La Paz is a great diving destination for the more adventurous divers. The city of La Paz is the capital of Baja California Sur – it has not the resort feeling to it as other locations in southern Baja, but is rich in old Mexico culture and is filled with friendly people. The scuba diving is fantastic and varies from off shore pinnacles, exciting wreck dives and beautiful garden reefs. All sites are loaded with amazing sea life from huge schools of jack, marine mammals of all sorts, giant Manta rays and hammerhead sharks. There are a lot of beautiful small creatures for those macro enthusiasts as well, a wide variety of nudibranch’s, frog fish, sea horses, octopus, shrimp and much more. Many of the best dive sites are between 1 to 2 hours boat ride away from the city; some see this as a negative aspect of La Paz diving, but the sea of Cortez is so beautiful that the boat rides can prove to be very entertaining with whale sightings, schools of dolphin, flying fish, jumping mobulas, sail fish and who knows what else you may see along the way.
The dive season in the Sea of Cortez is May through November. May and June are a little cooler with water temperatures between 65 to 75 degrees but this is the best time to see the whale sharks. In July and August the water is warming up to 75 to 85 degrees and this brings in the schooling fish and the sport fish that come in to feed on them. This is a good time to see schools of tuna and possibly marlin and sail fish. September and October finds the best visibility and abundant sea life. At this time the sea lion pups are more curious and adventurous to come around and interact with the divers, this is also the best time to see hammerhead sharks at sites like El Bajo.
Many of the dive sites are intermediate to advanced diving so it is a good idea to do some refresher dives before you go to La Paz so that you are on your game with your scuba skills.

Most favorite La Paz dive sites are:

1. Los Islotes: The sea lion colony where you can swim with many sea lions and even get some close encounters with these curious animals. This is one of the easier dive sites and is a great snorkeling site too. If you want to do an advanced dive here you can by going around to the back side of the island where you can dive deeper and approach the currents to possibly see some pelagic fish.

2. La Reina: Here you can see huge schools of fish and maybe even a giant manta ray. This is another off shore islet or rock outcropping that is subject to heavy ocean currents. This brings massive amounts of sea life to the area to feed. You can find shelter from the current by going on the down current side of the rock. Depending on the conditions you can also get to some wrecks that are at this location.

3. Suwanee reef: A 3/4 of a mile long reef loaded with hard and soft corals, brilliant colors and amazing sea life. This is a shallow dive, mostly around 20 to 40 feet deep and is a great last dive of the day if you have been doing deep repetitive dives. At Suwanee reef I saw frog fish, garden eels, many different nudibranch’s, turtles and very colorful corals and reef fish.

4. The Salvatierra wreck: A 300 foot long cargo transport ferry that sank in 1975. The wreck is loaded with black coral and is home to several very large groupers and big schools of jack. You can find some cargo scattered about the dive site including some trucks. This is really a great wreck dive to go along with several other great natural and artificial wrecks that La Paz has to offer.

5. The Marisla Seamount, colloquially known as El Bajo, is an underwater volcano chain surrounded by the most fabulous pelagic a diver could ever hope to encounter and in such quantities that they completely overwhelm the senses. It is located some eight miles North by North East of La Paz, Mexico in 65-120 ft. of water. The three sea mounts composing El Bajo on any given day are filled with manta rays, nudibrachs, and colonies of eels. Schools of fish swim around like recess was just released and when the conditions are right, scalloped hammerhead sharks circle in the hundreds above divers!

The Sea of Cortez has been called the “world’s aquarium” by Jacques Cousteau and rightfully so. It is a must see for anybody who loves diving.

El Bajo Marisla Seamount is a post from: La Paz Scuba

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b.i.n. = Baja Infortheque Network.

Monster Hurricane Rick weakened and slowed down early Monday as it barreled up Mexico’s Pacific coast as a downgraded Category Three storm, with US forecasters still calling it “dangerous.”
“Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour with higher gusts,” the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. “Rick is a Category Three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale,” the center added.
At 0900 GMT Monday, Rick was around 380 miles (615 kilometers) south southwest of the resort town of Cabo San Lucas as it headed northwest at 10 miles (17 kilometers) per hour, parallel to Mexico’s coast, the NHC said. The US forecasters warned about “potentially dangerous surf conditions” caused by large ocean swells.
“Interests in western mainland Mexico should monitor the progress of this hurricane,” the Miami-based center said. Rick is on track to turn northward on Tuesday and is expected to gradually weaken over the next 24 to 48 hours, the NHC said. But the center warned that even despite the weakening, “Rick is still expected to be a dangerous hurricane as it approaches the southern Baja Peninsula.”
The hurricane reached Category Five status on Saturday, as it churned towards Mexico’s Pacific coast with winds of more than 180 miles (285 kilometers) per hour, US forecasters said. The storm reached the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale after warm waters prompted its dramatic rise from a Category One to a Category Five system in less than 36 hours.
With 180 miles per hour winds, Rick became “the second-strongest eastern north Pacific hurricane on record after Linda of 1997,” the NHC said at the time. On Sunday, wind speeds diminished to near 160 miles (260 kilometers) per hour, still within a Category Five storm, according to the NHC. But early Monday, the storm began rapidly losing its punch.
The seventh hurricane of the eastern north Pacific 2009 season, Rick comes on the heels of Tropical Storm Patricia, which last week placed Los Cabos on Baja’s southern tip under a state of emergency, before petering out.

Monster Hurricane Rick weakened is a post from: La Paz Scuba

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b.i.n. = Baja Infortheque Network.

A ship last used by the U.S. Air Force to track missiles and spacecraft will soon become the world’s second-largest intentionally sunk artificial reef. Officials hope it will attract fish and divers and relieve recreational pressure on nearby natural reefs. The project has been years in the making. The cost is about $8.6 million, from acquiring the ship to cleaning it. Officials in the Florida Keys expect it to pay dividends, up to $8 million in annual tourism-related revenue, mostly from divers flocking to get a look at the underwater spectacle and related businesses. The idea is to not only to attract tourists, but to help protect the Keys’ natural reefs, already suffering from excessive diving, snorkeling and fishing along with warming ocean temperatures. Explosives attached to the vessel’s hull detonated to flood the 17,000-ton, 523-foot-long ship that was first built as a cargo ship in World War II.

It took $8.6 million (£5.3 million) and more than ten years to prepare the USNS General Hoyt S.Vandenberg for its big day. Yet when the time came, it was all over in less than two minutes. Since its decommissioning in 1986, the 17,250-ton Vandenberg had spent years rusting at its moorings on a river in Virginia as part of the US Maritime Administration’s “ghost fleet”. Its sinking is seen by maritime enthusiasts as a glorious finale to its 66-year story.

Kept in position by four eight-ton anchors, the 523ft ship now rests on the seabed at a depth of 140ft — where it is expected to become a magnet for marine life and for divers, drawing some of the traffic away from natural coral reefs in the area. Within six months, the Vandenberg should be covered with plants and invertebrates that will help to grow the food chain for fish such as grouper, snapper and barracuda. Fish are expected within hours and recreational divers could be allowed as soon as today or tomorrow, once experts confirm that the vessel has settled properly. Coral and sponges will take longer to colonize the wreck — possibly years.

Ship sinking for artificial reef is a post from: La Paz Scuba

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La Paz located on the Bahia La Paz is the perfect starting point for scuba diving tours to the Sea of Cortez. Once called the “World’s Aquarium” and “Galapagos of North America” (by Captain Jacques Cousteau). The Gulf of California as the Sea of Cortez also is refered to is home to a unique and rich ecosystem. In addition to a wide range of endemic creatures, it hosts many migratory species, such as the humpback whale, California Gray Whale, Manta Ray and Leatherback Sea Turtle. Before Cocos Island, Costa Rica became “in” the sea mounts of the Sea of Cortez were the place to observe schooling hammerheads and sea lions. Water visibility and temperatures vary. In winter and spring there’s a thermocline, with 70 to 80 degree water on the surface and 50 to 60 degree water below 30-40 feet…. Visibility is determined by the plankton blooms; while it’s low (25­40 feet) in midsummer, it generally improves to 80 to 100 feet by late summer.

Scuba Sea of Cortez is a post from: La Paz Scuba

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b.i.n. = Baja Infortheque Network.

A Great White Shark breached a commercial shark diving cage, tearing it to pieces in an effort to free itself from the structure. The video was shot by tourist divers and uploaded to YouTube. This extraordinary accident is a very well known among shark diving operators at Guadalupe Island, Mexico, and has now hit the mainstream media as an interest piece. The lesson here is this accident was avoidable. Correct positioning of the hang-bait is a critical part of being a responsible operator. If the baits are never allowed to sit in front of the cage, especially laying diagonally across a possible and likely path of travel, the chance of a cage breech is greatly reduced. Sure, mistakes can happen but this video is testament to how quickly things can go wrong. This poor handling truly was an accident waiting to happen. The operator in question was reported for poor conduct and the incident was put under investigation by the environmental organisation in charge of Guadalupe, CONAP.

According to the diver who posted the video, the attack by the giant ocean predator – known as CC or Cut Caudal among regular divers in the area – was actually an accident that happened after the shark unwittingly blinded itself while feeding on fish. CC apparently instinctively rolled his eyes back as he took some bait and rammed into the viewing window of the cage, narrowly missing the head of one of the divers.

Read more about the incident at Luke Tipple’s Journal. Luke Tipple is a Marine Biologist, professional diver and wildlife production consultant with an infectious passion for travel and adventure. Originally hailing from Adelaide, Australia, his travels have taken him around the globe working in positions such as research scientist, tour guide, dive instructor, trip director and sometime bar man. Currently he is based in L.A.

You can also watch a video about the incident in our scuba video collection in the sidebar to the right!

Great White Shark breached a commercial shark diving cage is a post from: La Paz Scuba

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b.i.n. = Baja Infortheque Network.