Intermediate Mexico
Cabo San Lucas
A submarine canyon that starts a few meters from the beach, with sand cascading down it like a waterfall
Right where the peninsula ends, there's a submarine canyon that begins just a few meters from the beach. At its edge, sand sliding down the slope slips over the walls, forming curtains that fall toward the depths like waterfalls.
In this entry you'll find out what that canyon is and how to dive it, what other sites the tip of the peninsula offers (from sea lions to open-ocean seamounts) when to go, and what level you need.
It's one of the few places in the world where an ocean-scale submarine canyon literally reaches the shore, letting you witness a sediment-transport phenomenon that normally happens at inaccessible depths.
Geography and access
Cabo San Lucas sits at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, right where the Gulf meets the open ocean.
The continental shelf is practically nonexistent here: the seabed drops immediately into a submarine canyon that plunges thousands of meters.
The head of that canyon lies just a few dozen meters from the beach, which lets you dive its upper edge within recreational range.
Sand carried down the slope by the currents piles up at the canyon's edge and slides down its walls in visible curtains: the phenomenon that made the site famous.
Around the point there are granite blocks and walls with sea lion colonies and plenty of fixed marine life.
Farther offshore, several seamounts rise from deep water and are a target for advanced diving, with current and encounters with pelagic wildlife.
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