The Cortez Club, Dive Center.

We had an amazing week in La Paz and did 3 days of dives with the Cortez Club. Seven amazing dives in total with Ines and Kaito for guides, they were wonderful 😊. We had great dives at different spots of the sea lion colony and other amazing ones on the reef. The animals flock to Kaito like he's their friend it was so funny and he is so nice. And Ines could spot even the smallest underwater life to show us, she is the best! We even saw and interacted with a grey whale on our way back from one of the trip. Just beautiful!

We had a wonderful time with the Cortez club! Hit all the major dive spots and the crew was extremely accommodating for everyone's needs. The boat rides were eventful with multiple spottings and made the journey out and back much more interesting. Dives themselves were great and we saw tons of sea life and played with sea lions. A little merky on our visit but not too bad. The food and cookies provided for our day trips were great portions but could use more cookies 😅 Ask for Gyel and Josh if you want the best experience 😂

Amazing boat trip to Espiritu Santo, but also the whale shark watching was amazing. The instructors were very friendly and gave us all the information we needed. Also Alex was the best captain we could have wished for. Keeping it smooth even with the windy conditions. 100% recommended!

The best dive crew ever! Inez and Kiyoto were the most attentive and fun dive guides! The boat captains handled those waves like champs! We got to dive with the sea puppies, snorkel with whale shark’s, and dive a wreck. Definitely recommend!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Learning to dive was always a "bucket list" item for me. So when I found myself in La Paz with time available, I jumped on the opportunity. I had no idea I would be so fortunate to find the services of Cortez Club Dive Center. From the moment I walked into the shop and was greeted (with his trademark enthusiasm) by Josè "Tom" Cruz, I knew I had found the right place to do my Open Water Course. Josè got me set up to start the next day with Marco. Though we moved quickly through the material, it was just the right speed. Then for the actual boat dives, I was assigned an amazing Divemaster/instructor ... Josè Maria. "Chema" (sp?) exudes quiet confidence. I could not imagine a better teacher. Starting to dive can be very intimidating. But I knew chema's commitment to my safety was 100%. I relaxed and had a great time. I followed up this course with two days diving at Cabo Pulmo. The guides there commented on how well prepared I was. Thank you to the entire crew at the Cortez Club!

La Paz Nov Dive Notes Water temp was 25C, mid November The sea lion colony is 100% worth going for 2 dives. There is also a pretty awesome shipwreck penetration dive. Ship is pretty big, 35m long and 2 decks. So two days of diving if the weather holds up is perfect. We did the whale shark tour for the third day Carolina is an awesome dive guide and Alahandro the captain was amazing as well. After every dive, we took-off our BCDs in the water and Alahandro would hoist our diving gear into the boat. Both dives will require a 1 to 1.5 hours boat to the site. Recommend the chicken wrap and roast beef for lunch, the fish burrito is pretty oil. Vegan wrap is also good. They will rinse your gear at the end of the day and have it ready for you the next morning. Day 1 la Paz Los islotes Coralito Day 2 la Paz Fang Ming CR59 as USS Diploma San Rafaelito

Wonderful. We experienced the whale shark, the sea lion encounter & two dives. They took great care of us. The guides, divemasters and captians went over and above to be sure you had everything you needed and Mr. Cruz worked tirelessly with a very tricky timeframe to schedule everything perfectly. He is a legitimate genius at scheduling. The equipment was in good order, they kept everything positive and listened to the needs of the customers.

Tourists, beware. The Cortez Club offers one of the most expensive grey whale watching tours—ours cost $249 per person before the additional 16% VAT. Unfortunately, the high price does not reflect the quality of the experience. From the start, it became evident that The Cortez Club acts as a subsidiary at least when it comes to their grey whale tours, charging exorbitant prices while outsourcing the actual tour to another company. None of the staff/docks in Puerto Chale had any branding or advertisement associated with The Cortez Club whatsoever (picture attached). This was confirmed by Mexican tourists on our bus, who kindly translated that our guide works for multiple tour operators, including The Cortez Club. While this practice may not be uncommon, what was particularly frustrating was learning that local tourists paid only one-third of what we were charged. The inflated price might have been somewhat justifiable if the tour had been well-organized. However, just 20 minutes into the trip, marine rangers intercepted our boat and ordered us back to shore because the captain lacked the required paperwork. With no reception in the area and no explanation from the crew, we had to rely on fellow passengers to translate. Watching armed officials approach without any understanding of the situation was both unsettling and entirely avoidable with proper planning. Upon returning to shore, the captain was seen pleading with the rangers to avoid being fined for not having the necessary documentation, as translated by the helpful Mexican tourists. For the short time we were in the water, we did see grey whales—an incredible experience in itself. However, the trip was poorly managed. The boat captain provided no communication or commentary—his role was simply to drive. While the tour wasn’t advertised as educational, most wildlife excursions at least offer some basic insights, and this one completely lacked that aspect. Given that we actually travelled all the way from Australia for the grey whales, we decided to change our flights and go with different tour companies later in the week. When we discussed our experience with The Cortez Club, other tour companies said they were surprised that we even went into the water on this particular day as the windy weather in Puerto Chale/Mag Bay would have made the experience suboptimal and difficult to interact with the whales. This then highlights how the priority of The Cortez Club is to make profit rather than provide an optimal experience to their clients. We rarely leave negative reviews, as we understand the impact they can have on people’s livelihoods. However, the practices of this company feel unethical and disappointing. While we will absolutely return to La Paz, we will not be booking with The Cortez Club again. Unfortunately, with this operator, a high price does not equate to a high-quality experience. We genuinely hope the company takes this feedback to heart and makes improvements for the future. 🥺