Cabo Wildlife Calendar

Scuba Diving in Cabo San Lucas

Here’s the scoop on Scuba Diving in Cabo San Lucas!  Team Ninja invites you to step into our very own back yard!

Welcome to Cabo 

The Mexican city of Cabo San Lucas sits at the very Southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula – right where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. The merging of these two huge bodies of water creates unique conditions and magical scene below the surface – resulting in one of the top, yet lesser known, scuba diving destinations in the world.  This is the home base of Dive Ninja Expeditions, and we can’t wait to show you around!  Pop into one of our 2 PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centers, and we’d love to share with you the abundance of marine life in our hometown, with our pristine waters, and gorgeous beaches backdropped by amazing landscapes. 

In 1973, the president of Mexico recognized the significance of this unique wildlife abode and declared the bay area of Cabo San Lucas a protected underwater marine park. Our dive sites range in depth from 8m (25ft) to 40m (130ft) for recreational divers, with many deep walls extending down below 100m (330ft) for technical dives. The seas are usually very calm with minimal current and good visibility.  With an amazing range of ever changing seasonal pelagic life, there’s always something to keep your heart pumping and excitement high!

about cabo san lucas

Cabo San Lucas Marine Park

Just a 10 minute boat ride, the Cabo San Lucas Marine Park features clear and calm waters.  You can swim with large schools of tropical fish, enjoy the playful antics of the resident sea lions, or adventure out on a shark dive, and so much more. One of our favourite highlights of diving in Cabo San Lucas is to swim with large schools of migrating Mobula Rays. Tens of thousands of Mobulas show up every spring and autumn when the water begins to change temperatures. They can often be seen bursting out from the water doing, desperately flapping their wings, performing backflips, totally showing off their acrobatic skills, as they search for mates. Divers can also swim with a diverse amount of other ocean creatures such as; schools of snapper, white tip sharks, tornados of sardines, turtles, eels, puffers, groupers, sea horses, tiny nudibranchs, frogfish and much more – check out our Marine Wildlife Calendar to see who’s around and when!

Dive Sites

The Cabo San Lucas Marine Park contains some incredible dive sites. One of  Team Ninja’s favourites is Land’s End, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. Here you may find yourself surrounded by schools of jacks, butterfly fish, and rays. You can also encounter our playful California Sea Lions at Land’s End. These curious salty sea dogs love to investigate divers. Not far from Land’s End is Neptune’s Finger, where you can find the biggest sandfall of the Marine Park. A sandfall is a unique phenomenon where sand pours down a cliff in the same way a waterfall does, caused by a combination of special circumstances that occur in only a few other locations around the globe. Other dive sites within the Cabo San Lucas Marine Park include the South Wall, Middle Wall, and North Wall. Explore the rocky crevices of these walls and discover moray eels, lobsters, octopus, moorish idols, guitar fish, seahorses, frog fish and more. Lastly, dive at Pelican Rock, a rocky pinnacle that is a fantastic place for both day and night dives. The waters here are exceptionally calm and teeming with tropical fish, nudibranchs, sea turtles, porcupine fish and many others making a great place to learn to dive as well as for more advanced divers. 

Looking for something different? Ask one our team to take you to one of our secret ninja spots! Visit the outer wall to spot big game fish and schools of rays. Or check out Ninja Rock, a secret pinnacle that reaches up from the sea bottom away from the main sites.   If you’re an experienced diver and feeling adventurous Team Ninja can even take you out exploring some of our uncharted areas.

The Corridor

There’s more to explore!  The Corridor, located about 15-20 minutes from the marina, contains 6 main dive areas (Chileno Bay, Gavilanes, Blow Hole, Santa Maria, Whales Head, and Los Moros).  Different in character from the Marine Park, this area has a unique rocky bottom topography with large boulders and colourful sea fans.   This area is less crowded with tourists but tends to see less marine life than the Cabo San Lucas Marine Park. However the waters are calm and shallow in most parts which makes it a great location for those looking for a nice relaxing morning. At Whales Head we can see schools of eagle rays. At Blow Hole Deep we can sometimes spot silky sharks or big white tips cruising the outer wall. In the winters sometimes on our dives we can even hear the mesmerizing songs of the humpback whales who cruise the corridor.

Gordo Banks

About 1.5 hours from the marina by boat, 8 miles offshore from San Jose del Cabo in the deep blue Sea of Cortez lies an underwater mountain that fails to break the sea surface. Welcome to Gordo Banks! The mount is one of the most remarkable places to dive in Los Cabos. Throughout the year we can spot schools of hammerheads as they move through the area. In summer we can see schools of silkies as they migrate through. Throughout the year we can spot sharks, Mahi Mahi, wahoo, big pelagic & diamond stingrays, huge schools of jacks and snapper, tuna, and even marlin. During humpback whale season it’s not uncommon to hear them singing while diving at Gordo, or if you’re super lucky to see a whale swim by on your safety stop. 

Diving with a school of fish at Neptunes Finger Cabo San Lucas
Silky Shark diving Gordo Banks, Los Cabos
whale watching cabo san lucas

Whale Watching in Cabo San Lucas

Don’t miss out on the Humpback Whales.  Every year hundreds of Humpback whales travel thousands of miles to Cabo San Lucas for a little winter vacation. They come to our warm waters to give birth and meet new mates. They start showing up in late November and by late December and into January the Humpbacks start to give birth to their calfs, and by February these babies are actively swimming with their mothers learning how to breach, feed, and dive – giving us the most spectacular displays.  The whales start migrating north in late March with the season ending in mid-April.

We definitely recommend skipping a half day of our fantastic Cabo diving to watch these majestic giants leap from the water and show off to their new mates. Hearing the thunderous splash as these 40 ton beauties dive back into the sea is a memory that will last a lifetime. The official whale watching season opens on December 15 and runs until April 15 every year. Join us on our Eco Whale Watching tours, and marvel as you get up close to these majestic animals, as they enjoy the warm waters around Cabo.  All the tours are lead by expert naturalist guides and last around 2.5 hours. There are multiple departures throughout the day as well as a special sunset tour.  Intrigued, and want to learn more about our big marine mammal cousins?  Sign up for a PADI Whale Defender Course, and learn to love all things whale.  

Shark diving in Cabo San Lucas

Get up close and personal with sharks! With 2 seas coming together off the coast,  Cabo San Lucas is an excellent spot to see migrating pelagic species out in the big beautiful blue. Come with us on a shark diving excursion out to blue water to look for, and swim with, sharks and and all other big pelagic life – let’s see what we can find!  These half- day trips are run by an expert shark guide with more than a decade of experience diving with sharks. You can get a chance to see  silky sharks, hammerheads, makos, blue sharks, and more. There’s also excellent chances for encounters with other pelagics such as Pacific Manta Rays, turtles, mahi mahi, tuna, marlin, migrating rays, whales – we’ve even seen orcas! 

The trips run as half day tours in the mornings or afternoons, but a full day safari is also available. Depending on the time of the year and current sightings we will choose which location to go to for the best chance to see sharks. You do not need to be a certified diver to join one of our shark expeditions. You only need to be comfortable swimming in deep water where you can not see the bottom. The majority of the action takes place at the surface making it perfect for snorkeling & freediving as well as great for photography.  Although the seas around Cabo are relatively calm we do recommend those that are prone to seasickness to take Dramamine or another seasickness precaution method as we will be a bit off shore for the duration of the trip.

The shark diving excursion makes for a perfect last day since it’s snorkeling and freediving only. This way you can spend your preflight surface interval hanging out with some of Cabo’s gorgeous pelagic species and predators! Contact us today to book your shark diving experience.  Want to learn even more about sharks?  Sign up for an AWARE Shark Conservation Course!

sunset cabo san lucas

Weather and Water Temperatures

Pick the time of year that suits you best. Water temperatures range from 20C/68F – 30C/86F throughout the year with the coldest months being from late April through early June. The warmest water temps run from mid August through early December.   The rest of the year tends to stay relatively temperate with the occasional thermocline.  The sun is almost always shinning in Cabo with over 350 days of sunshine on average. Cabo San Lucas has a BWh desert climate and only sees about 25CM/10 inches of rain in a year, with the majority of that rain falling in the months of August and September.  August tends to be the hottest month on land, and January the coldest. Temperatures during the day range from 25C/77F upwards of 34C/94F throughout the year. Humidity tends to stay very low throughout the year due to the desert climate, except in the months of August and September when we see some rain.  At night after our beautiful neon pink and red sunsets the temperature tends to cool down due to our beautiful desert landscape. Night time temperatures can range as low as 15C/59F to in the late winter and 27C/81F in the late summer.

Ready to visit?

Book your trip today for some Cabo diving! Cabo San Lucas is an easy destination to get to with direct flights to Los Cabos International airport (airport code: SJD) from all over the world. Accommodations are not a worry from hostels and hotels, to five star resorts, there is something for every budget. Our team of ninjas will be glad to help you set up Cabo San Lucas as part of a stay and dive package, or to get the most of the area, join one of our special multiday expeditions to explore BajaContact us today for more info.

cabo diving