My recent dive adventure took me to Cabo San Lucas and the Sea of Cortes and left me with a great desire for more West Coast and Sea of Cortes diving. I arrived at Sunshine Dive and Charter with my wife Marta and 4 companions who had signed up for a Discover Scuba course.
Air temperatures were only in the 80’s but when combined with the burning yellow sun of the desert temperatures easily felt like they were in the 90’s and higher. Copious amounts of sun block were needed, as a short time in the sun unprotected was all that was needed to cause a bad burn.
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| Nap Time. Photo by J. Eiche |
On the other hand winter ocean temperatures were cool with surface temperatures in the high 60s and bottom temperatures hovering around 61 degrees at 85 feet. Being the meeting point of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortes the dive sites located around El Arco are home to some heavy surge and occasional currents during the winter that threaten to wash unprepared divers out into the Pacific Ocean.
The cool waters were rich in marine life and it was very easy to be distracted by the number of photo subjects available. Diving in the Northeast the average fish is a dull, flat brown or black with the occasional tropical brightening things up. It seems being indiscreet and avoiding attention is the order of the day off the coast of New Jersey but not so for the Sea of Cortes.
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| Photo by J. Eiche |
The average fish was brightly colored hues of yellow, red, electric blue and black. On my first dive at Sandfalls I quickly sank into a sort of manic distraction whereby I was trying to capture everything that I saw on camera. The result was quite a few bad pictures and a greatly drained camera battery.
The first dive also showed me that I should not expect the usual "tropical" visibility as the visibility was hazy with silt causing backscatter in my shots even though my strobes were turned fully out. At first I thought it was sand or silt being kicked up by the surge but as I moved I noticed the sand was actually swimming out of my way. I stopped, focused in with my eyes and saw that I was dealing with millions of tiny fish dotting the sea like lint on a black shirt.
The first dive ended with Marta being low on air and cold so we slowly made our way back to the line, did our safety stop and climbed back on board the dive boat.
In the interim the 4 other people that we had traveled with were also finishing up their Discover Scuba course and were all offered the opportunity to do another dive. My brother-in-law Andy accepted and readied himself for our next dive to be accompanied by myself, Marta and the dive guide Jonatan. The other three decided it would be prudent to stay on the boat as their love of diving wasn’t great enough for them to bear the 60 degree water temps again.
The boat moved around to the Land’s End dive site which is at the southern most tip of the Baja Californian peninsula. Being where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortes conditions here were a little worse than at Sandfalls but still weren’t terrible. They were bad enough however to cause my wife, who was already chilled from the first dive, to opt out of the second dive. Andy was undeterred by the conditions and began readying up for his second dive.
This dive offered our best opportunity to catch a glimpse or play with Sea Lions as the resident colony lives just a few hundred feet away from this dive site.
Our dive was to start in the Pacific Ocean and end in the Sea of Cortes just outside of the favorite sunning spot of the colony. Andy was to keep very close to our dive guide Jonatan to make sure he was both safe and stayed above 40 feet.
Conditions were the same as the dive before, limited visibility, surge and many colorful photo subjects. About 30 minutes into the dive however I was beginning to wonder if I would even get a glimpse of a Sea Lion never mind a photo of one.
My camera was on the fritz reading out low battery and I was swimming at 55 feet turning it off and on and occasionally checking above me to confirm where Andy and Jonatan were who were swimming at a depth of about 35 feet 15 feet ahead of me. I finally decided that the camera should just be turned off and left off so that I could enjoy my dive when I looked up to see a Sea Lion inches from Andy’s face floating on his left in the blind spot just behind his mask.
The Sea Lion was as big as Andy and if I didn’t know better I would say it was like a dog cautiously sniffing a new guest that had entered his domain. As I witnessed this amazing event two thoughts rushed through my mind; Yes!! A Sea Lion and Uh-oh I hope Andy doesn’t look over see the Sea Lion two inches from his face and panic and bolt for the surface.
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| Sea Lions at Play. Photo by J. Eiche |
The encounter itself lasted about 5-10 seconds at which time the Sea Lion backed up darted in front of Andy and Jonatan and joined two playmates. They buzzed past me at 55ft and headed right for the ocean floor where they commenced playing and ruining the visibility by kicking huge amounts of sand up. I took 3 or 4 shots but none of them came out clearly due to the sand and lack of light at 65 feet.
In my rather short dive career I have seen quite a few interesting things but none will I remember more fondly then seeing the Sea Lions at the Land’s End dive site and their quick encounter with Andy. Graceful and playful they summed up everything that I wish I could be in the water.
The dive ended in heavy surge and a surface tow by the dive boat to get us away from the rocks. Andy and Jonatan didn’t even realize what had happened until I related the story to them on board.
I returned to dive again a couple of days later and did a dive at Neptune’s Finger and a dive Pelican Rock both in the Sea of Cortes. Conditions were a little better than they were for the first two dives and I was considerably calmer in the water and as such was able to get much better shots.
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| Scorpion Fish waiting. Photo by J. Eiche |
The highlight of these dives were the evil looking and venomous Scorpion Fish that dotted the rocky bottom and acted as excellent photo subjects for me. At first I only saw one of these malicious looking fish but once I knew what to look for I started seeing them everywhere. Anyone who is diving or walking in the rocky areas of the Sea of Cortes would be ill advised to do so without gloves and dive boots.
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| Photo by Joe Eiche |
The cracks in the side of Pelican Rock and Neptune’s Finger were homes to countless amounts of eels that also managed to pose nicely for me in a few shots. One very large eel stuck his head out and kept coming closer and closer allowing me to get a good shot of him.
Probably the best shot I got was on a dive at Pelican Rock where a guitarfish was hiding just beneath the sand his yellow eyes standing out against the white sand of the ocean bottom.
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| Photo by Joe Eiche |
Despite cool waters and occasionally rough conditions the Sea of Cortes will always hold a special place in my dive memories as being the first place that I saw Sea Lions as well as introducing me to Pacific diving conditions. I am anxious to return during the summer and fall months when visibility will open up to 100 feet and water temperatures soar in to the 80’s.
I dove with Sunshine Dive charters and everyone that I had contact with or dove with were excellent at what they did.
