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You can do this dive from one of the dive operator's boats - but you'd be wasting your money: you can do exactly the same dive from the shore. And a marvellous dive it is. If you're the kind of person who makes lists this begs to be included in your top ten dives. The Dive A series of crevasses and abysses run parallel to the shore, mirroring the cliffs above water. The sand at first slopes gently down but at 8 m takes a steep turn. Gullies lead downwards to infinity. At 25 m you find the top of a cliff, deeper and you hang at the side of it with nothing beneath you. Sea fans decorate the cliff and shoals of chromis join you. At depths sand cascades down the rock forming the "sand falls". An excellent dive.
A good plan is to swim straight out from the beach, until you reach the cliff. Then turn left along the cliff wall.
Getting There From Cabo San Lucas take a water taxi to Lovers Beach/San Lucas Bay, near the arch. Make sure you tell the boatman what time to come back for you. If you wish your boatman will probably be happy to take you the scenic route, past the sea lion colony, through the arch and by the "Mexican Chickens".
The Dive Santa Maria is a small bay with the best diving on the left hand side (looking out to sea). It's full of rocky gullies: be careful not to get washed up some of the narrower ones. Abundant fish, including rays and snake eels. A good shore dive for both day and night - look out for the lobsters after dark.
Getting There Santa Maria is between San José Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. Follow the road from Cabo San Lucas until you see the Twin Dolphins hotel sign. Turn right down the track to the Santa Maria car park.
The Dive Chileno is a long beach with a dive shop on the right hand side. Two rocky reefs run parallel to the beach, the furthest having a depth of around 13 m. A shore dive, it's quite a long swim out, over sand. Clumps of coral cover the rocks, harbouring invertebrates and fish.
Getting There Just up from Santa Maria, sign-posted by a Snorkler sign.
The Dive A shallow dive near the Palmilla dive shop. Composed of small, broad rocky pinnacles. Very interesting when you stop to look at small things. Shrimp in holes in the sand give your fingers quite a nip. Teeny hermit crab, almost as small bright blue crab, red lipped and red headed blennies.
The Dive Gordo Banks is rumoured to start at around 25 m. However, this is easy to miss and the dive quickly gets much deeper. Take a torch - the water gets dark and cold. Look for sharks, morays, rays, tuna...everything twice as big as you normally see.
Getting There Take a fishing boat from La Playita - maximum of 4 people - book and negotiate in advance. Alternatively use one of the dive operators.
The Dive The wreck is a short boat ride away from Gorda Banks. It is in 3 parts, the parts forming a north-south-west triangle. The prop is south and big. The hull is north and upturned. If you're used to wreck diving take a torch and swim inside. The hull sparkled and was covered in fan worms with little fish peeping out of holes. A good second dive to do after Gorda Banks.
Getting There As Gorda banks.
Diving Around Cabo PulmoCabo Pulmo is a small village, which now has a series of bungalows in which you can stay. There is a dive shop near the beach. The only true coral reef in Baja is here, although arguably the best dive is not on the coral reef but on a rocky reef out to sea. The coral can reef-build here because of the high water temperature in Cabo Pulmo bay, which is not exposed to the cold-water upwellings common elsewhere in the Sea of Cortez.
The Dive Although close to the shore you need to take a boat to reach these caves, or swim-throughs. Lovely dive with several ways in and out the caves - no torch needed. Coral, sea fans and sponges cover the ceiling. Angel fish, soldier fish and squirrel fish, amongst others, freqent the area.
The Dive You can dive the south end of the reef as a shore dive. Instead of going to Cabo Pulmo carry on round the road and take a small offshoot to a place where you can walk down to the beach. Snorkel out about 100 m. The vis is often bad to begin with, but gets better. There are three coral reefs (some sources say eight), but it is difficult to tell where one reef ends and one begins. The outer reef is beautiful with a carpet of elegant coral, Pocillopora elegans.
The Dive The north end of the reef is a boat dive. Its east side is a cliff dipping from 5-14 m. Further east a sandy bottom slopes gradually away. The top of the cliff is a plateau of coral: very pretty. You sometimes get a current whipping across the coral, which makes for a wonderful drift at the end of the dive.
The Dive An excellent dive site - the conditions vary but all dives here are good.
The reef is around 300 m long. Depending on the current, and how slowly you try to traverse it, you can spend around 20-55 minutes. The visibility is generally good. With a gentle current the dive begins with a garden of eels. Big, tight shoals of fish move over the reef - much more compact than you see elsewhere. Large schools of tuna swim overhead. Sea of Cortez really does contain more fish than elsewhere.
A strong current makes for an excellent drift dive. The fish frantically zip about, swimming easily against the current. This time the schools are loose and spread out. You don't just see fish of course, coral, sea fans, starfish, crabs, etc, are all here too.
Diving Around La PazFor La Paz diving you need to book with a diving operator. There are not really any shore dives. Puerto Ballandra was mentioned as an option, but didn't appear very enticing.
The Dive Another fantastic dive, but you have to be lucky with the conditions. The current here is unpredictable and if strong detracts a lot from the enjoyment. On good dives, you descend into a cloud of smalle wrasse, just inches from your mask. The visibility is at least 25 m. With luck you might see a turtle, swimming very slowly, being cleaned by cleaner wrasse. Typically of Baja, a multitude of fish live on the mount. Large shoals of jacks hang off it, and hammerhead sharks lurk in the background. Or, sometimes, in the foreground. In late summer and early autumn (fall) look for manta rays.
El Bajo is a submerged group of 3 pinnacles lying in a North-South line. The top of the north pinacle lies at 23 m, the middle pinnacle at 17 m and the south at 20 m. The middle one is the largest and bottoms at 29 m. Its south side is a steep cliff. Take a southerly bearing from here and you can swim to the south pinnacle. You can see it if you stay close to the bottom, but the bottom slopes off downwards. Be very careful about the current: it's very easy to drift off. The south pinnacle is home to a clutch of large green moray eels, about 7 in 1 gully.
The Dive A very good dive. The Salvatierra is sunken ferry lying in the San Lorenzo channel between Espiritu Santo and the Baja California mainland. The ferry collided with a rocky reef and sank with a cargo of trucks, but no passengers. The 300 foot hull is intact and lies at 19 m. The mast sticks up to within 7m of the surface.
The first thing that strikes you is all the yellow polyp black coral, Antipathes galapagenis. This is particularly beautiful. You can swim through the wreck and see some of the large truck wheels. Among the wrecks occupants are octopus and Sergeant Major fish Abudefduf saxatilus.
UpdatesWe'll soon be adding maps to this page, so please revisit soon. We hope you found this page useful, but if you're diving a part of Baja not covered here - try one of these diving guide books.
Note: If you buy any book through one of these links, the SCUBA Travel site earns a commission (at no extra cost to yourself). Thank you for making your purchases from here. Your CommentsPlease add your comments on diving in Baja California, or anything else on this site. What Baja dives have we missed? Also, what are your favourite dives of all time? Let us know with the reason why. 
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