Scuba Diving Guide to La Paz, Baja California

La Paz, the city of peace, is the capital of Baja California Sur and is located 100 miles up from the tip of Baja Peninsula in the Sea of Cortez. La Paz is safely tucked away at the head of La Paz Bay and this city of 200,000 people has the feel of a much smaller town. La Paz was once a world pearling center and its rich waters were home to vast pearl beds. The pearl oysters are now long gone but the bountiful Sea of Cortez holds other jewels in her depths.

La Paz is a major destination for scuba divers coming to dive one of the richest, most prolific bodies of water on the planet. The Sea of Cortez hosts more species in greater numbers than any place on earth and the waters off La Paz are alive and moving. Islands, rocks, reefs, seamounts and wrecks await the divers and a plethora of marine life is represented by the minute to the magnificent.

Espiritu Santo Island

There are few opportunities for shore diving close to La Paz, but many dive operators offer daily boat trips to the area’s underwater attractions. A trip out of the bay and across the San Lorenzo channel takes divers to the beautiful island of Espiritu Santo. The inside of the island is cut up with scallop shaped bays rimmed with white sand beaches and separated by rocky headlands. The scuba diving is good around all the points and there are several islets and rocks that are adorned with colorful invertebrates and a host of tropical marine life.

Salvatierra

The Salvatierra, a 320 foot ferry, has a long history starting during the Second World War. After years of service on the east coast of the United States, she was purchased by Mexico, traversed the Panama Canal and was put to work ferrying cargo between the mainland and La Paz. On a night in June 1976, the ship hit Suwanee rock off Espiritu Santo Island and went to the bottom of the San Lorenzo Channel in 60 feet of water. Today she is a premier dive site. The intact hull is a kaleidoscope of colorful sponge, hydroids, sea fans and gorgonions and some of her cargo of trucks lie close by on the seafloor. Although penetration diving is possible, her age makes the hull unstable and is ill advised.

El Bajo Seamount

The El Bajo seamount is located 8 miles off the northern tip of Espiritu Santos Island has been the subject of many documentaries. It is world famous and one of the first places that schooling hammerhead sharks were observed. El Bajo is made up of three underwater peaks; the one most dived has a relatively flat top at 50 feet. Although the schooling hammerheads are the biggest attraction, this openwater dive site is rife with other marine life. The peaks are forested with sea fans and gorgonions, schools of grunt and snapper are present and divers are often accompanied by huge manta rays. Lucky divers may encounter the ocean’s largest fish, the gentle, giant whale shark.

Cabo Pulmo

Dive boats out of La Paz will often take divers down the East Cape to the lovely bay of Cabo Pulmo. Cabo Pulmo is a Marine National Park and hosts the only coral reefs on the west coast of North America. The reefs are actually made up of a rocky substrate where beautiful stony finger coral has taken hold. The warm waters of the bay boast exceptional visibility often exceeding 100 feet and are home to an overwhelming array of marine life. The reefs harbor lobsters, octopus, moray eels and over 200 species of tropical fish make Cabo Pulmo their home.

La Paz Dive Operators:

Club Cantamar (http://www.clubcantamar.com/english/)
Baja Safaris (http://www.bajaseafaris.com/)
Cortez Club (http://www.cortezclub.com/diving/diveboatslapaz.shtml)
Baja Expeditions (http://www.bajaex.com/)


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