Sea of Cortez : Snorkeling with Mobula

Swimming with thousands of mobula rays in the Sea of Cortez

It’s an awe-inspiring spectacle of nature, a breath-taking event, a not-to-be-missed show. It happens here every summer in the Sea of Cortez right in the Cabo San Lucas bay and we sometimes jump in with this species of devil ray only 5 minutes by boat.

If you have ever stayed at a hotel on the sea front between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo during the summer and late autumn you may have already seen a hint of the mobula ray migration from your balcony. Characterised by a huge mass of ‘flying’ rays flipping and jumping in a display or acrobatics not performed by many other species, these rare super squadrons of rays are a delightful sight to see here in Cabo.

However, did you know you could venture out into the water and actually swim with them? Well, let us elaborate…

Best practices for swimming with the Mobula Munkiana

Codes of conduct based on the Manta Interaction Guidelines by the Manta Trust organisation have been developed in order to reduce human impact when we are in the water with these animal. These include:

• A detailed briefing to precede any in-water activity
• Restrictions on the number of vessels and people in their vicinity
• No accessories (such as underwater drones or flash cameras)
• Reef Safe Sunscreen
• Maximum group size of 10
• No feeding, touching or riding (yeah, good luck with that one anyway!)
• Not to swim with them for extended periods of time

Eco-tour : Make your tour count

While joining our trip to swim with the Mobula you will be invited to fill out an online survey to help place economic value on the species. This, in turn, will encourage its protection.

What’s a great way to enjoy the Mobulas aggregation in the Sea of Cortez and at the same time help conservation efforts!

See our marine conservation course

Who is the Blue Water Snorkeling tour for?

If you’re an avid snorkeler or accomplished freediver then this is for you!

The animal life obviously moves around and a certain level of fitness is required. We ask that people are comfortable jumping into deep water and you will get the best from the experience if you have recent snorkeling experience.

We recommend a standard snorkel tour before this one if you aren’t too sure of your comfort level in the water.

Life jackets and wetsuits are provided if desired.

Book your Snorkeling tour

Do you need to be a good swimmer to go on a Mobula ray tour?

This is blue water snorkelling and so a good comfort level in the water is recommended – although you do not need to be an Olympic swimmer! You may need to swim a few hundred feet in total over the whole 3 hour tour and the boat captain will do his best to place you in line with the group from a respectful, but close, distance. However, the mobula rays can obviously change direction without any notice!

Keep in mind that you usually cannot see the seafloor. We do not go out in very choppy surface conditions and life jackets are available for anyone that wants one.

Wildlife sightings in the Sea of Cortez snorkeling

Whale watching and marine mamals

The schooling Mobula rays are not the only animals to observe in the sea of cortez Dolphins and whales are seen more during the winter months. We have also seen marlin, turtles and Orcas. See the whale species that could be encounter in Cabo.

Sometimes it’s entirely possible that we do not see large wildlife. If this is the case after 2 hours then we will take you to a secluded reef and show you the abundance of fish families and soft corals that live here in Cabo.

Sea of Cortez : Weather and water conditions

These tours are best between October – January for visibility, where it tends to be clearer, warmer and calmer.

The water temperature varies a lot on the Sea of Cortez between 80’s (28c). 65’s (18c) depending of the season.