Explore La Paz

Diving in La Paz

Scuba diving in La Paz comes with lots of different options. There are dive sites with walls, pinnacles, a wreck, currents for drift diving and calm waters for photographers and beginners. All levels of courses are available, from absolute beginner through tec diver. La Paz tour operators also offer freediving instruction, whale-watching and snorkeling with sea lions. Liveaboards don’t use La Paz as a departure point, but most Sea of Cortez liveaboards will visit La Paz to see hammerheads, manta rays, and whale sharks.

The best Months to dive in La Paz

La Paz scuba diving can be enjoyed year-round, though the conditions and marine life vary throughout the year. The water temperature ranges from 20 celsius / 68 fahrenheit in winter to 29 celsius / 84 fahrenheit in summer. July through December offers the clearest visibility, and it can get windy between December and April.

Winter brings incredible marine life to La Paz. In December, humpback whales start arriving in the Sea of Cortez from their Arctic feeding grounds, ready to calve and nurse their young. The humpback season runs from December to April. Elusive blue whales reside in the area between January and March. On the Pacific coast across from La Paz (still accessible through a combined land trip and sea tour), gray whales calve in the protection of sheltered bays, also from January through March. Hammerheads are another species which likes the winter months in La Paz; these incredible sharks are most abundant from November to January. Whale sharks have a longer season, from October through April (with juveniles present in October and November). Manta rays frequent La Paz from June to November. Enormous schools of mobula rays migrate through the area between late April and July.