Resort Report: Buceo Carey Dive Center & Villa Carey

For more than two decades family-owned Buceo Carey Dive Center has remained one of Baja's premier dive operations. The dive center is ideally located in the La Paz Marina, with a fleet of fast boats custom-designed for comfortable trips to local sites and the region's famous offshore islands. The full-service center provides on-site gear storage facilities, showers and changing rooms, dedicated classrooms, an outdoor courtyard and an air-conditioned customer lounge with WiFi. Buceo offers a full range of instruction programs, maintains a large inventory of SCUBAPRO rental equipment, has on-site service and repair capabilities and operates the area's only nitrox membrane system.

The marine sanctuary at Espíritu Santo National Park offers an abundant diversity of marine life in all sizes from nudibranchs and seahorses to sea lions and whale sharks. Underwater topographies include rock reefs that support hard and soft cool-water corals, boulder fields that hide moray eels and lobster, walls, pinnacles swarming with reef fish and isolated sea mounts that attract grouper, snapper, sharks and pelagic gamefish. The park also offers several shipwrecks and sand flats where divers may encounter schooling mobula rays.

Learn more about Diving in Baja.

Also within the park are a trio of connected sea mounts known as El Bajo. This site is known for attracting big fish, including schooling hammerheads that can number into the hundreds. Fortunate divers may also encounter whale sharks and giant oceanic mantas at El Bajo, feasting on plankton in the shallows.

In addition to the marine park, Buceo Carey's boats visit Isla Cerralvo, also known as Jacques Cousteau Island, which is home to a rookery of playful sea lions. Between the months of May and October seasonal trips to the island of La Reina provides opportunities to view a dozen or more giant oceanic mantas.

In October of 2020 the Salda family, owners of Buceo Carey Dive Center, welcomed the first guests to the Villa Carey Apartments & Bungalows. Situated just a short walk from the dive center, these apartment-style accommodations are designed with divers and photographers in mind, providing dedicated work tables, a designated area for drying clothes 220v European and American electrical outlets, and high-speed Wi-Fi with 600 megabytes of fiber optic connectivity.

Learn more about Villa Carey.

Studio and two-bedroom units offer full kitchens, ocean-view terraces and sleeping configurations for couples, dive buddies and families. The Villas are conveniently located adjacent to the public beach, city marina and the Carey Dive Center. The historic center of La Paz and the city's famous waterfront Malecon are just minutes away, and the surrounding area features a wide variety of restaurants, cafes and shops within easy walking distance. In addition to diving activities, guests enjoy snorkeling, water sports and land activities.

Caradonna works with Villa Carey and Buceo Carey to create bespoke dive, snorkel and adventure packages. La Paz can be reached by direct flights from North America, and the Villas are a quick taxi ride from the airport. Get started on your La Paz diving adventure by speaking with your Caradonna agent at 1-800-330-6611 or send a message to sales@caradonna.com.