Los Candeleros

Los Candeleros — named for the cathedral-like rock spires that pierce the surface near Danzante Island — offers one of the most photogenic shallow-reef dives in the central Sea of Cortez, with rocky pinnacles descending from 3 m to 18 m draped in jewel-like encrusting invertebrates and patrolled by a resident school of over 300 bigeye jacks that forms a living tornado above the tallest spire. Leopard grouper cruise the base of the pinnacles hunting juvenile fish while panamic sergeant majors guard yellow egg patches on the vertical rock faces, aggressively fanning with their fins to keep them oxygenated. The site's sheltered position between the islands makes it diveable in most weather conditions and accessible to newer divers, while the relentless marine traffic of schooling fish keeps experienced divers equally engaged.