Combo: Cabo Diving & Whales in Magdalena Bay

[Ghosty]

I'm in the preliminary stages of planning a late February trip to Baja, where I've never been. I've done Coz and Belize, but never the West side. A perfect trip would be a few days diving the best spots off Cabo and a few days whale watching on Mag Bay, getting a hotel in Puerto San Carlos, or whatever is the biggest town there.

Has anyone done this type of combo trip within one week? Are there decent buses that run from Cabo up to the Mag Bay town(s)? I feel sketchy about renting/driving a car since I'm solo. Any highly recommended outfits, activities, sites, or any definite no-no's? Is Mag Bay really the best place to see whales vs. elsewhere around South Baja? Any dive spots KNOWN for big Pelagics?

I've been reading about 'Magdalena Bay Whales' outfit run by Marcos, and their 2 or 3 day "Whale Camp" for $600. Anyone have personal experience?

All the threads about Mag Bay here are ancient, but I've read a ton online, NatGeo, TripAdvisor, etc. Btw, I don't speak a lick of Spanish unfortunately. Hopefully that isn't an issue. The 'Red Travel' outfit has cool eco-tours, but range from $800 to $900 for 3/4 days, kinda pricey.

Also, are there any actual DIVE trips in Mag Bay, with the whales? (Not just on a boat.)

 

[nwflyboy]

I've also been planning a somewhat similar trip, will share what I think I've learned and figured out - take it with a grain of salt as I'm still yet to go. That said, I've driven the length of Baja before, although it that was almost 30 years ago, so a few things have probably changed. I've also been back to other parts of Mexico and have driven extensively.

My trip is planned for end of January-early February. We're flying in to Loreto, renting a car, and heading for Magdalena Bay for a couple days with the whales. There are actually two small fishing towns on Mag Bay where you can go out and pet whales: Puerto San Carlos, (which seems to get the bulk of the whale tourists) in the south, and Adolfo Lopez Mateos (which seems to have less of a formal, developed tourist scene) in the north. I picked A. L Mateos because it seemed more off the tourism circuit (although neither is exactly bustling). San Carlos definitely has some operators that are obviously more "high end" (including the one you mentioned), but no way I'm going to spend $600 a night to camp out and chase critters. I'm sure it's a nice experience but I think if your primary goal is to get up close and personal with the whales, you can do that for a small fraction of the "wilderness camp" experience.

After Mag Bay, we're driving to La Paz for a couple days, will do the snorkel-with-whale-sharks thing (AFAICT scuba diving with either whales or whale sharks is prohibited throughout Mexico). After La Paz, we'll head to Cabo Pulmo for a few days (diving there), then we'll finish with a few more days diving at/around Cabo San Lucas. I'm still sifting through dive options (too many to choose from).

To answer you specific questions: San Carlos is the "least small" town on Mag Bay, but there are no big towns there. These are fishing villages, keep all your expectations low.

I have no qualms about driving (have driven all over Mexico), as long as you use common sense, don't drive at night, don't go looking for trouble, I think it's safe and easy enough. No doubt there's bus service nearly everywhere (Mexico is saturated with buses), but have no idea about frequency. I'm sure Cd Insurgentes and Cd Constitucion (on the main highway) have frequent service, I'd imagine the last stretch out to the fishing towns gets less frequency. You can get anywhere in Mexico by bus, it may just take some patience.

Yes, as best I can tell, if you're in Baja Sur, then Mag Bay is the only viable option for the whales. The other accessible spots are much further north.

No diving at all in Mag Bay, AFAIK. I believe it's quite verboten, and would not have good viz even if you tried. Save the diving for the Sea of Cortez side and Los Cabos down south.

You're looking at a lot for one week. Especially if traveling by bus. You might consider just picking two locations: one on Mag Bay for whales, one around Los Cabos for scuba, minimize moving around.

Hope some of that is helpful.
¡Vaya con dios!

 

[Ghosty]

Yeah, that's my idea, just two main activities, Mag Bay whales and Cabo dives, maybe two boat trips. And not going to do any expensive "eco camps", talk about a racket.

How difficult is it to rent a car? Pretty simple? I assume it's all cash-only everywhere, at least in my experience that's been the easiest. I hate traveling with a bunch of cash, but ATM's were so spotty, even in Coz inside the busiest tourist districts, I found them hit or miss.

I'm curious about the La Paz Whale Shark snorkeling. I wonder what it's like compared to the Isla Mujeres Holbox cluster, I went on this Fall. It was a good experience, but I need to read more about La Paz now...

 

[Sam Miller III]

Mag bay can be and generally is CHILLY;;;Dress warm !
sdm

 

[Manuel Sam]

Renting a car from any of the major rental companies at the Los Cabs Airport in San Jose has never been difficult, and they take credit cards. Probably true also of La Paz.

One other option worth looking into is to fly into La Paz and dive there instead of around Cabo San Lucas. That shortens your ride to Mag Bay by about 2 hrs. And at least in my opinion, the diving in La Paz is more interesting than off of Cabo San Lucas. You could also dive in Cabo Pulmo instead of La Paz if you want to stick to two main activities. Cabo Pulmo also has better diving than Cabo San Lucas, but going there lengthens your drive time to Mag Bay.

I've done the Isla Mujeres whalesharks twice, once in 2010 and once this year (5 in-water days each trip). I did La Paz whalesharks one morning in 2016. I've never done Holbox but I have seen pictures. In my opinion, the only one worth doing is Isla Mujeres because of the visibility. Both Holbox and La Paz are peasoup. Isla Mujeres is blue water altho viz is directly proportional to the amount of fish eggs in the water that the whalesharks feed on. And it is only during the Summer.