Loreto diving
Loreto diving has some of the best island diving to be found in the Sea of Cortez. There are the islands of Carmen, Danzante, Coronado, Monserrate and Catalan have lots of shoreline providing anchorage and dive sites for all levels of divers as well as a rich and varied marine life.The islands are volcanic resulting in rocky shorelines, massive underwater rock formations, finger reefs of rock and coral and great wall dives. However keep in mind that the accessibility of many of the dive sites are subject to the current that's ever changing, the water conditions and the seasons.
The temperature and visibility changes from 92°F/33°C and 150 feet/45 meters during the summer, to 70°F/21°C and 50 feet/15 meters in the winter. Despite these changes, the average visibility is not always uniform at all dive sites.
There's so much to see in Loreto Marine Park Islands and a good part of the dive sites are quite shallow making it ideal for the beginner. But that's not all there is. For the more adventurous and experienced diver there are some spectacular walls that are covered in sea fans and sea mounts that rise to as shallow as 50 feet/15 meters
In
Loreto the marine life will vary depending on what
season you visit. One event not to miss is the coming of the
giants.
In January every year the Loreto National Marine Park is home
to 9 different species of whales.Humpback, Minke, Finback,
Sei,
Blue,Sperm,Pilot,Orcas, a few California Gray Whales and last
but not least, large schools of Bottlenose Dolphins
that sometimes show up in thousands. These wonderful creatures
stay within the park until late March and sometimes don't start
their journey until May.
Some of the dive sites in Loreto are:
Los Candelleros which is a great area for diving around the huge rocky fingers that rise about 5 miles/3km southwest of Puerto Escondido and are characterized by vertical facades dropping to depths of almost 200 feet/60 meters. Deep crevices and lots of structural cover below the surface making a paradise for fish of kinds and sizes.
Punta Coyote is situated just outside of Escondido Bay. There's a deepwater drop-off to approximately 115 feet/35 meters of large rocks and boulders along a good length of the point. The rocky crevices are home to a lot of reef fish. Also typical of this dive site are the sea fans and gorgonians.
Las Galerasis north of Monserrate Island. The rocky outcroppings have steep walls typical of many of the great Loreto dive sites with boulders and large tabletop slabs of underwater rocks. Nearer the rocks themselves the waters are shallow but beyond, the waters drop rapidly to depths close to 100 feet/30 meters with finger reefs along the bottom providing excellent diving and photography opportunities.
