Hangin in San Carlos, Sea of Cortez

[chim sui]

Greetings all
Presently living in San Carlos. Haven't been to San Pedro Island yet!
Sea of Cortez has a great reputation...not sure why yet.
Most of my experience was gained in and around Philippines, Thailand, Layong Layong and Sipadan (Malaysia).

 

[Danapb]

My husband and I have dove Sea of Cortez on three different vacations. Our favorite sites would be near Loreto and Cabo San Lucas. The sea is warm, has great visibility, and teaming with sea life. It's one of our favorite areas in which to dive. Another good thing about the area is that the boat rides to the sites are very short.

 

[floridanewbe]

welcome aboard

 

[Dive-aholic]

Welcome to the 'Board! As Jacques Cousteau once said, "The Sea of Cortez is the aquarium of the world." There is a lot of life in there. San Carlos is a nice little town. The diving there isn't too bad, but with the winds, it can be hit or miss with the conditions. Most of the sites are fairly shallow and things get stirred up easily. You need to get out to the island. It is by far the best diving in your area and well worth the boat ride out!

 

[chim sui]

Thanks for your response Rob. As you mention the shore diving is very hit and miss so San Pedro is definitely the way to go. A friend went out there on a local dive boat the other day. He is a solo diver who is very experienced. He told the captain that he would tie onto the anchor line and do some deep diving.
The anchor was at 80 feet and he went down to 165 feet and was starting back up when he noticed the anchor line moving so he had to cut his line. The boat apparently was off to rescue four divers off another dive boat that got stuck in the current, plus his gf who was snorkeling! Apparently there are a lot of safety issues here and one really has to rely on oneself and buddies to stay safe!
This past weekend San Carlos was trying to break the record for most divers in the water at Algadones beach. I tried to find the Guinness Book of Records record and couldn't find one. The only record I could find was in the Divers Almanac with 339 divers in the water..to cut a long story short there were only between 50-100 divers in the water. They spent 30 minutes underwater sitting on the sand and there were not a lot of happy faces when they left the water dragging their equipment in the sand! They had a great band from Flagstaff playing in the evening but sadly there was no organization so there were no people to enjoy the music.

 

[kathydee]

I dive in SE Asia too, bali, sipidan, lembeh, etc. From our common perspective how is diving in the sea of cortez?

 

[chim sui]

Well simply put the corals and sea life is far superior in Asia...so far as what I have seen which is limited. I believe that there can be great sightings of whales, sharks etc here in the Sea of Cortez so that would perhaps change my perspective!

 

[dpbishop]

You don't find tropical corals in the Sea of Cortez north of Cabo Pulmo. The fish life around La Paz is pretty impressive for number and diversity. You can get a cabin on the overnight ferry from Topolobampo for about $50. (644 pesos) that gets in to La Paz in the morning early enough to dive with Club Cantamar, I think. This is the best time of year for La Paz.

 

[kathydee]

Well simply put the corals and sea life is far superior in Asia...so far as what I have seen which is limited. I believe that there can be great sightings of whales, sharks etc here in the Sea of Cortez so that would perhaps change my perspective!

Have fun. If you see more, I'd love to hear about it. Have been to Guerra Negro (just on the border of N/S Baja) but always wanted to do a road trip down through S Baja to the tip. SCUBA enticements might motivate the effort

 

[Fossilbabe]

Hello and welcome to scuba board. Welcome to the family,glad to see you found us. ~~~Babe~~~