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Brown branching cauliflower coral colony on a sandy rocky bottom underwater — Los Cabos

Los Cabos · Mexico · Reef

Gavilanes

Ridges and canyons with white tip reef sharks and groupers

Area photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Gavilanes is a protected Corridor reef of rock cut by ridges and canyons, holding one of the healthiest coral reefs in the area. The dive stays between 12 and 18 m (40 and 60 ft), with lobsters, angelfish and groupers in the reef and white tip reef sharks among the canyons.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Gavilanes: typical dive 12–18 m (40–60 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit12 m18 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

22.9439° N, 109.8071° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The reef sits in the Corridor between Chileno Bay and Santa Maria, on the stretch of coast between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo. It is rocky and broken into ridges and canyons, all within a narrow band between 12 and 18 m (40 and 60 ft), and the conditions are calm and shallow enough for all certification levels.

Lobsters, angelfish and groupers are sightings along the ridges, and white tip reef sharks turn up among the canyons. Gavilanes holds one of the healthiest coral reefs in the area, and like Chileno Bay it is one of the protected reefs of the Corridor.

Marine life and season

  • Groupers
  • Reef sharks
Month-by-month season rating for Gavilanes
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Season follows Los Cabos: Diving runs all year. August to February brings the best conditions and clearest autumn water; mobula rays pass from May to July.

Dive videos

Diving Gavilanes Cabo Corridor Day 5 · Greg Clouser on YouTube

Sources

  1. Cabo San Lucas Dive Sites | Marine Park & Corridor — Dive Cabo

More dive sites in Los Cabos

Reef

Chileno Bay

Calm water and healthy sea fans on a shallow Corridor reef

12–18 mbeginner

Seamount

Gordo Banks

Hammerheads and silky sharks over a seamount peak at 30 m

to 40 madvanced

Pinnacle

Land's End

Playful resident sea lions around a pinnacle at the tip of the peninsula

9–24 mintermediate

Wall

Middle Wall

A sheer drop to 43 m with frogfish and nudibranchs on the face

18–43 madvanced

Wall

Neptune's Finger

The largest sandfall in the marine park, beside a vertical wall

9–34 mintermediate

Wall

North Wall

A rock-covered sloping wall with morays and lobsters tucked into the reef

6–27 mintermediate

Reef

Pelican Rock

A gentle reef slope that ends at a canyon and its sandfall

5–27 mintermediate

Reef

Whale's Head

Spotted eagle rays at cleaning stations on rocky reef and sand

5–24 mintermediate

Similar dives elsewhere

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Molasses Reef

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Thirty-two mooring buoys along one spur-and-groove reef

2–18 m · max 20 mbeginner

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Pulaski Shoals

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Hammerheads, bull sharks and eagle ray formations on the park's outer edge

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A single shoreward ledge in 15–18 m, drifted after the wrecks

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