Espiritu Santo Island is a stunning, biodiverse paradise north of La Paz in the Sea of Cortez. It’s renowned for incredible marine life, turquoise waters, and striking geological formations. It’s been on my wishlist for a long time, and it surpassed my expectations.
I visited via a snorkeling tour which allowed some good views of the west side of the island. It included snacks and beer, and a lunch of ceviche and sandwiches at a nice beach.
We had some nice weather, and on the boat ride I was comfortable in just swim trunks and a t-shirt, even in the shade. The water was a tad on the chilly side but not bad, especially with the wetsuit shorties they provided. We made a turn into the mouth of Balandra on our way north to the island, but didn’t stop or get out there.
The sea life we saw and the snorkeling was exceptional. The sea lions were swimming all around us, and there was a great array of fish, coral, and underwater terrain. We saw a lot of dolphins. On the way back to port we saw a humpback whale, and then had a pod of dolphins swim along with our boat for a while. Pretty magical.
The SunRider Snorkel & Sea Lion Adventure
I booked the tour with SunRider Tours in La Paz, and it ran $131 USD (excluding tips and $9 park entry fee). I went on a Tuesday and only booked a couple of days in advance. It typically takes around 7 hours, but ours ran longer due to a glitch with one of the engines on the boat.
There were other, cheaper tours available that were also well reviewed and recommended, but it looked to me like the boats were smaller and more crowded. On a long trip like that, I felt like it was worth paying for a little extra comfort.
There were 10 of us on the boat plus 2 guides. Plenty of room to spread out and move around. There was also a toilet on board, which was clean and came in handy, especially since it took us longer to get back than expected.
Delicia, Hector, and Fab at SunRider were all very friendly and professional. Delicia in particular was great. She made sure we all enjoyed ourselves and had everything we needed.