La Paz · Sea of Cortez · Baja California Sur
Snorkel with Sea Lions
Los Islotes is one of the world's most remarkable snorkel sites — a sea lion rookery in the Sea of Cortez where curious juveniles treat every diver as a playmate. Jacques Cousteau called these waters the world's aquarium. He wasn't wrong.
The Experience
They'll find you — sea lions don't wait for permission
You drop below the surface and a juvenile sea lion is already there — six inches from your mask, mirroring your movements, deciding whether you're interesting enough to play with. The answer is always yes. Within thirty seconds there are four of them, spiraling around you in effortless underwater ballet that makes every Olympic swimmer look like they're standing still.
Los Islotes is a tiny rock formation in the Sea of Cortez, thirty minutes by panga from La Paz. It holds one of the largest and most accessible sea lion colonies in the Pacific — several hundred animals who have lived alongside snorkelers long enough to become completely unbothered by human presence in the water. The juveniles treat every visiting diver as a new curiosity. They'll nip at fins, swim upside down next to you, and blow bubbles directly at your face.
The water in the Sea of Cortez is warm, clear, and populated with far more than sea lions — damselfish, parrotfish, pufferfish, and the occasional manta ray share the reef below the colony. Jacques Cousteau spent years here and called it the world's aquarium. A morning at Los Islotes explains why immediately.
Best Spots
Where is the best snorkeling in Cabo San Lucas?
Pelican Rock — just below the sea lion colony at Land's End — is Cabo's most celebrated snorkel spot, with visibility regularly exceeding 30 feet and resident California sea lions who investigate snorkelers on their own terms. Santa Maria Bay and Chileno Bay on the corridor offer calmer water and rich reef life.
For the most extraordinary snorkel experience in all of Baja, Los Islotes — a sea lion rookery 30 minutes by panga from La Paz — is in a category of its own. Several hundred California sea lions live on this tiny rock formation, and the juveniles are completely unbothered by snorkelers. Visibility in the Sea of Cortez averages 20–40 feet year-round, with peak clarity in summer and fall.
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