Dive Review of Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort in
Mexico (Western)/Cabo Pulmo

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Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort: "Lots of Fish but Lots of Rules", Nov, 2021, by ROBERT PECORARO, HI, US ( Contributor 17 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 11755.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Cabo Pulmo is a conservation success story. It went from being virtually fished out in 1995 to a having about a 400% gain in biomass in current times. There are lots of large fish schools, including the famous schooling Bigeye Jacks, which are amazing. There are lots of Groupers, Snappers, other Jack species, Grunts, Goatfish, Porkfish, etc. We came in mid November and we were lucky enough to see lots of Bull Sharks at a couple of sites. We stayed at Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort. We opted for the full board package, which included a room, 3 meals and 2 dives per day. We got a deluxe beach bungalow with A/C right on the water. The room was nice and spacious and had all necessary amenities. We regretted getting the full meal plan on about day 2 of our week-long trip. Breakfast was buffet style while we were there, which was good. You can then just eat and run in order to get ready for your morning dives. Lunch and dinner were ordered from menus. When you are on the meal plan, you get to choose only an entree. Drinks, appetizers and desserts were all extra. Certain entrees, like steaks incurred a surcharge. The wait staff was overwhelmed at times and mistakes on orders were common. The food at the restaurant was very good, however. If I had it to do over again, I would skip the meal plan, buy breakfast stuff to keep in the room, which had refrigerator, stove, coffee maker, etc. I would then try some of the other good restaurants scattered about town, including the one at the resort. Our last night there, the restaurant was so busy that we had to get food to go and eat in our rooms. Then I had to go back to settle the bill for the week, because they were too busy to settle it while I was there. The diving in Cabo Pulmo is very good, as indicated earlier. The biomass there is amazing. However, there are a lot of rules. Dive sites are not pre determined. There is only supposed to be one boat on a site at a time. The boats are given a time to dive, usually on the hour. Dive time are a maximum of 50 minutes. If you are given a site for 0900, the next boat will be given the 1000 slot. Popular dive sites are closed out for the week when they reach the maximum amount of divers accumulatively. The week runs Wed to Wed I believe. You are not supposed to go within 6 feet of coral or rocks, but you can go down to take a picture and come back up. But you cannot touch the rocks. If you see a Bull Shark you cannot use lights or strobes, and you must crawl along the sand bottom (often to the dismay of Garden Eels). We had a friendly, knowledgeable Divemaster. But he had a shaker with him and was not afraid to use it. If you even looked like you were getting too close to the rocks, he would shake it at you and admonish you. Apparently if someone from a Divemaster's group is caught breaking the rules, they can be suspended for 15 days. We were reminded of this several times during the week, as new divers joined our group. Our group consists of experienced, conservation-minded individuals, who follow common sense rules while diving to minimize our impact. Enough is enough though. As far as Covid is concerned, there does not seem to be any protocols in place. Masks are seldom worn and there are no restrictions in place. We needed to get a PCR test for a liveaboard we were boarding following our week in Cabo Pulmo. We had to drive an hour each way to Los Barriles to get our test done. If you need to get tested to go back to the USA, there are rapid tests available at the airport. Just give yourself a little extra time. All in all, we had a good week of diving in Cabo Pulmo. This was our second time here, and most likely our last. I think that we've seen about everything to be seen here and there are plenty of other places to visit that offer similar diving with less hassles. But I would certainly recommend visiting Cabo Pulmo if you have not been there before.
Websites	Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Continental US, Hawaii, caribbean, Indo Pacific, Africa, Asia, South Pacific, Antarctica
Closest Airport	SJD - Los Cabos	Getting There	Fly into Los Cabos and drive approx 1.5 hours. Unimproved roads toward the end.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	79-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Tons of rules. Don't get closer than 6 feet from the rocks, crawl on the sand if you see a Bull Shark, no lights or strobes with Bull Sharks. 50 min max dive time. Sites closed when they reach max divers/week.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The boats were small but offered life vests to protect the cameras. There were no special rinse buckets for cameras. We used the one for mask/regulators. Restrictions made it difficult to shoot smaller subjects. Larger subjects were easier to shoot.

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Dive Review of Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort in Mexico (Western)/Cabo Pulmo

Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort: "Lots of Fish but Lots of Rules", Nov, 2021,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort in
Mexico (Western)/Cabo Pulmo