Page 320 - Mexico Diving From the Caribbean to Pacific Isles

a Vela, Angel Island - One of the first spots encounter the tiny but beautiful Cortez rain- tez and the southernmost of the Midriff islands.
bow wrasses, to the majestic arcing wings of It is also officially protected as part of the Islas
L to dive on a northern Sea of Cortez livea-
board cruise is Angel Island. It is a great site manta rays with wingspans exceeding twenty del Golfo de California Reserve and home to

for sea lions that may swoop and swim around feet. The south tip is probably the most ad- Brown and Blue-footed Boobies, sea lions, peli-

you like the playful puppies of the ocean that vanced dive site at Isla Tortuga, and can only cans and more. Boobie birds are everywhere.

they are. When at the surface the smell from be dived when currents are at their most mild.
the bird droppings that cake the rock of La

IVela, meaning ‘the sail’, encourages a swift
Bsubmersion. You will descend to the base of
sla Tiburon - is the largest island in the Gulf
ahia de los Angeles - a coastal bay on the of California and the largest island in Mexico,
eastern shore of Baja California. The almost with an area of 464 square miles (1,200 km2) It

the rock which slopes to deeper than 30 me- fully enclosed bay is part of a biosphere re- was made a nature reserve in 1963 by President

ters. While the Sea of Cortez is famed for large serve, is known for whale sharks. The area is also Adolfo López Mateos. Tiburón is Spanish for

animal encounters, it also delivers on a mac- known for large pods of bottlenose dolphins. shark. It is part of the state of Sonora, as well as

ro scale. You can spot various different nudi- S alsipuedes – is a small island that is part the municipality of Hermosillo, and is located
branchs Look out for mobula rays, sometimes of the San Lorenzo Marine Archipelago along the eastern shore of the Gulf of Califor-
hard to miss when travelling in large schools. nia, opposite Isla Ángel de la Guarda. Tiburón

I sla Tortuga - The south point of Isla Tortuga National Park. Salsipuedes means “leave if Island is part of the traditional homeland of
is a steep and rugged cliff face formed by the you can” in Spanish, and the island looks in- some bands (or clans) of the Seri people, prob-
deed rather low and barren and nowhere ably for many centuries if not millennia. The re-

lava flows of many eruptions of the nearby vol- near as attractive as Angel Island. There mains of the structures and airstrip are still in

canoes. The entire Sea of Cortez is a strongly are some excellent dive sites here in the place (although the airstrip was rendered un-

volcanic region, and is itself formed by the form of partially or fully submerged spires. usable by the Mexican military around 1995 in

slow march of two of Earth’s plates diverging. S an Pedro Martir – a small island of about a an attempt to keep it from being used by smug-
Below water, the rugged volcanic face contin- square mile in the middle of the Sea of Cor- glers who were active in the area at the time.
ues into a steep wall where scuba divers may