EL Bajo

This has to rank as one of our favorite sites - 'El Bajo de los Meros' (or El Bajo for short) - she is known as the 'flagship' of the reef, and for good reason. A dive to fifty feet on a 3/4 mile long and, perhaps, one hundred feet wide, this reef is nicely surrounded by sand, concentrating the animals perfectly for us.

We view this dive as one for people who are experienced or in small group sizes. The current isn't severe, however it does need a little more SCUBA experience to enjoy the full qualities of this reef.

In summer she is spectacular for the hard and soft corals, creating an amazing opportunity for the budding photographer. The quantities of leopard-grouper, yellow & dog snapper, pork fish and burrito grunts is amazing. We even have puffer fish schooling! We also have the 'couples' of the reef, patrolling in pairs, such as the, smaller jacks, porcupines and morish idols. The moray eels (zebra, spotted and of course the fat green ones) are everywhere, while the garden eels carpet the sand on the fringes of the reef.

In the winter we are lucky enough to be able to view courting stingrays in the sand. Meanwhile the cow-nose rays swim by in schools of tens to hundreds, although these are dwarfed by the thousands of mobulas that glide by. Mobula are, for all intents and purposes small(er) sized manta. The water can literally boil with their activity; from the boat we can observe them jumping and flipping clear out of the water. To this day, scientists are at odds as to why this occures. Back under the water, we see Guitarfish (a shark species), while the jacks have now congregated into huge shoals of tens of thousands that can literally block out most of your available light!

A the reef sits close to the edge of an undersea rift, we often sight large pelagics while on the surface. It is also not uncommon to be serenaded by these harmless leviathans, although catching a glimpse underwater is rare. For us, there is nothing better than spending a surface interval wathing hundreds of schooling dolphin swim by on the hunt, or if you are very lucky, meeting up with the largest living species of fish, the whale shark. Often we can slip into the water with them, affording great photographic opportunities, as well as creating memories that will last a lifetime.