Scuba and Snorkeling in Bahia de Los Angeles - August 2023

With Scott, and our friends Joel and Jill, becoming scuba certified last year, we were excited to sign up for one of Rocky Point Scuba Dive's 2023 Bahia de Los Angeles trips. The company offered 5 opportunities for an 8-day diving/snorkeling excursion in the tiny village of Bahía de Los Angeles, which is on the eastern shore of the state of Baja California, Mexico. Lying about 7 hours south of the border from Yuma, AZ. Travelers provide their own transportation (there are no flights...see my prior blog post about the drive!), with the promise of the opportunity to snorkel with whale sharks as one of the trip highlights!

Our lodging was at the Villa Bahia Hotel with hosts Chava and Christina. Located directly on the beach, Rocky Point Scuba has been using this establishment for about 13 years and love the atmosphere and hospitality.

The rooms and facility here are charming and rustic, and we loved it! Rooms are double occupancy with minimal amenities inside:

Beds/Bathroom/Small Closet/5-gallon Drinking Water jug/AC and a few have small kitchens (which Joel and Jill had). A small fridge can be inside by request (which we had).

Bahia de Los Angeles (BLA) itself is a small village of about 1,000 people. Traditionally a fishing town, recent years have seen a rise in sport-fishing charters and ecotourism options. This village is off the beaten path, so you really have to plan to be here. It's remote nature adds to the charm!

From an ecotourism perspective, this small town is headquarters for access to the Archipelago of 16 islands off the coast and in the bay, the 47-mile long Isla Ángel de la Guardia (Angel Island) on the eastern horizon, and is noteworthy for its World Heritage Site designation by the United Nations.

According to Wikipedia, "In 2007, Mexican President Felipe Calderón established the Bahía de los Ángeles Biosphere Reserve to protect the unique ecology of the region. The reserve protects a diverse marine population including many endangered species including whale sharks, fin whales, California sea lions and five species of sea turtle."

On this trip, the itinerary for each day was pretty similar. Chava and Christina would have coffee ready at 6am for the early risers. At 7am, the chuckwagon dinner bell rang to call us all to the home-cooked breakfast. At 8 am, we'd scan the horizon for Jonathan and Checko, our captains from Ricardo's Dive Tours who would serve as our captains and "above-water" experts/guides. Once they arrived, we'd load into the boats and head out for the day.

On the water, the first stop would be the morning dive site. After safety and dive site briefings from our scuba guides Nate and Lea, the divers would head down, and then the captains would brief any snorkelers on safety and snorkel site specifics. Divers had about a 60-minute dive, then we'd load back into the boats and head to a beach somewhere for mandatory Surface Interval Time (SIT) between dives.

After the SIT, it was off to dive site #2 for the day and a repeat of the morning routine. Following that, we'd head to another beach where we'd have lunch (turkey, ham or PBJ sandwiches; chips and other snacks) and swim for a while. After lunch, we'd head out to look for Whale Sharks!

Snorkeling with Whale Sharks, which can grow in excess of 35' long, is an incredible, and somewhat intimidating experience (until you get the hang of it!). In this protected area, where 20-30 Whale Sharks migrate each year and can generally be found from July-November, there are specific rules to follow when in the water with these enormous, filter-feeding fish.

1. Do not touch the Whale Sharks. You can introduce bacteria to them, and their scaly skin can easily cut you!

2. Don't swim over the top of them. Always stay to the sides.

3. A maximum of 4 people may be around each Whale Shark at any given time.

We would slowly cruise the bays, looking for the telltale fins of the whale sharks. Once you get used to it, they aren't too hard to spot, as they are often feeding on the plankton up near the surface of the water. Once spotted, our captains would give the "get ready" signal, and four snorkelers would sit on the side of the boat, ready to jump overboard.

The captain angles to boat to be out in front and perpendicular with the whale shark. Once the shark is about 30' and headed at the boat, it's "Go, go, go!", and everyone jumps in the water and swims to intersect this beautiful creature!

It can be a little chaotic when you jump in. Sometimes, the whale shark is swimming fast enough that it's literally coming right at you when you look up! Other times, once you figure out where it is, you have to kick your fins like crazy to catch up. The magic happens when you get alongside and they stop swimming, and just float along next to you! Once they dive down or swim away, everyone piles back in the boat and it's off to find another! We'd do this for a few hours, then head back to Villa Bahia around 3pm each day.

The afternoons were ours to enjoy, and we often just floated in the sea in front of the hotel with the rest of our group. It is honestly so hot and humid that if you are outside, you just want to be in the water.

We learned the hard way that this comes with its own set of risks. Unfortunately, after two days in the intense heat, our friend Jill ended up with a bad case of hyperthermia (heat illness). One of the other divers, CeCe, was a Nurse Practitioner, and was a huge help through Jill's illness. The local clinic sent a doctor and two nurses to the hotel and administered an IV and other medications. The next day, while she rallied in the morning, she ended up tanking in the afternoon and our hotel owner took her into the clinic in town. More medications and IV fluids, and we even brought her back with two more bags of fluids, which CeCe administered that night and the next morning. The clinic staff couldn't have been more professional...and the total cost was $0. That's right...no charge (although they were able to accept a donation). Fortunately, Jill made a full recovery after about 4 days, but she missed 3 of the 5 diving days, as it was imperative for her to stay indoors with air conditioning.

And back to the diving and activities. Aside from the routine previously described, we did a few other extra excursions. One afternoon on our SIT, we went to a bay and went clamming! Our captains served us fresh clam ceviche, made on the spot with the clams we were pulling from the sandy sea bottom!

In addition to those we ate at the boat, we brought a 5-gallon bucket,loaded with clams, back to the hotel, and our dinner (which was served each night at 7pm) included the clams that night! While digging the clams out with our toes, a few of us also dug up some large, live sand dollars (see photo above).

Added to the 11 dives during the day, there was also an option for an extra night dive, which Scott and Joel reported was amazing (their first night dive)! Thursday night was a sunset cruise, with ample margaritas flowing and a chance to swim in the bioluminescent plankton. The plankton were so vibrant that as soon as you touched the water, your hand or body was surrounded by shimmering fairy-dust! It was other-worldly and another highlight for sure!

Saturday was our scheduled departure day, but we had been monitoring the tract of Hurricane Hillary, which was looking more and more likely to be the first hurricane to hit California in 80 years...and it was tracking right at the Baja California's west coast (straight across from us).

After much discussion, and considering we had upcoming appointments and the possibility that a serious storm could damage the road infrastructure enough to block passage, we decided to leave Friday afternoon (after Scott and Joel finished their two dives), and head over to our condo in Puerto Penasco. This would mean a 9-hour drive, with the last 3 hours on roads we didn't know and after nightfall, but still seemed the most prudent given the storm.

We made it safely to our condo, arriving at 11pm, and we're able to batten down the hatches there, as we were expecting some strong winds and possible rain.

On Sunday morning, we received word from Nate and Lea (who had remained in Bahia de Los Angeles) that Villa Bahia was hit Saturday night and severely damaged by the Hurricane and that they were awaiting resources from the military as the roads and bridges to the area had indeed washed out. Thankfully, no one at the hotel was injured, but the clean up and repair ahead would be extensive.

The photo below was Jill and Joel's suite:

As I write this, it's been about a month since the storm, and we're happy to report that Chava, Christina and their family have made great progress on repairs. The additional dive trips with Nate and Lea had to be relocated to another lodging facility, but Villa Bahia was repaired enough that they are providing the meals to the divers.

When we go back, and we WILL go back, we will definitely stay with our friends at Villa Bahia again!