Diving El Bajo- the seamounts in the middle of nowhere

The guide book (Sea of Cortez by Shawn and Heather) marked the coordinated of the seamounts 2 miles for the location on the chart. Who do we trust? The chart or the written coordinates? Where would you go first?

It was getting late and the wind was picking up.

We really didn’t think this dive, known for attracting hammerhead sharks and giant mantas, was going to happen.

We headed for the mounts as marked on the chart first – nothing. No depth reading at all.  Happily for us the reader pinged 30 feet, a random read that let us know it was working, but didn’t indicated real depth.

So we headed for the coordinates marked in the book. At this point we were certain that we wouldn’t find the seamounts. Suddenly as we approached the coordinates, Kolby started getting depth readings – 300 feet, 200 hundred feet, 100 feet, 50 feet. We quickly dropped the anchor on the 50 foot mark and Kolby got ready to jump in. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere -land visible, but mostly a haze on the horizon.

The current was strong- Kolby needed a line tied to the bow to get from the midship to the anchor chain. He planned to go down the anchor chain and only let go at the bottom if the current eased. The surface current was so strong that Asunto remained at 90 degrees despite the 13 knots winds.

Up top, Fynn and I passed the time. I clean up and we jammed to some music. I distracted myself from thinking of all the things that could go wrong. I did horizon checks to make sure he hadn’t come up of the anchor. When I head Kolby’s bubbles bouncing off the hull I new he was ascending and started to get ready –  Floating line off the stern incase he missed the boat in the current, paddle board in the water so that he could climb on it then onto the deck, halyard ready to hoist the rig onto the deck.

Down below the current was a strong as at the surface. Kolby followed the chain to the anchor and was pleased to find it tucked into the rocks behind a wall. He was able to swim in the lee of the current back and forth along the wall. Not surprisingly the biggest thing he saw was a fish. Likely the current was too strong for much else.

We hauled anchor from our sea mounts just before 5 pm and headed for Isla San Fransisco in the dusk, Christmas lights on and Christmas tunes on the stereo.