Cabo San Lucas

Cabo Acuadeport, July, 1995. "I have been diving here multiple times. No Cabo dive operator will rent tanks any more - you have to dive with them and this gets expensive and they always do the same dives. After diving Cabo five years, I am tired of the Sand Falls. I am also getting tired of Controller Divine (90'for 20-25 minutes and 60'for 45 minutes) when I have been diving 30+ years. I work with Club Med as a scuba doctor. I used to be medical supervisor of Catalina Chamber and I dive with multiple back up safety systems. But, unless you have your own tanks you are at their mercy. Also they mandate $2/tank for chamber affiliation whether you have Dan, private insurance, etc. (In fact, in Mexico, if they do not want to treat you for any reason, they don't have to.) Finally with the chamber, significant abuses may be occurring -before the chamber only a handful of accidents happened and needed treatment. Dive operators told me that, now, even if people say they are tired or general achy after one or more dives they get treated. Seems like over utilization to me." Michael LaFemina, M.D., Thousand Oaks, CA

Vista Sea Sport, Hotel Palma de Cortez, September, 1994. "Friendly divemasters, small customized group (2­4 divers). More fish than I have ever seen on a dive. Warm water with good visibility. Dive with sea lions great experience. Pristine reefs with almost no other divers. Long, computer dives for experienced divers. . . . Good food and music at Tio Paco's. Three hours from LAX to hotel. Not much to do for nondivers. . . . Day at Cabo Pulmo ranks high on my list of greatest dives ever. Warm water, 100 ft. visibility, beautiful coral reef, and more fish than I have ever seen. Vista runs 2­tank dives for groups of 2­4. Customized; PADI operation friendly and professional. Many hotels in area best known for big game fishing. Also fun were wreck dive and scuba experience with sea lion family." Dottie Nagel, Santa Monica, CA

Vista Sea Sport, November, 1994. "Three days of great diving with small dive operation at East Cape. Uncrowded, pristine reefs of Cabo Pulmo. Operation leaves from beach at Hotel Spa Buenavista, 35 miles from San Jose del Cabo Airport. Saw one other panga with divers in whole trip. Owner and PADI divemaster Mark Ragar takes groups of four maximum on his 22 Shamrock. Two tank customized trips. Dive with sea lions a great experience. More tropical fish than Caribbean or South Pacific. Also great fishing. Bad.... if looking for wild night life, this isn't the place." G.T. Butler, San Pedro, CA

Guaymas

Club Med, May, 1995. "If you're a diver and Club Med interests you, this is the place to go. But if you're looking for 'hard­core' diving, look elsewhere, because they limit the days, times, and locations." Rick Cooper, Chicago, IL

LaPaz

Baja Diving Service, December, 1994. "Sometimes crowded van ride (15 min.) to boat dock. Sea lions were fun to play with. Divemaster paid no attention to novice divers, could have been more helpful." Anon.

Fernando Oquilas, La Concha, September, 1994. "La Concha maybe the best resort in town, but the town has a long way to go. Fernando Oquilas runs the diving operation. The divemasters are friendly, but not oriented toward safe service. One day we were dropped in the channel for a wreck dive. The tide was going out and the current was running more than seven knots. Beginners were on the boat. The smart ones got back in; I took the anchor line down. It's unsettling to come back up and find the line waving in the current during your safety stop. . . . But, big fish are there. Grabbing onto a whale shark was the thrill of a lifetime. At Sea Mount I saw a hammerhead while waiting for a manta. A pod of pilot whales accompanied us one day. Too bad it was marred by the boat breaking down during a storm. You'd think they'd listen to marine reports." Clayton Fuller, Chula Vista, CA

Copyright 1996 by DSDL, Inc., publishers of Undercurrent. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact DSDL, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.