Diving famous Gordo Banks – the best dive around Cabo San Lucas?
Gordo Banks is famous for sure. The holy grail of diving for Cabo divers, Gordo Banks is an underwater ridge with a series of pinnacles starting at a depth of 100 feet. It’s not a dive for the faint of heart unless they want to go with their own personal divemaster (which of course is no problem). Visibility in shallower water can be murky. There can be current. So why bother?? Because it’s the best reef in the area for seeing sharks, rays jacks, turtles and schools of smaller fish…. If you are really lucky you might even see marlin, whale sharks, silky sharks, or schooling hammerhead sharks. Divers have even seen humpback whales between January and April.
You will have absolutely no problem if you are experienced enough to be able to jump in the water and hold in position by the descent line finning against the light current. And then follow the descent line down. And have good buoyancy control and able to do a mid-water safety stop at 15 – 20 feet for 3 minutes on the way back up. That’s it!! Basic boat diving skills. We do a quick 20-minute checkout dive on the way out to Gordo Banks for anyone who hasn’t been out with us before. And then we are off to get a couple of dives in and keep our fingers crossed for big critters. All divers have to stay with their divemaster unless prior arrangements have been made at the time of booking. And all divers need to be equipped with an SMB, dive alert signalling horn, and Nautilus Lifeline marine rescue gps. If you don’t have all this gear (and we think everyone should!), we are happy to loan you what you need or if you prefer, sell it to you at very good pricing.
Do you want to do Gordo Banks but not sure if you have the skills yet?
No worries!! Our staff will be super pleased to work with you ahead of time on some local boat dives for a day, 2 days, 3 days, or whatever it takes to get you comfortable and ready. Is it worth it?? Heck yes!!! This is a dive we never miss ourselves when we take a day off !!
Gordo Banks is 8 miles – 25 minutes – from where we berth our dive boats in San Jose del Cabo. We depart daily weather permitting.,
Will we go even if we have just one diver?
Yes, you bet.
Best visibility is usually September to December but it’s definitely worth doing any month of the year. Schooling hammerhead sharks usually arrive from down south sometime in May.
Pricing from San Jose del Cabo base. US$ 195 plus applicable taxes for 2 tanks + 20-minute checkout dive.
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