Snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez

[rick160158]

Anyone know the name of good snorkelling beaches in Loreto or La Paz. Do not want to book through the ship, we'll cab it from the port.:)

[Boytjie]

Anyone know the name of good snorkelling beaches in Loreto or La Paz. Do not want to book through the ship, we'll cab it from the port.:)

Do a search on the Ports of Call threads for the Mexican Riviera (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=203) for more information.

[lstrong]

I am also interested. I have tried to search the Mex Riviera boards, but without success. HAL is the only line going to the Sea of Cortez so I am hoping someone here will have some suggestions. Thanks, Laurie

[CowPrincess]

Check the shorex offered by HAL, that should give you the names of a few places. Then Google "snorkeling" and the names of the different beaches -- we've done that for a number of things we've wanted to do! You can also check TripAdvisor.

[scuba diver]

Snorkeling is very different on the west coast from that found in the Carib, South Pacific and Hawaii. Make sure it is what you want before you spend time and money on snorkeling.

I do not have the info on Loreto and La Paz here, but will dig it out and post later. My info is about diving. It also has some info about snorkeling.

[brucory]

El Tecolote is a beautiful beach and the water was nice and calm when we were there. There were some people snorkeling... We had a great day...

It is possible to organise snorkeling tours when you arrive at Loreto. Small boats can take you to secluded beaches etc...

If you don't find enough information before you go, there is a wide selection of Mexico guidebooks in the on board library which have tips on snorkeling beaches...

:D:D:D

[Sleepladypalmdesert]

My crazy DH tells me there is incredible shark excursions off of La Paz. I guess Hammerheads galore. He recommends it.

[scuba diver]

Here are some web sites with info about snorkeling and scuba. They are a good place to start for info. My research has found that the diving is good at islands that are some distance from the shore. That would indicate to me that snorkeling along the shore would be less than good. It appears that most of the dive shops run their snorkeling groups out to the islands. Good luck.

Loreto

http://www.dolphindivebaja.com/
http://loretours.com/

La Paz

http://www.cortezclub.com/
http://inlapaz.com/diving.html

[anchorage1977]

I totally get not wanting to book through the ship. I almost never do either. One of only 2 shore excursions I can ever remember booking turned out to be excellent... snorkeling in La Paz. It was a heck of a deal for $99. The gear was great, the guide very informative and they found us 3 or 4 spots, away from beaches where we saw tons of coral and fish. Although there is one excursion that is promoted as a snorkel with sea loins, ours was not but still gave us a chance. They motored us over to some sort rock off shore where we had a great time playing with about a half dozen of them.

If you can stomach booking through the ship, I'd consider it here. I wish I'd saved the name of the operator they used, but unfortunately I missed it.

PS, the ship docks in the middle of nowhere in La Paz. It's neither industrial or urban... just barren. The marina we took off from for the excursion however was only 2 or 3 miles down away. It is however not walkable.

Good luck.

[CRUZBUDS]

We did the Sea Lion encounter there a few years ago in La Paz. It was in March, the boat provided wet suits. Even with the wet suit the water was freezing. We had a great time. There were dozens and dozens of sea lions. I wonder where they go to the bathroom? :eek:

[SusieKay]

We were on the Ryndam in the Sea of Cortez in November. Though we had our own snorkeling gear, we never used it. We are used to the Caribbean -warm, crystal clear, fairly calm, and never saw anything like that . By our observations, the water was cold, rough, and murky-one of the shore excursions from the ship for snorkeling was cancelled due to jellyfish.

[liketraveling]

I just got off the Ryndam on Saturday. I love snorkeling but on this trip I skipped it because I have snorkeled in Hawaii and the Carribean. The Water is much colder on the Western Side.

They do have a shuttle to a beach in La Paz I didn't go to it so I can't give you details on it.

You do have to be careful of Jelly Fish. A couple of folks on the cruise did get Jelly Fish Stings.

I usually don't like booking shore excursions but this trip I did and was pleasantly supprised. I saw allot more than I would have been able to on my own.

Have a great cruise!

Gail

[swedish weave]

Anyone know the name of good snorkelling beaches in Loreto or La Paz. Do not want to book through the ship, we'll cab it from the port.:)

I used to fish a lot in Loreto, and saw snorkelers around Coronado Island. The water should be warmer there than other places because it is pretty shallow between the lighthouse and the island. There is a beautiful white sand beach in a cove on Coronado, and I think you can get a panga to take you out there pretty reasonable. Bill

[Ready4Cruise]

I did this tour through the ship on the 3/5/09 Ryndam Sea of Cortez cruise.

Los Islotes - Snorkeling with the Sea Lions

Duration: Approximately 6½ - 7 Hours Price : $$$

La Paz is one of the most beautiful locations for people who love eco-tourism. Snorkeling and diving are the biggest attractions. The Sea of Cortez provides a large variety of marine life, such as sea lions, whales, dolphins, Cortez angel fish, and parrot fish, making this an excellent place for taking great photos. A 1- to 1½-hour boat ride will bring you to the Los Islotes sea lion colony--

This same tour tour is also offered as "Los Islotes - Certified Two-Tank Scuba Dive".

It turns out that this HAL tour uses "Club Cantamar" which you can book yourself at their website. While it is cheaper this way you will have to use a taxi to get to and from Club Cantamar (about 5 - 10 minutes from the ship).

On this excursion both the snorkeling and scuba divers were on the same boat (about 25 of us). Note that the ship almost canceled this tour because there was not enough people signed-up. So I don't know what would happen if you booked this excursion yourself through Club Cantamar and then the ship canceled their tour.

The water was cold in March even though we were given wet suits. The water at the sea lion site had very limited visablity. You could still see the sea lions swimming with you but very difficult to see fish. Second site visited was clearer. But you can't compare it to the Carribbean. If you expect very clear water you may be disappointed. Yes there were jelly fish but only one person from the excursion got stung.

There were also kayaks on the boat that could be used.

Art

[swedish weave]

I got info from GaryDM who is on the Ryndam in Loreto today about water temp.
Water 71.6 and air 80 degrees. Bill

He is posting every day from the Ryndam. Interesting !!

[brownie1005]

Snorkeling is very different on the west coast from that found in the Carib, South Pacific and Hawaii. Make sure it is what you want before you spend time and money on snorkeling.


scuba diver - can you explain in what way snorkeling is different on west coast vs Carib?

Thanks!

[nitnyleo]

I'm not sure, but I think you'll find more narcos on the west coast.

I'm sorry . . . couldn't resist . . . AND, now back to the main thread -

[luvcruisn']

In the Caribbean, the water is clear, with usually no currents. I snorkeled off of Lover's Beach in Cabo San Lucas, and kept getting swept near the rocks where I was snorkeling. In Mazatlan, off of Stone Island, in mid-February, the water was very cold. I was told that it was the coldest that it had been in a long time. The water wasn't very clear, and it was hard to see any bright colours on the fish. I did see some fish, but one of the fellows on our tour couldn't see anything at all.

[mrmac]

We had very good snorkeling in PV in November off the Ryndam. We took an excursion out to Las Marietas Islands. Beautiful blue, clear water outside the Bay of Banderas water. We saw lots of fish. In Loreto, as stated above, you can rent a panga when you get off the tender to take you to Coronado Island. The snorkeling is OK but the water at the sandy beach looks like the Caribbean. It is beautifully clear. It did get windy and rough on the way back but the beach is protected. In La Paz we rented another panga at Tecolote Beach that took us to the island lighthouse back towards La Paz. There we saw large schools of thousands of small fish that I haven't seen since I was in St. Thomas years ago. That was really cool to swim through. We also rode around the coast and into a couple of coves, one that has the balancing rock of La Paz. That cove is actually 6 coves and is very pretty with lots of shallow & clear water. There is a complimentary shuttle to Tecolote Beach and to downtown La Paz.

The Sea of Cortez is absolutely gorgeous so don't let anyone talk you out of it. And it is full of sealife. While the snorkeling isn't Hawaii or Grand Cayman, it can still be very enjoyable under the right conditions. Get out onto and into the water!

[melika091900]

we just got off ryndam ,best beach and snorkeling was in la paz, tecolote beach, they have a free shuttle there,

great clear water, nice and clean beach,,

you can see our pics on my webshots link..

we loved la paz

[AlbertaCruisers]

I just got off the Ryndam on Tuesday.

I love snorkeling. We have only cruised the Caribbean before and I always try to snorkel at every stop. I had a really hard time finding snorkeling information for this cruise. Mainly I just found out that it was not as good as the Caribbean and that the water would be cold. I decided to go ahead and book anyway because a day snorkeling is better then a day not snorkeling.

So first, the water was fairly cold, but once you got in and started swimming I didn't notice it anymore. Even people from San Diego who thought it would be too cold ended up being fine. Some of the kids from the southern US did find it too cold though and were only in the water for short periods of time.

I plan on writing a bigger review and providing links to my snorkeling pictures. But in general the excursions I did were better then expected, and in some cases better then some of the snorkeling I have done in the Caribbean.

Cabo - we wanted to go to Santa Maria, but that was canceled and we ended up at Chilleno. Not that great of snorkeling, but once you got right over by the rocks there was a good amount of fish, many different kinds and some fairly large ones. This was not the best though, I probably would not do it again. But it was a very nice day. We took the ships tour but it appear that someone had taken one of the water taxis over and the taxi waited while they snorkeled. I snorkel a lot and I would not recommend snorkeling at Lover's Beach. We didn't get in the water there but it was really rough and lots of boats bringing people to see the sea lions. It was a mess in that area.

Loretto - we did another ship excursion here. For the Sea of Cortez ports, the snorkeling was pretty far from the pier and they are not really touristy areas, so if I went back I would do the ship excursion again. We did the Snorkeling at Coronados Island. This excursion was badly organized and there was a towel issue on the ship so we had now towels, but the snorkeling was very nice. First they took us by a sea lion colony, the water was calm here so we got really close and the sea lions were all around us (much better then the Cabo one). Then we went to a beach, very deserted, really no amenities at all. The water was very cold when you walked in, but once you got over the rocks it was a lot warmer. There were not many people snorkeling at first and there were tons of fish, lots of colors, including Puffer fish, star fish (lots of different colors). My husband, who doesn't snorkel, hated this tour as it was badly run, but I was very glad we went as I had a great time snorkeling.

La Paz - we did the ship excursion - Balandra Bay Snorkel - this was the highlight of my trip. We went out on a very nice boat (it had a back ledge that made getting in and out of the water very easy) and the boat had tons of room to move around and lay in the sun, etc. They included wet suits with this excursion and they were definitely helpful, but again, once you were out moving around it wasn't that bad. First we stopped at a sea lion colony where we were given the option to get in the water with them. I didn't get very close, but a couple of times they all when swimming right by me, it was a great experience. We then when to Balandra Bay. We saw the mushroom shaped rock. The bay was shallow and as we sailed we were able to see stingrays gliding along the sandy bottom through the crystal clear water. The tour guides were very helpful and informative. The snorkeling in the Bay was also very nice, the water was clear and shallow and there were tons of fish, sea snails, eels, etc. The water was completely calm and it was a gorgeous day. We then had more time, so they moved the boat to one more location that had lots of coral and more and different types of fish. This site was a bit deeper so a bit murkier but it was still vary nice and tons to see (lots of puffers in this location). I would not hesitate for a minute going on this excursion again.

I'm very glad we took the cruise that went up the Sea of Cortez as Loretto and La Paz were the highlights of my trip and had some great snorkeling.