Scuba Diving
La Paz, Baja California Sur is a community that derives a great deal of its livelihood from the abundant natural resources provided by the Gulf of California. In fact, it is because of the magnificent wonders that this body of water provides that La Paz has established a reputation as being a great location for amateur and professional scuba diving.
The Gulf of California, or Mar de Cortes (Sea of Cortez) as the locals like to call it, is considered by many as one of the most biologically diverse water forms in the entire planet. Not only is it a permanent home to a wide variety of sea creatures and plant life, it is also constantly visited by migratory animals such as hammerhead sharks and humpback whales. La Paz, Baja California Sur is one of the surrounding communities that border the Gulf of California.
To many amateur and professional scuba divers, La Paz is scuba diving mecca. Although many tourists and vacationers flock to the shores of La Paz to enjoy its ivory-white beaches, its refreshingly tropical climate and its soothing blue-green waters, many tourists also come because of the activities that occur past the shallow waters of La Paz.
Scuba diving in La Paz is like being transported into an magical and unknown land. The moment you dive in the warm and clear waters, your eyes will beheld colors, movements and forms that you only see on television and magazines. Bordering the beaches of La Paz are coral reefs and dive sites that have incredibly beautiful and pristine underwater sceneries where indigenous and migrating sea critters live and frolic. Cabo Pulmo coral reefs, El Bajo marine mountains, and Punta Arenas diving sites are just some of the famous scuba diving destinations in and around La Paz.
There are just three places in the world where you can go scuba diving and swimming with schools of hammerhead sharks. La Paz is one of these three places. During the months of fall and winter, colonies of hammerhead sharks flock in certain areas of the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez. Scuba divers can hire diving boats in order to be brought to areas where the hammerhead sharks are located. They can even hire helicopter diving assistance so that the helicopters can search for colonies of hammerhead sharks from the air and scuba divers can go to them.
If thrilling sensation of swimming with sharks is not enough for you, La Paz scuba divers can also see and swim beside gargantuan and gentle whale sharks, friendly sea lions, dolphins and orcas, and slippery-smooth manta rays. Occasionally, blue whale and humpback whale can also be sighted in the blue waters of the Gulf of California.
Aside from the natural scuba diving sites, there are also a couple of man-made diving sites in La Paz. Professional and beginning scuba divers can experience wreck diving, wherein they can explore sunken ships and boats in artificial reefs.
Scuba diving in La Paz is not just limited to recreational scuba sites. Many scientists and marine biologists also go to La Paz in order to study and observe marine plant and wildlife.
Whether its the thrill of swimming with large, intimidating sea animals, the delight in seeing underwater sceneries, or the intellectual enjoyment of learning about marine ecosystems, La Paz scuba diving is sure to leave you breathlessly satisfied.