Dive Review of
Club Cantamar/Club Cantamar Resort & Sports Cente in
Mexico (Western)/La Paz, Baja Calif Sur

My husband and I have been diving in Australia, the Red Sea, Honduras,
Belize, New England, Florida and  various islands in the Caribbean.

Dive Conditions

Basically, there were three dives per day and the sites and limits
coincided with recreational dive table limits.  

There were no special facilities for cameras on the dive boats we were on -
only one fresh water bucket that was not restricted to cameras.  

Overall Rating

Club Cantamar is a family-run hotel and dive/sport operation and they are
extremely customer-focused.  Although the hotel accomodations were a little
on the rustic side (warning-the mattresses are extremely hard and you need
to bring your own hair dryer), the rooms were clean and well-kept and only
a few steps from the dock.  Breakfast at the restaurant and lunch on the
dive boat were included in our pkg. price and were both excellent.  You can
also get a pkg with dinner included, but we went into La Paz every night
since we had a rental car.  It is a 10-minute ride into town and there are
a lot of excellent restaurants and shops there, as well as a wonderful
seaside walkway from which to view the sunsets.  Our favorite restaurant
was Carlos n' Charlie's where they make salsa fresh at your table. 
We were only able to spend two days diving since this trip was tacked onto
the end of a business trip, but we would definitely go back to the area and
this resort in the future.  The first day we went to the bay of La Paz and
snorkeled with whale sharks.  Since the larger whale sharks don't come in
until early Fall, these were younger, smaller whale sharks and they tended
to swim quickly away from us, so,unless you're an Olympic class swimmer,
you may not get too close to one.  Our second dive was at Los Islotes, the
main home of sea lions in the area.  What an incredible experience, full of
amazing photo-ops!  Not for the feint of heart, though.  The sea lions are
very comfortable with divers and will play with you as soon as you get into
the water.  Be advised that their "playing" does include nipping
at your fins, legs, arms, camera, etc.- not hard, but enough to startle the
first few times.  Our third dive was a Mexican navy wreck at about 50-feet;
it hadn't been there very long, but there were some fish and small critters
around it.  The second day we headed out to El Bajo, about 6 miles from
Isla Partida.  El Bajo is a seamount about 70-feet down in open sea and is
supposed to be the premier site for seeing large pelagics.  Unfortunately,
when we got to the end of Isla Partida we were turned back by heavy winds
and choppy seas and ended up spending the day at closer sites off the
islands.  We got the feeling that this may happen about 50% of the time. 
Overall, the dive crew was extremely friendly, attentive and helpful,
providing excellent briefings and offering guided dives.  
Advice to remember for future Baja trips:  1) bring your 5- or 7-mm wetsuit
and a hood since the waters are pretty chilly and don't really get much
warmer later in the year; 2) the really cool stuff the Sea of Cortez is
famous for can be seen mostly in the Fall - hammerheads, large whale
sharks, and whales - so schedule your trip between late Sept. and late
Nov.; 3) the sea lions tend to give birth in late May and early June, so
this is not the time to visit them; the females stay on shore with the
pups, while the bulls are in the water and, judging from the size of these
bulls, you do not want to be in the water with them while they are on
patrol duty guarding their young; 4) definitely rent a car - we drove up
the west coast from Cabo San Lucas and took the east coast road back down
to the airport in San Jose; the country-side is spectacular, especially the
east coast road down through the mountains; and, 5) if you're into fishing,
definitely reserve at least one day to go out sport fishing; the first day
we were there, we saw a huge Wahoo on the dock that someone had just
brought in - the chef was going to turn it into some nice souvenir steaks
to take home, and the rest was going to be served at dinner that night in
the restaurant. 

Questions?
Send an email to the author of this report

What others have to say about Undercurrent
And get immediate access to ALL 174 dive reviews of Mexico (Western)
and all other dive destinations immediately!