| Operator | Site | Dive | Depth | Bottom Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manta Cabo | Pelican Rock | 30 | 72.0 | 42 minutes |
| Land's End | 31 | 65.0 | 37 minutes |
Highlights: The seals, the water
Lowlights: A dead computer battery, Josh’s sickness, and FREEZING cold shivers
Pelican Rock
I’ll be honest. I expected Cabo to feel more tropical and less … well, California-like. The coral color, the water, the feel of the life was much closer to what I’d expect in San Diego, which shouldn’t surprise me I guess, since it’s not that far off. My favorite part of this first dive was the puffers, as always, and the large number of schools that we saw. The water clarity was just good enough to see large numbers of schools swimming around. The location where we were diving was very near the most southern rock of Cabo, right inside the bay where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez.
Land’s End
Unfortunately, a bit of alcohol induced sickness kept Josh out of the water for the second dive. This second dive was a drift, starting near the perch of the local seals, and moving along the rocks to where the life was. By this point, I was shivering, and half of my thought was on keeping warm, and making sure that if I couldn’t stop shivering, I ascended.
By far, the best part of this dive was my first encounter with seals. Watching them swim down, do loops around each other, and come up near us having fun, and looking like they were generally playful, made for a great, and new experience! I actually captured a bit of video footage of them swimming, though this was the tail end when they didn’t come back.
From there, we progressed along the rocks, where I found that Cabo has some of the largest eels I’ve seen! They were wicked, and awesome. The fact that they’d just sit their with their mouths open and fish would continue to swim around, and through, their mouths surprised me. It wasn’t at all what I expected of the predator, prey interaction, but it was amazing to watch. Beyond that, the second dive was generally less colorful or full of life, and was somewhat ruined by the lack of cold weather preparation on my part (the rest of the divers were in 7mm jumpsuits).
Summary
Will I dive Cabo again? Sure! Would I have dove again that weekend? Maybe, but I had fun with the rest of the trip. I’d like to head out on one of the excursions a couple hours off shore, but all the operators do those runs during the May to November periods, not during winter. So next time, a summer trip.
P.S. – The “Experiment”
Having invested some money in a wetsuit with extra mobility for swimming, I figured I’d try it out for the dives. My opinion? My hands are at my waist or by my side so much that the extra flexibility wasn’t needed, and the general delicate nature of the tri suit says to me it’s not worth it. That and the arms being 1.5-2mm, and the core being 5mm, it was not nearly warm enough for the water. So, worth a try, but back to my Bare and O’neil suits for diving. Oh, and my gear that used to be a little big (but better that than constricting), is now huge on me! Ah well, I’ll take that versus the opposite.