Ensenada De La Amortajada, Mexico

By Ned DeLoach (Adapted from "passport to diving the world")

Well Known For :

A place famous for big animal diving.

Although the Gulf of California is famous for big animal diving - whale sharks, mantas, hammerheads and sea lions - the seldom-explored shallows are home to one of the most eye-popping collection of small fishes we've ever encountered. Though sceptical, the captain of our live-aboard finally agreed to alter the itinerary and take us to the mangrove lagoon described in John Steinbeck's 1941 classic, Sea of Cortez. We found the algae and rubble seafloor inside and outside the lagoon so loaded with amazing sea creatures that we didn't pull anchor for the remainder of the week. During three days of diving we spent hours watching the endlessly entertaining courtship antics of bluespotted jawfish, pikeblennies, and signal blennies, and observed a colony of finespotted jawfish snagging silversides from the open water above their burrows.

(Ok enough with the stories, I'm itchin' for a dive)