La Paz, Baja California, (December, 2001)
Author: Tony

Operator: Baja Joe Dive Operation
Dive Sites: El Bajo & Los Islotes

El Bajo is one of the most famous dive sites in the Sea of Cortez off La Paz 1 1/2 hrs by boat with Baja Joe of La Paz; however this proved a terrible time for this site due to monster currents, rough seas that threw out dive group all over the seas. After an exhausting descent on the anchor line to about the 92ft depth our divemaster just disregarded the fact that two women from our dive group of 11 never made it down to the meeting spot. No problem, dive proceeded anyway. After a too short dive of 35 minutes seeing the faint outline of two hammerheads and little else we ascended a dive line (to the wrong boat!) After recovery we went searching for the two lost ladies and made a recovery - they were by now seasick from all the rough bobbing on top of the rough seas.

After that disaster we retreated to calmer diving off the north tip of Espiritu Santo Island at Los Islotes - a famous sea lion colony with lots of pretty fish. The sea lions are a playful gas to dive or snorkel with. I highly recommend this site in calm, protected waters even in winter although very few (only one in five) local dive shops made this trip in the week during Christmas season. Trip to site an hour but pretty sites along the way.

Cabo Pulmo on the eastern cape of Baja is another famous reef site with pretty sites, but the northern winds make this a risky trip in winter, again with few boats going out from the shores. Call ahead first.

Any questions: aoricucci@hotmail.com

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