Gordo Banks Diving

Gordo Banks – Much more than just Sharks in Cabo

Gordo Banks is a Seamount peaking at 125ft below the surface and dropping off into the sea bottom. The top of the underwater mountain has huge cracks and canyons and it attracts fish of all shapes and sizes, making it a unique and memorable experience for divers.

Gordo Banks diving site is famously-known for providing experienced divers with the opportunity to watch sharks in open water, as well as with other pelagic fish like Tuna, Manta Rays, and more.

However, it’s important to note that this is a “hit-or-miss” dive, so you might not spot some of them but you will spot a vast variety of marine life and will experience an awesome deep water dive.

This is a deep, blue water dive, reserved for advanced, experienced divers.
It requires AOW Certification or higher, experience in deep diving, good health conditions, and previous deep diving with Manta’s Staff in the Local or Corridor site.
The conditions at Gordo change seasonally, so diving trips are usually from May to January.

Here at Manta, we use NITROX 28% at Gordo Banks so a Nitrox certification is required as well.
NITROX 28% extends the allowable bottom time by up to 60% and at this depth, with the limited bottom time allowed while diving with air, we feel this is the best choice.

If you are not already certified to dive on NITROX, please contact us, and we will advise on the different options for getting Nitrox certification.
Want to improve your scuba skills to take this trip? Check out the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course.

Few words about safety:
Safety is a high priority in all our dive tours, all our guides always carry Surface Marker Buoy (SMB) and dive computers, with many years of experience in Gordo Banks we will provide the best tour to this site.

Your day at Gordo Banks

Your day we’ll start early. It’s a-7 hours trip so we’ll meet as early as 7:45 AM at the Manta diving facility in the marina, where you’ll meet Manta’s PADI certified Divemasters. After check-in, you’ll get ready with gear and we’re off to the boat.

Gordo Banks is located 10 miles offshore from San Jose, so the ride to the site is quite long, approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes each way.
No worries though, the ride is cool and offers a great opportunity to spot fish and occasionally Dolphins and Whales. We anchor precisely so we can descend along the anchor line directly to the top of the Seamount.

Few instructions about safety, communication, and gear from the Manta Divemasters and you’re in the water, going deep.
The descent is made in blue water and the sea mountain is visible only when reaching a depth of 60 ft or more.

You’ll spend most of the time drifting in the water, swimming next to open water fishes of all sorts, from grunts and schools of jacks to Tuna, Manta Rays, and yes, possibly sharks. What a wild experience.

The Gordo Banks – shark diving Cabo San Lucas

Sharks are the main attractions here but are far from being the only ones. The top of the Seamount is unlike any usual dive site; huge cracks, canyons, black coral, sponges, and other types of sedentary life cover the pinnacle.

On top of that, you’ll find vibrant marine life. The variety of fish you can watch here is enormous.
You can spot pelagic fish like Silkies and Mako sharks, humpback whales, hammerheads, Tuna, Rays, and many more. You will most likely also spot huge schools of Jacks, Snappers, big grouper, Grunts making this site an epic one.