WINTER DIVING AT EL BAJO BY DESEA BAJA ADVENTURES

Feb. 2, 2007, Russ Schnieber, Desea Baja Adventures, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

In La Paz fishing action, we have reports of good sized bonita caught just west of Isla Espiritu Santo and still tons of sierra being caught inshore. Fishing has been a little quiet but we should be heading into some good fishing soon.

La Paz water temperatures have finally dropped below the 70 degree mark and are hovering right around 68 to 69 degrees.

The ambient air temperature has been running from the low 70s to the mid 80s, with evening air temperatures leveling out at around 65 to 70 degrees.

La Paz is into our 3 days on, 3 days off, pattern, pretty normal for this time of year. Days that aren't windy are pretty much prefect. Most of the time the wind is more of a nuisance then anything else.

La Paz finally feels like La Paz. The sun is out and it's warming up.

There are Baja moments. A Baja friend who has been to La Paz to dive for ten years visited us last week, eager to tell us about an experience that he had on El Bajo Seamount.

After a week of rain, he made it out to El Bajo, to find it completely flat. He hit it exactly at low tide, and was surprised to find the 62 degree surface water warming up as he sank deeper to around 75 feet. He was greeted by over 100 foot visibility.

Groups of 6 and 8 hammerhead shark would curiously swim up to the divers.

Occasional schools of big hefty yellowtail came to encircle the divers. The seamount was buzzing with life and with bait fish.

Our friend sank into the water again for a second dive. The current was up and the visibility had closed to 40 feet, to emphasize the magical Baja moment that had appeared just an hour before.

With the amount of sea life already appearing at the end of January, it seems we will be blessed with lots of fish and a great yellowtail season. We are waiting for the amberjack to appear and give us some poundage.

The stars of the sea show right now are the whales. Not only the Gray Whales doing their yearly migration, which we are seeing in Baja's Pacific Coast at Magdalena Bay, but we also some Gray Whales in the Sea of Cortez, as well as the occasional Humpback whale and Finback whale. There was a group of approximately 20 Whale Sharks right in here in La Paz Bay a couple of weeks ago.