The beautiful rays of Cabo Pulmo bay - Photos and text by Thierry Lanoy



Cabo Pulmo is a peaceful village on the Sea of Cortez coast in Baja California, Mexico.

The 100 inhabitants of the tiny village consists of Mexican families and a small American community gathered around the Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort complex.

Cabo Pulmo bay was established as a National Marine Reserve in 1995 to preserve the quality of the reefs and marine life in the area. The bay is gorgeous, and forests of huge cactus and desert vegetation cover the surrounding hills. To get there you have to drive approximately one hour and half from Los Cabos, one portion of the road being unpaved but in decent condition most of the year.

Water temperatures range between 63 F degrees in the winter to 85 F degrees in the summer. This amplitude probably explains the diversity of the underwater environment, which ranges from tropical fishes to colder climate animals (sea lions).

For years, mobula rays have been reported to migrate to Cabo Pulmo bay, staying there for several months every winter. This ray has exactly the same shape as a giant manta ray, but it is smaller. The average size is 5 feet wide but here you can encounter schools of thousands at a time! This migration make a the trip to Cabo Pulmo absolutely worth it.

Every December we are looking for these school of rays, usually spotted on two distinct reefs; "El Bajo" and more commonly in "El Cantil". These two dive spots are 60 ft deep and offer great diving opportunities.

This year, the rays have been schooling mainly in El Cantil, the reef closer to the shore. On some days, we could see the rays flying all over the place, even distinguishable from the beach. We call it Pop Corn in Cabo Pulmo – at night, you can hear the rays slapping on the surface of the sea, as they land - pretty amazing!

I have spotted two types of schooling rays in Cabo Pulmo, locals just call them “mantas” but they are two distinct types of rays :

The Mobula ray, who is also also called the “little devil” ray (diablito) whose shape is similar to a manta ray but smaller in size (6/7 feet wide). They jump in schoosl out of the water and make an impressive splash and tend to gather in huge groups, several hundreds at a time.

The Bat rays or Cow nose, which are similar in shape to the mobulas but have a more rounded wing and a round head. They are brownish green of color and the same size as a Mobula, about 6/7 feet. They congregate in big schools also, but stay close to the bottom, they seem to fly over the sandy floors.

On several occasions I had the chance to see the two types of rays schooling at the same spot, the mobulas in mid water and the bat rays cruising close to the bottom. They seem to travel in very big groups consisting of hundreds of them. They are pretty shy animals it seems, and getting close to them was not easy, but if you stay still they will just fly by peacefully.

This year, we started to see them intensively around November already, and they stayed for four months at least, apparently heading north towards La Paz where they have been seen also but in smaller groups.

Apart from seeing the migrations, this area is great for other dives as well. About twelve dive sites are found in the Cabo Pulmo Marine Reserve, including deep dives, wrecks and drift dives. The most famous dive site is El Bajo, where you will find a wide variety of corals and fishes. Schooling jacks are a common sight also.




Thierry Lannoy is a PADI instructor living and working in Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Born in France, he spent the last seven years in Mexico, and his passion for Baja brought him to work in Cabo Pulmo three years ago. You can contact him by email at thymex01@yahoo.com.mx to ask him questions about the local diving or enquire about his underwater photography.




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