Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. The state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by Sonora, the U.S. State of Arizona, and the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez), and on the south by Baja California Sur. Its northern limit is the U.S. state of California.
Baja California is the twelfth largest state by area in Mexico. Its geography goes from beaches to forests and deserts. The backbone of the state is the Sierra de Baja California, where the Picacho del Diablo, the highest point of the peninsula, is located. This mountain range effectively divides the weather patterns in the state. In the northwest, the weather is semi-dry and mediterranean. In the narrow
center, the weather changes to be more humid due to altitude. It is in this area where a few valleys can be found, such as the Valle de Guadalupe, the major wine producer area in Mexico. To the east of the mountain range, the Sonoran Desert dominates the landscape. In the south, the weather becomes drier and gives place to the Vizcaino Desert.
The state is also home to numerous islands off both of its shores. In fact, the westernmost point in Mexico, the Guadalupe Island, is part of Baja California. The Coronado, Todos Santos and Cedros Islands are also on the Pacific Shore. On the Gulf of California, the biggest island is the Angel de la Guarda, separated from the peninsula by the deep and narrow Canal de Ballenas.
Mexico’s Baja peninsula is blessed with some of the best scuba diving in the world and yet it remains a relative unknown on the lists of major dive destinations. With the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Sea of Cortez (aka the Gulf of California) to its east, the peninsula offers more than 2,000 miles of coastline and dozens of off-shore islands to explore. And the variety of marine life that inhabits these waters is as diverse as the terrain itself. You’ll find everything from the Great Whites of Isla Guadalupe to the graceful Manta rays of the Socorro Islands to the huge Whale sharks of the Sea of Cortez. In this article, and those that follow, I’ll try to demonstrate why I think everyone who enjoys diving should visit Mexico’s Baja peninsula at least once.
Some of the world’s richest waters are in the Sea of Cortez. The reefs consist of mounds and boulders of volcanic substrata blanketed with encrusting sponges, groups of flower corals and mollusks. Divers come for close encounters with whales, dolphins and sea lions; to swim among turtles, hammerheads and pacific mantas; and to see marlin, sailfish and schools of amberjacks and snappers. Diving here is like being hungry at a buffet banquet — one keeps going back for more.
Manta Scuba Their boat approached Los Islotes, two connecting islands that are permanent breeding grounds for hundreds of sea lions and a lesser count of pelicans, frigates and boobie birds, all of which created a din of protestation as we anchored close to the narrow, guano-covered islands. Below us are massive blocks of basalt, cleaved by weathering in a distant millennium, askew on the ocean floor. Diving in, I moved toward the shallow coast and into a thick school of amberjacks, which almost blocked my vision completely.
The sea lions without success. They were too busy sunning themselves on the rocks, and their dinner bell hadn’t gone off. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be another 14 years before seeing them frolic underwater again. Still, it was a great dive and I returned to the resort, happy, sated from diving, and hungry for food. Some of the diving sites are Los Cabos, La Paz, Loreto, Isla Espiritu Santo, Isla Cerralvo.
