2021. 9. 4 – 5 | La Bufadora, Mexico
This past weekend, I traveled with Chris, Bill, Doug, and Jenny to La Bufadora for a few dives along its coast. I had been to La Bufadora twice before I started underwater filming and always wanted to visit again.
I rode with Bill and started our journey from San Diego at 5 am on a Saturday. Near the US-Mexico border, we met with Doug and Jenny. From there, we caravanned toward the south. Although it was a long weekend, the traffic in the early Saturday morning was light. Passing the border was easy, and driving down to La Bufadora was pleasant. We arrived at our campsite earlier than expected. There, we met with Chris. After a short greeting, we set up our camp and headed to the dock. From there, we headed to the pinnacles.
On the sea, the sky was overcast with fogs on the top of the mountain. There were some swells, and the surface was choppy. The surface condition wasn’t the best, but luckily, we didn’t encounter much current. The first dive was at the same pinnacle I visited (Witerock), where I found the purple hydro coral. The first 30 ft of the water was yellowish with poor visibility, but the visibility opened up nicely below that. At about 75 feet in depth, I found a small colony of the coral and decided to stay in that area. Besides the coral, the reef was full of color and life – thick layers of strawberry anemones, colorful sponges, big metridium, and many giant green anemones. After the first dive, we went to another site with a small underwater cave. This site was mainly rocky, with many sea stars and purple sea urchins. After this dive, the ride home was a bit bumpy but joyful.
After the dive, we went to a nice restaurant near the town, but it stopped serving meals due to a wedding event. At the bar, we tasted house tequila and then decided to skip the dinner but have a walk through the market. The market was packed with vendors and visitors—the atmosphere was very festive. At the end of the market was the famous La Bufadora blowhole. I only watched the blowhole from the boat. It looked small and unexciting. But this time, I was closer. It was loud, and the water was blown high – quite a scene. After the market, we headed back to the campsite. After a short rest, we went to Sharky’s, a well-known local restaurant, and ate a nice meal. It was almost dark after we got back to the campsite. We sat around the camp light and relaxed a bit before sleeping.
We planned to dive the pinnacles south of the old boat launch on the second day. The surface turned much flatter than the day before. A few minutes into the boat ride, the captain agreed to change the plan, and we headed to Todos Santos, a small island off the La Bufadora coast. The ride was shorter than we expected. There were some large swells during the passage, but they were slow and far apart. We were all excited because we had never dived the island. We dropped down to a rock on the leeward of the island with the top a few feet submerged underwater. The surge broke at the top of the rock, but below 30 ft water, it was calm. The site was rocky, with lots of sea urchins and sea stars. The seals and sea lions would occasionally pass by, but they were super shy.
For the second dive, we were going to a mysterious shipwreck. According to the captain, this wreck was found a while ago, but the location was lost. The shipwreck was found again recently. It didn’t even have a name. Through the captain’s connection, we arrived at the site with another on top of the wreck. We dropped down after the surface interval but were unsure what to expect. As I was following Bill to descend, a big black shadow appeared on the far. As the water turned clearer and clearer, a large wreck emerged. I was so surprised that the first few clips of my video were incredibly shaky. I saw Bill’s big OK sign and knew he was too. The wreck was nothing like other wrecks I had dived before. It looked like a big antique well preserved in a museum – it was an untouched wreck. The bottom of the shipwreck sits below 100 ft of water. I wish I could stay longer. On the surface, we were all excited about seeing the wreck. The dive, entirely unexpected, became the highlight of the trip.
After the second dive, we headed back to the dock. We were all tired but excited. We cleaned up our campsite and started the journey back home.