This summer almost gone...

visibility: between 60 and 80 feet
water temperature: a nice 80F
currents: non what so ever...
surface conditions: flat as a pancake

The summer is almost gone. Already the end of October, just a few more weeks and we're celebrating Christmas... Gifts and presents time...
Good, for our camera's both drowned, both in the same week, so no more photo's. At least until Xmas when the Xmasman will get us some new toys and if he forgets? No, cannot be, a diving blog without photos is like a dive without water, he has to remember...
But what to do in the meanwhile, almost 2 months? We'll go diving, and a lot, to forget the pain of the loss...

So, that's it. Don't see you here, maybe see you under water...

Bye...

Busy, busy busy...

visibility: has been what it is expected to be; over 20 meters / 60 feet.
water temperature: was nice and comfortable around 82º F.
currents: almost didn't exist, at the most a push, unfortunately in the wrong direction...
surface conditions: except for a day or two, three, four at the most, perfect flat calm.

only macro worked in Mulegé

This month time is flying, and then we realized all of-a-sudden, that we completely forgot about the blog. We're working okay, busy, but not too extremely much to not have time. Sure, we've been diving every day and we're still working on the center. The construction works are not yet finished, but it more and more looks like a professional dive center. Already some plants in the garden and all. We've been struggling a bit, this summer, but the end of the suffering seems close!

it's good resting after a hard day's work

Meanwhile Henri has been to Mulegé, a village somewhere in the north of the middle of the south of the peninsula, for his Staff Instructor Course. Thanks Mick, it's been a good one, though ruff-n-tough...
Mulegé is a beautiful place, clamped into an arroyo, green and lush. The diving is not bad either, but I personally (sorry Mick) prefer the Cabo Pulmo Reef a lot better. I've put up some photos of the diving 'up north', so you can judge for yourself.
So how was the diving here in Pulmo these last weeks? Not bad at all; the conditions great; the air and water temperature both were relatively mild, where we expected them to be extreme, after this warm winter. The hurricanes stayed all on a safe distance, so no damage done on land and hardly any disturbance in the sea; only a very few days that we had to put the boats on higher land and couldn't go out.
What was strange though, is that also the North Americans stayed on a distance. The 'trend' last months was having a lot of Europeans visiting us and that continued this month. Mainly Italian, but also a good number from Spain, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and even a number of Dutch; good for practicing our languages again! Another change since the last years, is that we are becoming popular in the Mexican market! Reason enough to continue with our plans: get everything done in English and Spanish... Starting with our own web site and also the site of the shop itself. Now it's time to get this blog in both languages too.

beautiful coast lines between Mulegé

and the Loreto mountains

So you check a bit and start shopping around and get a scare of what it all involves...Isn't it horrible, first everybody tells you, you need a web site, than in two languages and it still doesn't work. Nobody finds the site, so you're looking for solutions and get 'advise' on getting traffic, 589 different ways of internet marketing, search engine optimization stuff, back links, keywords and phrases and all that jam. The big scare are the prices charged, so we're diving into the internet, the moment we get dry... Do it yourself or go broke, was our first lesson. Well it wont keep us out of the water, but maybe off of the street. We'll keep you informed and if anyone out there has some suggestions, knowledge or time and interest in helping us out, just drop a line and we'll be eternally grateful and in your (limited) dept....
 
But now, first, let's go diving while it is still so very unbelievable beautiful out there on the reef...

September: no hurricanes during hurricane month

• visibility: 15-20 meters / 45-60 feet
• water temperature: 25-28C / 75-82F
• currents: none
• surface conditions: wonderful! 

September has been a very good month for diving.

While everybody in Cabo Pulmo was getting ready to go to Mexico City (Cabo Pulmo had reached the finals in the national contest "Iniciativa México", and they had to be on television!), we were very busy diving, diving and diving some more.

And as usual, our divers became our friends: Curt and Kelly, from California, Walti from Argentina, Marta from Colombia, Fernando from Spain, and of course, our students: Memo, Alex, Ernesto and Cosijoopii from Monterrey, México. Also, Ernesto and Elodie, who are carrying out a very interesting project all around Mexico, finding out what the different dive locations have to offer, safety conditions and hyperbaric facilities available.
Mick (course director in Mulege) dived with us, chasing sharks, but, as always, if you're too eager they don't show themselves... sorry Mick!

Thank you all for all the fun we shared and congratulations to those who became certified divers. Of course, let´s not forget Memo, who became a Rescue Diver -and spent one whole week rescuing Ñoño over and over again!

September has been great, nice and warm weather; on land, without the enormous amounds of rain and very strong winds, but with bathtub warm and cristal clear waters, full of life...

Yeah, life's good.

locals go OpenWaterDiver...

visibility: during the week increasing to 60 feet,
water temperature: also went up, almost to 80º
currents: from mild to ripping
surface conditions: we had to cancel 1 day because of high surge...

And from one day to another we had courses going. And it was a great course. The conditions improved by the day, but during the whole course we met all different kind of waters: 'cold' and warm, with low (30 feet) and good (60 feet!) visibility, with mild and strong currents and easy and difficult surface conditions. The day we were going to do the confined water skills (shallow water), had to be postponed: exactly that day the surge was enormous! But hé, in the end we managed just fine and beyond fine. We are 5 very good open water divers richer in the area.  Congratulations Leonardo, Jacqueline, Jesus, Miguel and Edgar... and now, keep diving!

The dives, especially the last two were great: the first dive in El Cantil was beautiful, clear, blue and warm as it should be in summer. The second dive in El Bajo was a bit less in visibility and there were some thermoclines, but the amount of life was enormous in both dives. You should have seen the faces of the local fisherman... The unbelief in their eyes. So many grouper and so big, so many snapper, also very big, the amount of jacks, morays and the pork fish, so close. The creole fish all over the place and the goat fish too... 

For sure, they are going to come back and I'm almost sure that the under water summer at last is arriving...

Life is beautiful! You just have to come over to Cabo Pulmo and enjoy it with us... I tell you, it's worth the trip triple.

As said, we're diving again...

visibility: a good 40 feet, 
water temperature: slowly climbing to 75º
currents: sometimes quite strong, sometimes even more
surface conditions: in the morning good, wind and waves later in the day...

Several posts have been just words and letters and numbers. No photos for not having a camera nor visibility. For several days Fulcia, Francesca & Alessio, have been diving with us and they did have a camera and the visibility. So without further delay, here is a compilation of the photos, made by our Italian friends... Enjoy!

alessio.dallai@snsi.it

We're diving again...

visibility:  up to 40 feet, about time

water temperature: have been better, but 72 is an improvement

currents: not really there, so we have to swim

surface conditions: a bit windy, so also a bit choppy

It's still nice summer weather, not too hot with a nice breeze, that every now and than increases a bit too much for the water to stay calm. Since one week we've got work again and we're lucky that the conditions improved so we can go out diving again. After maybe two months of bad diving conditions, it's now slowly improving. Not yet up to 80F with a visibility of 100+ feet. Hard to remember how that looks like, but we'll get there again. I'm sure!!!

We have a lot of life on the reef, didn't see all them fish for a long time. Everything looks healthy and well fed, so the algae has done what it has to do. Especially El Bajo de Los Meros is beautiful, where Los Morros is still colder and greener. Also El Cantil has a lot of life, but in the shallow part the waves are very noticeable: it's like 4 steps forward 3 steps back, kind off fun, once you get the hang of it.

Yesterday went to La Esperanza and the visibility was not bad at all, a good 40 feet, cold still at 75 feet depth, but so much to see. The Cabrillas had a party here, together with amber-jacks and dog teeth snapper. The thousands of creole fish played confetti and the yellow tale snapper looks like the smoke coming from smoke pots, slowly rising from the murky water into the 'clearer' water above. Good old Esperanza, always something spectacular to show. We went to see sharks though and didn't see any. But he, can't have it all, apparently...
I've lost my camera, some weeks ago, that's one of the painful reasons that the last few posts are without photos. The other reason is that there was nothing visible enough to take a photo of. If it improves a bit more, I'll take Pilu's camera down, if she'll let me...

Germany is out! Holland and Spain play the finals...

visibility: still not good, maybe 15 feet

water temperature: a bit warmer, or less cold

currents: very mild, in the wrong direction

surface conditions: are good, nice and sunny...

The football games are  running to an end. Today Germany got the third place in a beautiful game against Uruguay. If tomorrow the finals are going to be the same quality, between two offensive playing teams, it's going to be a great game. 

The wind changed direction and speed, the current went in the same direction as the wind, so we had nothing more than just a slight chop, so we hoped to be lucky today. We went for a dive, that is, we were able to get wet. In still green and too cold waters we're finding our way from Chopitos (also known as Mermaid beach), but we didn't get to Las Casitas. The current pushed us in the opposite direction and deeper the temperature dropped a lot, so we returned to where we came from, with just enough visibility to find the way back, without running into rocks. No, not for us, so back in the boat, back to the beach and to the dive center. Maybe the day after tomorrow, after the finals. Tomorrow we have a party, for who ever wins, we Pilu and Henri, cannot loose, we are the new world champion, being it Spain (Pilu) or Holland (Henri)...

Mexico, United States and France are out...

visibility: water temperature: currents: surface conditions: Let's not talk about the water, as long as the wind keeps blowing from the south-east corner, the water is going to stay cold and thus green. We're still inside, watching football...

Mexico is out too, but they did come far, as did the united States. The big disappointment was France; poor football, no team spirit, no nothing, just a huge disillusion...
Only Holland and Spain are still competing as a representation of our dive center staff, but we don't really believe it's going to take too long either; they're winning, but not playing too well. The center is still full with football fans, having fun, commenting the game and especially the referees... 
Where the outside conditions are great, sunny, not too warm and a nice breeze, the water is still horribly under level. It seems like the mid winter months, with lots of wind, very low visibility and super cold water. Difference is that now the wind is nice; we can sleep again without bathing in our own sweat, but wouldn't it be nice to go diving or snorkeling again. I'm longing for the sea...

Worldchampionship football...

visibility: no water to be seen, totally green
water temperature: dropped dramatically to 64º!!!
currents: non what so ever, so it stays green
surface conditions: are good, warm, sunny, no wind...

And so we went home after just one dive. We don't have too much work, and that's good, for the conditions are below zero and far... The visibility has gone, we cannot even see the water around us and it is cold, freezing, no fun at all. The second dive we skipped, we went home, back to the dive center, to the television.
We're watching football. There's a lot going on. In the center we work with, of course, Mexicans, with Americans, French, Spanish and Dutch, and they are all part of the competition. We're watching the games life, staff and clients in a good ambiance. We're having fun, poor fish, they must be freezing their tales off...

After snorkeling also diving in t-shirt

visibility: over 60 feet
water temperature: up to 78º
currents: hardly any flow at all
surface conditions: flatcalm, no wind, no waves...

So here we are, the beginning of June and diving in a shorty in nice warm and clear water. Slowly going, together with the first turttles that arrived in the bay to lay their eggs. The typical conditions to see whale sharks; a load of krill on the bottom, just above the reef; swarms of them, so the vis here is a lot lower, kind off milky white...

My legs are changing color though, not white anymore, turning red. After snorkeling they were a bit teinted, now they are completely red. Also while diving you have to be careful with the sun or you'll turn lobster red!

snorkeling in t-shirt...

visibility: not bad at all, yet a bit less than before...
water temperature: great, gone up to summer temps: 78º
currents: non at all, that's why the vis is a bit lower
surface conditions: flat calm, no wind, lots of sun, lovely...

It's been a while that I went snorkeling, but yesterday it was my turn again. And it was more than nice; where diving all fish are alert and about and out, also while snorkeling, the sea is full of activity.

The sea lions are great fun to be with, especially with the air temperature rising above the 90's, lots of them are in the water cooling down. Their play is a joy to watch. Where the bulls are quiet and relaxed and don't care about anything, mama is protecting the kids by not letting them get too close to the snorkelers. The kids on their turn are doing everything to escape mama's control and slowly manage to get nearer. In doing so they toss and turn around, showing off their swimming skills and blowing bubbles in our faces.

The snorkel tour continues in searching for Big Eyed Jacks and we do find them. Millions of them circling around and around, without end. The visibility is here, in deeper water a bit less, say 40 feet, but still more than enough to enjoy this spectacle. As a last stop we visit Las Navajas, a shellow part of the reef at more or less 20 feet. Big corals hiding huge schools of fish (burrito grunts, pork fish and snapper), some enormous parrot fish and the unavoidable morray eels swimming around... 

We don't go out snorkeling every day, but if we do, it's always a lot of fun and beautiful. Looking forward to the next trip...

Current, visibility and temperature...

We are only half way May and it is as if the summer is already started, or better, as if winter is still to arrive.
We went diving yesterday and we had a water temperature of 75F in El Bajo, with a visibility of no less than 60 feet! This gives the possibility to overlook the whole reef and to be amazed and owed by the amount of life the reef offers. The current was strong, pushing you from school to school: grouper, pork fish, snapper, grunts, hiding balloon fish, wrasse in all colors etc. Big fish passing by above all this, apparently not burdened with the current at all. Huge dog snapper and sierra mackerel, like traffic on a busy interstate, with an occasional 'truck' in the form of a goliath grouper (up to 6 feet!) passing by, without the noise and the fumes. What a pleasure to be able to dive in these conditions. Boy, how I do like my job and my office...

Esperanza again, and again...

Visibility: great today, like 60 feet or more...
Water temperature: A wonderful 74º, almost summer...
Current: ripping, super fast in mid-water, but nice on the bottom...
Surface conditions: no wind, no waves, no clouds...

Only three days ago, a ripping current in low vis, pulled us away from the reef and made it impossible to get back to it...


Today we had still a lot of current, but with great visibility, we knew where to go... A great dive in La Esperanza with a great show. The dog snapper hunting, speeding down in between the rocks in their chase. 'Fountains' of the smaller damselfish escaping from their jaws on the other side of the rock...
The Cabrilla in mid-water watching it all happen and jalously taking part in it. A sea lion swimming bye was more interested in playing than in hunting.
Esperanza really can make your day, especially when a shark shows up in the safetystop.
Again, a totally complete, beautiful and excieting dive. What a change three days can make!

An AOWD course...

Visibility: a very nice 50 feet
Water temperature: a comfortable 68º ?!?
Surface conditions: some wind and some waves...
Current: nice and gentle...


Chris has been diving several days with us, when he decided to do an advanced course.
Here you see him while doing his exercises on 100 feet, the deep dive. Here it was 'cold', a 68º cold, because for normally it is like 65º, real cold, on the bottom.

While Chris was buzy, the rest of us was having a good time. We don't dive the deep or 100 pies that much, 'cause normally in winter it's dark and cold. Now the conditions were great and gave a spectacular view on a group of anberjacks, chasing each other, circeling us... Big schools of snapper, big dog snappers, grunts all over the place and a lot of nudibranches... Strange I never see these little animals, is it because I'm color blind or just because I'm destracted with all that's happening all around me. If the deep is going to be like this, we defenitely are going to go here more often. I'll keep my eyes on the rocks and take some photos of nudribranches... if somebody can point them out to me. A guide in need of a guide...
Hey Cris, glad you can join us again, sorry you missed all this fun, but now you're an Advanced Open Water Diver, and a good one... Congratulations. 

Winter's gone already ???

visibility: over 50 feet, like in summer,
water temperature: over 74º, almost like summer,
currents: a severe push; 'armchair-diving',
surface conditions: hardly any wind or wave.

It is almost impossible, but it seems that winter is already over. The visibility is already some weeks great, over 40 feet, some days even reaching the 60's!

The reefs are full of life, the usual suspects; grouper, wrasse, snapper, big-eyed jacks, porkfish, goatfish and all in big schools. Sharks lunching under the jacks (and I didn't take the camara, grumpppffff) joined by some sea lions. Loads, but loads, like hundreds of dog snapper in mid water, above the thousants of yellow tail snapper. Several moray eels swimming freely between the grouper, gathering in the cracks to hide a bit from the current. And one lonely sting ray, laying in the sand, sharing the bit of algae with a humongous trigger fish. Cup coral is showing its full bright yellow colors, searching the current for plancton.
A dive with all these usual suspects, the ones you always see, nothing special, nothing outragious, but oh, so beautiful in the clear and warm water.
Yep, it sure feels like summer, or let's say spring, very early spring. Spring takes here normally something like 2 to 4 weeks and then summer kicks in with its great visibility, high water temperatures and currents. But 'normally' that would be from July on, sometimes a bit later or a bit earlier, but in April? Seems too early for winter to go...

We love "La Esperanza"!!!

Today it is very windy, but we managed to have two great dives. One of them, "El Bajo" is always beautiful, you cannot go wrong with that one. But with "La Esperanza" it´s more of a gamble. It is always darker than the other dive sites, visibility a bit lower, and you never know if the usual hunting game will be going on. Today, we gambled and won!
Just as we had reached the bottom and were adjusting buoyancy and so on, a huge school of creole fish came rushing by, like a river of fish. We waited to see what was at the tail of the group. It was a school of enormous almaco jacks (size: four to six feet!). They stayed around for the duration of the dive. And they were not the only hunters there today. We also saw some good size leopard groupers going after the damselfish, and dog snappers getting ready twenty feet above the reef to dive down into the cracks, hunting who knows what... No sharks today, but definitely cannot complain.

visibility: forty feet, 12 meters
water temperature: 70F, 22C
currents: not really
surface conditions: quite choppy

Let's go on a snorkel tour...

visibility: is good, more or less 30 feet,
water temperature: is nice too, 74º on the surface,
currents: the wind is moving us around a bit, but not too much,

surface conditions: waves are as good as non existing...

So this winter is mild, not too much wind, good visibility, nice and warm water, but no rays. So, if the rays are not in Cabo Pulmo, what does a snorkel tour than have to offer? The mobulas were THE attraction in other winters.

Well, we went diving and snorkeling regularly and we sure do miss the rays.

The amount of whales we see though, is enormous. The playing calves, breaching, while the mothers are slapping their fins on the water surface, asking for our attention. And here she goes again, up, high out of the water, splashing back and we are enjoying the show sooo much and we are sooo close...

But we haven't got all day, we have to go see some fish. In Mermaid beach we stop and anchor the boat. The water is nice and calm in this protected bay and it is the 'baby-room' of the reef: lots of life, but almost all very young. Juveniles have more color and more guts, so don't swim away from you. Look a huge bumphead parrotfish, lots of butterfly fish, surgeons and king angels, lot to see, but there is more to look for.

We're off, around the corner to the sea lion colony. More playful mammals waiting for us there, showing off their swimming skills, turning in all directions, going fast chasing each other or just lazy 'hanging loose' in the water. We're trying to keep up, but feel a bit clumsy, compared with their moves, but great fun...

Leaving the colony, we are suddenly surounded by hundreds of dolphins, coming from nowhere, going everywhere and as far as you can see. Some accompany us, playing with the waves of our boat. Swimming effortless, like torpedos, gracious, beautiful animals and again, mammals.

The captain is slowly heading north, some miles and we see a 'patch' in the water; just a different color, water moving different... We check it out, maybe it is..., but no, it is a huge school of pompano's. We continue; a bit further the water is again moving in a strange way, now it is the 'slipstream' of a whale, yet another one! We stay around a bit, see them jump and toss and turn a bit, but then move on again, towards open sea, further north. We're close to Los Morros, and here we find what we are looking for! Slowly we go in the water, no splashing, not making noise to not scare them away. It needs a bit of paddling against the wind to reach the center of the school; fish everywhere, hundreds, no thousands, what...? A trilion of jacks, lots and lots, from the bottom to the surface. Layer after layer, circling, all in the same direction, until they change... Every fish, as on command, turn and swim the other direction, clockwise and they turn again anti-clockwise, with us, losing all notice of time...

In coming back to the beach (what? Are we already 2 hours out?) we make a last stop on a shellow reef; las Navajas, 15 to 30 feet deep, and with the lack of current, waves and the good visibility, simply a must. Big coral heads, big schools of porkfish and grunts, of grouper and more parrotfish and a reef shark, and another one, and... SHARK !!! But, aren't they dangerous? Shouldn't we run back to the boat? Or can we stay a bit longer, for they seem totally uninterested in us, this shallow, how beautiful!

Oh, we have to go? But they are not dangerous, the guide said... What? Oh, it's almost 1 PM, wowww, over 2.5 hours snorkeling, how time flies...

Still a pity, no rays...

Let's do a wreck dive...

visibility: not bad, like some 30 feet
water temperature: a comfortable 72º
currents: non what so ever
surface conditions: flat as a pancake...

The conditions were good, so we decided to do a wreck dive again, it's been a long time...

The first dive we did in Los Morros, always a bit of a surprise, what are we going to see. This winter the water stayed warm and reasonably clear, so not too much food for fish. More specifically, no food for rays. This winter only in it's beginning we saw some schools of cownose rays cruising by. After January we didn't see any ray; no diamond rays, no electric reef ray, hardly any bullseye ray, a stingray or two but above all, no mobulas. The jumping or flying manta rays didn't show up this winter, non at all. We see them jumping in the distance, close to the canyons, but they don't enter the bay.

The whales do and during the surface interval we are enjoying their company. While diving their singing makes up for missing the rays and the amound of fish on the wreck is impressive...

What a strange year, an unusual season, so many surprises, nothing is predictable and everything is beautiful...

How nice to have a diving life!

February is slow....

visibility: is staying quite good around 35 feet
water temperature: is also staying the same around 72º
currents: hardly any, and if it's a nice little push...
surface conditions: are good too, since this winter is almost windless.

In other years the visibility would be less than 30 feet, the temperature under 65º and the wind would blow twice as much and a lot stronger. This winter is very mild, both above and under water. The whales seem to be enjoying it, we see them on a daily base, like clockwork; calves being tought by mom how to swim, breath and breatch...
Because of the temperature, or the lack of algea, or the light, or a combination of the above, we don't see the mobulas this year. Some cownose rays were seen, when we thought it was still summer (January), but since, just some rounded rays and cortez rays, a few bullseye rays and that's it. Hardly any stingrays, diamond rays, bat rays or eagle rays... We miss them dearly; they made of Los Morros a 'ray-city', now the sand is covered with goatfish and garden eels, every now and than a goliath grouper swimming by... Still, no rays in ray-city, but surtainly not a ghost town...

and here it is, winter...

Mum and kid showing off, just feet away from our boat, what a show...





visibility: down to say 25 - 30 feet, white and sandy; bottom stirred up
water temperature: also down to 68ºF, but still okay...
currents: a very slow push
surface conditions: a bit of wind (thus waves) in the afternoon, nothing we cannot manage

Finally it seems that winter has arrived, not that we are too happy about that! You know how guides are, and we are no exception on the rule; always cold, even when nice and warm... A bit more of a surprice is the drop in visibility, since there has hardly been any currents, wind or waves. The undertow must have been strong enough to get the fine, white dust from the bottom mixing up the water...
Under water the effect is noticeable, but above water the 'show' continues, totally visible and very close! And what a show; we are on our way to the dive site, when a mum-whale and her kid are looking at us. They peep their huge heads above water, to see where we are going, to follow us and surprise us with some breaching of mum and calf. Mother is directing, showing a dorsal fin as in telling her kid to jump: come on you can do it, and she can...
Summer or winter, life in the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park is always spectacular, above or under water, snorkeling or diving. I mean, what a show...

Still looks like spring...

visibility: is a wonderful 40 - 45 feet!
water temperature: also surprising high at a 73º F
currents: non, what so ever...
surface conditions: no wind, no waves and a lot of sun

The conditions to go snorkeling we're great, everything worked with us. So we took off to spot whales, and we did see several, playing, breaching and breathing. We went to see the big schools of big eyed jacks and we found them; a trillion of fish from bottom to surface in a fennel shape, impressive. We wanted to see sea lions and so we did. Lots in and out of the water; the calves playing and having fun too, like us! The mums watching closely for their safety...
Of course, the snorkeling trip also showed the amounts of fish; in the clear waters and the amounts of light they seemed closer and more colorful than ever... It's been a nice day on the water.
Hope to see you in the water too, while winter is staying a bit on a distance...