Socorro and Baja California - advice

[Liberty01]

I thought about doing a liveaboard trip to Socorro. Before the trip, I would like to do a bit of diving from Cabo San Lucas. Water temperatures should be at least 25°C, thus the best months will be November or June?

How deep do you need to dive in Socorro in order to see the sharks etc.? I other places, I had to go to 50m + to see schooling hammerheads etc., and I would like to know before.
Is there a lot of surface current or other current in Socorro?

 

[Manuel Sam]

In November, expect water temps to be around 27. This being a La Niña year, it could be a bit cooler. I have never been there in June.

Generally speaking, I think that if you dive to 25-30m, you will see sharks, some shallower and some deeper. The depth for sharks will vary even from trip to trip. At El Cañon in San Benedicto, schooling HHs are typically around 25-30m. At Cabo Pearce in Socorros Island, I've seen schooling HHs in 20m and deeper. At Roca Partida, the schooling HHs can just as easily be in 20m as in 50m; the white tips are all over but they like to hang around a hole in the wall that is at about 20m deep. Then there are silvertips, Galapagos, silkies, and the occasional Tiger. November is a good time to see whalesharks.

Bottom line is that you will not need to got o 50m to see sharks. They won't let you go that deep anyway, and your computer would scream at you if you are diving nitrox.

I have seen strong surface currents at Cabo Pearce in Socorros and at the Boiler in San Benedicto. In these cases, at least on the Solmar, they set up lines that you can use to pull yourself down. Once you get to depth, you can find shelter. You may encounter some current at almost any divesite and none at all sometimes. There is very little swimming against currents tho: most of the time you either drift or you just hang around near the rocks.

 

[Cali_diver]

You might want to consider La Paz instead of Cabo. The sea lions and whalesharks are pretty cool. It is a great add on to a Socorro LOB

 

[Liberty01]

Thank you.
@Manual Sam: In surface currents, we often had to do negative entries and swim down as quickly as possible. It is maybe easier to go down a line.

@Cali_diver: Can you recommend a dive shop?

 

[Manuel Sam]

It is definitely easier to pull yourself down using lines that are tied to the rocks, if these are provided.

You might also wish to consider land-based diving in Cabo Pulmo. Really impressive schools of snappers and big-eye trevallys and the occasional sighting of bull sharks. I dove with Mar y Sierra (Thierry Lannoy).

 

[Dan]

My dive buddy made a tunnel out of schooling Horse-eye Jack in Cabo Pulmo in October with just wearing short & T-shirt.

I'd skip Cabo San Lucas & go straight to Cabo Pulmo if I were you. I've been in Cabo Pulmo 3x.

Never been to La Paz, nor Socorro. May be I go there next year.

 

[Manuel Sam]

I'd also lean towards Cabo Pulmo over Cabo San Lucas and over La Paz because you will be seeing different stuff. Luck aside, that is, because if you have a rabbit's foot from a rabbit that exclusively ate four-leaf clovers, then Land's End in Cabo San Lucas might just turn up schooling mobulas or a whaleshark for you (it has happened, by the way, since there is a deep canyon there). Otherwise, in my opinion, the diving at Land's End or even across the bay in Cabo San Lucas is rather ho-hum in comparison. There is a sea lion colony at Land's End but they don't seem to like tourists much.

La Paz does have whalesharks and sea lions and the sea lions at El Islote are playful. With some luck, maybe even scalloped hammerheads at El Bajo.

The only deficit with Cabo Pulmo is that the choices on accommodations, restaurants and entertainment are more limited. There is definitely no AC since most of the electricity comes from solar power. And it is a little tougher to get to because the last 1/2 hour or so of the car ride is on dirt road.

But strictly from a diving standpoint: whatever you will see in Cabo San Lucas or La Paz you will probably see better in Socorros, except for maybe the sea lions. But what you can see in Cabo Pulmo, namely the huge schools of snappers and big-eye trevallys, you will not see in any of the other places, or at least not as good. Check out Erick Higueras's website for an idea of how massive the school of big eye trevallys is. And the bulls are just in Cabo Pulmo - no guarantees tho.

You can also see sea lions in Cabo Pulmo - they are kinda halfway friendly: not as standoffish as in Cabo San Lucas, but not as friendly as those in La Paz.

 

[Katie Storm]

View attachment 382265

My dive buddy made a tunnel out of schooling Horse-eye Jack in Cabo Pulmo in October with just wearing short & T-shirt.

I'd skip Cabo San Lucas & go straight to Cabo Pulmo if I were you. I've been in Cabo Pulmo 3x.

Never been to La Paz, nor Socorro. May be I go there next year.

Do you know who he went with? We are headed there next week.

 

[Dan]

Do you know who he went with? We are headed there next week.

We stayed in the only dive resort in the park, Cabo Pulmo dive resort, Home - CPDEV