Posted by Glenn on October 10, 2000 at 17:30:50:
In Reply to: Anyone been to the Sea of Cortez? posted by O.B. on October 10, 2000 at 11:45:47:
I was in La Paz for a week from the end of August into September. The dive operator we used was Baja Expeditions and the boat was Rio Rita. Plenty to see and do on the dives, a wonderful crew, excellent food that is all you can eat and drink, and dive masters that are very familiar with the sights and where to find some of the critters like the hammerheads and mantas.
There are a couple of wrecks, including the Feng Ming--an Chinese cargo ship--which is easily penetrated. It's been down for less than a year so it isn't covered with much growth, but a number of animals have made it home. There is also a wreck of a ferry (can't recall name) with remains of some large truck trailers, however this wreck is not penertrable.
There is a seamount, El Bajo if memory serves, that had dozens of schooling hammerheads down at around 100-130 feet. Another site had giant mantas that are very photogenic, and another site that hosts a sea lion rookery. There are also plenty of macro spots featuring yellow-black coral, stinging hydras, fishes of all kinds of different colors including puffers, angels, parrotfish, trumpet fish, damselfish, etc.
The water temps when I was there were from 86 to 82. I went with a 3mm full suit and was happy, the girlfriend went with a 1mm full suit and she said she was ok. I opted for the full suit since it was a three dive boat, and there are plenty of stinging critters. El Bajo had small jellies (about 3 inches long) densely packed in the first 20 feet or so.
I booked my trip with Turtlehead Tours (www.turtleheadtours.com) an agent in Las Vegas who does a lot of scuba trips. The basic rundown of the package is: 5 Nights at Los Arcos hotel in La Paz (nice hotel), 4 days of diving w/ 3 dives/day, breakfast and lunch included, airfare, all the taxes and shuttle to the boat. That trip cost me $1050 and it was an excelent value to me. Turtlehead Tours did me right with this trip so I'm happy to give 'em a referral.
--Glenn