Underwater reefs and canyons host a wide variety of sea life. RELATED LINKS City Guide: Cabo San Lucas

The same rich marine ecosystem that makes Baja California such a great place for game fishing also makes it one of the most spectacular dive destinations in the Americas. Rocky reefs and underwater canyons in the Los Cabos area host an extraordinary variety of sea creatures, ranging from bright little tropical reef fish to swirling schools of larger pelagic fish, moray eels, sea lions, hammerhead sharks and manta rays. Invertebrates abound as well, including colorful nudibranchs, sea fans, octopus, shrimp and spiny lobster.

With the exception of Cabo Pulmo, a protected bay that harbors the only hard coral reef system in the Sea of Cortez, Baja has none of the colorful coral gardens many divers associate with the tropics, but the sheer quantity and variety of life in these waters rivals anything you’ll see in the Caribbean.

Numerous dive sites are accessible by boat in the immediate vicinity of Cabo San Lucas, some just minutes away from the marina, and there are plenty of qualified outfitters in town that offer guided excursions and equipment rentals. Cabo Pulmo, the Gordo Banks and other great sites farther from Los Cabos can be visited on longer day trips, but if you’re really serious about SCUBA, consider booking a multi-day excursion on a live-aboard dive boat.

Cabo San Lucas is also famous for unusual submarine "sandfalls" that occur when sand accumulating in the relatively shallow water of the bay cascades in rivulets down the steep sides of an underwater canyon. Every local dive operator offers excursions to witness this curiosity, but because the sandfalls occur at depths of 90 feet or more, your time in the water will be quite short. If you only have time for a few excursions during your visit, better skip the sandfalls and opt for longer, shallower dives.