User:(WT-en) The Cortez Club

Diving and snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez is exhilarating. I have dived with The Cortez Club, The Cortez Club, a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Resort, and the largest Dive Operator in La Paz, Mexico provided a most memorable experiences. The Sea of Cortez was described by Jacques Cousteau as the "worlds aquarium", and is famous for being a premier diving destination, where I enjoyed some of the best diving and big animal encounters.

Here in La Paz I found that they have two very distinctive seasons, one from December through to the end of May and then from June through to the end of November. The first is really our colder water season with temperatures from 60f to 78f, with visibility anywhere from 10ft to 50ft depending on the month.

During these months of December to late March is when the breeding Grey Whales frequent the lagoons and bays on the west coast of Baja California Peninsula and we run daily trips to see them. A truly breath taking experience that always brings a tear to my eyes even after having seen them for many years now.

Around late March we start to see the Grey Whales enter the Sea of Cortez and they stay until late May during which time they are joined by Sperm Whales, Humpback Whales, Blue Whales but to name a few !!!

The colder water months are also the best time to find schooling hammerhead sharks at the seamounts at El Bajo despite the visibility which allows us to get closer to them as they enjoy the cooler currents. This one of the few locations left in the world where this can be experienced!

At the same time of year we generally experience a number of Whale Sharks in the bay of La Paz just 10 minutes away from The Cortez Club until the end of March. They tend to return in late August again and grace us with their presence once again. That I love and is a must to see.

The second part of the year and probably my favorite, as I now prefer the warmer water temperatures is from June to late November where the visibility can reach up to 100ft and water temperatures up to 90f but is generally from 77f to 88f.

Although there are differences in marine life from in our two main seasons you can rely on our year round sea lion colony of over 400 brown Californian Sea Lions to excite you and marvel you with their agility in the water, just to make us look bad.

All in all, the Sea of Cortez and especially the waters of La Paz offer world class scuba diving with an incredible variety of marine life and at anytime you could see the unexpected "Mr. Big" with Giant pacific Manta Rays, Killer Whales, Black & Blue Marlin and much more...