks in clear oceanic waters, and more than 170 individual sharks have been known to visit the area.