Labor Day Weekend in La Bufadora

[Rainer]

Yeah, I've now heard from a few people who didn't have successful trips when they just went down unannounced. Dale makes the whole process easy if you just get in touch before driving south. Ligers did a great job setting up our trip (villa, private panga, extra dives, etc). Definitely worth reaching out to Dale.

I was talking with Dale while we were down there and he made a comment that all year long he'd had no divers and the one weekend with huge swell, he has a bunch of groups of divers. I think that if he doesn't know divers are coming into town, that he's not generally at the dive shop (he lives about 20 minutes away). So if you go down again, definitely get in touch with him before hand. He's very good with email (also good with phone calls, and I think he has a 619 number, so I think it would not be considered long distance even though he's in Mexico).

 

[Mossman]

Yeah, I had contacted Dale before the trip, but he planned to be in the States when we were headed down there. Someone else came and opened up the shop for us. If I can ever talk J into getting into water that cold, I'll be sure to plan with Dale before setting a date. Cold water diving later followed by hot tub and margaritas at Las Rosas and a lobster dinner, that's a nice dive trip.

I'm working on her, we almost made it to Redondo this summer but she had to suddenly leave town on a family issue that's pretty much used up the rest of the "warm" season where her 7mm might be enough for a local dive. I was hoping that if she had an impressive night dive (which she prefers over daytime) we'd consider getting her a drysuit and then I'd have a cold water dive buddy again. Might have to wait until next year now.

 

[Rainer]

Just keep working on her, I'm sure she'll come around.

Our waters might be cold(er), but we have some amazing diving in this general area. La Bufadora is among the highlight spots.

 

[ligersandtions]

Yeah, I had contacted Dale before the trip, but he planned to be in the States when we were headed down there. Someone else came and opened up the shop for us. If I can ever talk J into getting into water that cold, I'll be sure to plan with Dale before setting a date. Cold water diving later followed by hot tub and margaritas at Las Rosas and a lobster dinner, that's a nice dive trip.

I'm working on her, we almost made it to Redondo this summer but she had to suddenly leave town on a family issue that's pretty much used up the rest of the "warm" season where her 7mm might be enough for a local dive. I was hoping that if she had an impressive night dive (which she prefers over daytime) we'd consider getting her a drysuit and then I'd have a cold water dive buddy again. Might have to wait until next year now.

Take her to La Bufadora! The water's cold, but the diving's spectacular! Just a few minutes diving La Bufadora would have me convinced to get into a drysuit so I could do as much cold water diving as I could handle

Hell, diving La Bufadora had me ready to quit my job and figure out a way to just stay down there and dive for the rest of my life

 

[Rainer]

Ha, I think Jen would be willing to move down just for the churros, nevermind the diving!

 

[jenth]

Chiming in here a little late...but I definitely did love the diving at La Bufadora. It really isn't for the feint of heart (there were a few times even I questioned whether we should be diving)...but it is definitely worth it. I'd say the hardest part about the whole trip was making sure we finished our dives in time to grab some churros at the stands in La Bufadora.

Huge thanks to Nicole for putting this all together. It really is great to have friends we love to go diving with...and enjoy spending time topside with as well!

 

[Rainer]

The challenge was part of the fun. That said, given this was the worst swell they'd seen all year (and apart from launching/recovering the pangas, it wasn't too bad), I'd venture our next trip would be even easier.

 

[ligersandtions]

The challenge was part of the fun. That said, given this was the worst swell they'd seen all year (and apart from launching/recovering the pangas, it wasn't too bad), I'd venture our next trip would be even easier.

I don't think I can wait till Memorial Day next year....I say we go again for the New Year

There's no way the swell can be worse than what we already dealt with!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

The Dive Animals here in San Diego used to do one or two trips annually to La Bufadora.
John Leek was the master organizer for those outings. We'd pitch tents on the bluffs overlooking the water and enjoy a campfire at night. Those averse to sleeping in the dirt would arrange to bunk inside the villa. I'm not a formal member anymore, so I'm not sure if they're still making the effort to do the LB trips.

John wrote up a "How To" essay on diving La Bufadora. In fact, you probably already ran across his essay while planning your trip.

Yup, the water is colder there, and operating out of pangas does make the logistics of diving rather interesting. The abundance of UW life makes up for all of it. We had some priceless encounters with pinnipeds on our last trip. Since the water is colder and nutrient-rich, the rocks are teeming with nudibranchs. I was also struck by the concentration of so many starfish in one location. Very cool diving, indeed.

In recent years with the "lawlessness" south of the border, we've been making fewer trips down there.
We used to make non-diving trips down to Puerto Nuevo, too, but our friends grew tired of getting shaken down by the Policia.
It's too bad.

 

[Rainer]

Having chatted with Dale, it definitely seems like business is way off lately. We traveled together, stayed on the toll roads coming down, didn't venture anywhere too "sporting", had our stuff at the villa (it's right next to Dale's house), and overall felt quite safe and didn't have any issues.

The Dive Animals here in San Diego used to do one or two trips annually to La Bufadora.
John Leek was the master organizer for those outings. We'd pitch tents on the bluffs overlooking the water and enjoy a campfire at night. Those averse to sleeping in the dirt would arrange to bunk inside the villa. I'm not a formal member anymore, so I'm not sure if they're still making the effort to do the LB trips.

John wrote up a "How To" essay on diving La Bufadora. In fact, you probably already ran across his essay while planning your trip.

Yup, the water is colder there, and operating out of pangas does make the logistics of diving rather interesting. The abundance of UW life makes up for all of it. We had some priceless encounters with pinnipeds on our last trip. Since the water is colder and nutrient-rich, the rocks are teeming with nudibranchs. I was also struck by the concentration of so many starfish in one location. Very cool diving, indeed.

In recent years with the "lawlessness" south of the border, we've been making fewer trips down there.
We used to make non-diving trips down to Puerto Nuevo, too, but our friends grew tired of getting shaken down by the Policia.
It's too bad.