Why You Should Visit Isla De Lobos In Veracruz, Mexico: A New Location for Scuba Diving
The island is a beautiful little romantic paradise that hardly anyone knows about. The only inhabitants are the workers in the lighthouse and a park ranger. The island and surrounding area is a well protected national preserve where you will only see scuba divers and researchers. If visitors want to stay on the island they must formally request permission to camp and scuba dive. The easiest way to get permission is to make arrangements through a scuba dive shop. The reason for this is because the charter that takes you to the island needs at least ten passengers before they will depart on the two hour boat ride to the island. Several scuba dive shops in the area organize trips to the island. Many scuba divers use the shop in Rio Verde, San Luis Potosi, because of their dependability and experience with organizing the entire trip and then offering it as a packaged deal. Another advantage is the director of the scuba shop in Rio Verde speaks great English and goes on all the trips. The package will include all meals, transportation to the island, some land transportation, permit for use of the island, and six boat dives that include a night dive and a rig dive. If you need scuba gear, arrangements can be made with the scuba shop. The cost is around $650 USD for a five day trip.
The island is small and covers an area of 600 meters by 500 meters. The east and west sides of the island are distinguished by well developed coral communities and is where most of the scuba diving takes place. Hard corals make up the majority of the reef where you will see numerous species of fish and mollusks. The scuba diving is a lot like diving in Cozumel but the atmosphere is much more peaceful with very little stress. Sometimes there are currents that you can drift with while other times there are no currents. The water is warm and has great visibility. The average scuba dive is 12 to 20 meters.
About 16 km from the island is an abandoned oil rig called Sharks Platform. The super structures that make up the oil rig are covered with soft and hard corals and are abundant with many fish species such as grouper, angelfish, snapper, jacks, barracuda, puffers, cowfish, butterflyfish, lookdowns, and various sharks – just to mention a few. If you are lucky you may even be visited by whale-sharks that circle around the rig during summer days. Another interesting scuba dive is on the sunken ship, “Paris.” Don’t let the name fool you; the ship was built in 1911 England under the direction of a Mexican naval engineer named Don Miguel. The real name of the steam-ship is “Melchor O’Campo.” The ship sits at a depth of about 8 to 12 meters. The ship is covered with corals and provides hidden habitat for numerous critters such as lobsters and green moray eels. This is a terrific wreck dive for the diver that doesn’t want to dive deep and for snorkeling.
The actual adventure begins with the drive to Tuxpan (the departing port) or to Rio Verde, SLP, where you will leave from the dive shop. Either drive will take 10 to 14 hours from the U.S. border depending on immigrations and traffic. Once you get past the ugly border areas the drive is beautiful, safe, and enlightening. It is also possible to fly to San Luis Potosi or Veracruz and take buses from there, although the costs of those flights from the U.S. are somewhat high. One benefit of driving is that you get to explore the Huasteca Zone. The Huasteca Zone surrounds Tuxpan and is gorgeous. The rolling hills and thatched roofed houses are picturesque. Close to Tuxpan are two ancient ruins, El Tajin and Tamuin. El Tajim rivals Chichenitza and Uxmal as a primary site of archeological importance and tourist attraction. Tamuin is on the way back to the U.S. if you are driving. It’s much smaller than El Tajim. It was once an important Huastec and Totonac site. There is a nice museum in Ciudad Valles that describes the life at Tamuin between 900 and 1500 A.D. Hotel rooms in the area run around $30 to $50 per night. It’s worth the extra bucks to spend a day exploring the area.
Here is a little hint, if you do drive to Rio Verde you may treat yourself to several fantastic scuba diving spots before departing for Tuxpan. Only six miles from Rio Verde is a scuba location called Media Luna Laguna (Half Moon Lake). Media Luna is a warm spring lake with terrific visibility. The springs are at depths of 10 to 36 meters deep. Another local dive location is Puente de Dios (God’s Bridge). At this location you can dive in a crystal clear lake that is surrounded by waterfalls, orchids, and ferns. Puente de Dios is about forty miles from Rio Verde. Just ask for directions at the scuba shop or join in for one of their trips.
The trip to Isla de Lobos is definitely for the adventurous soul. If you are looking for a new scuba dive site, then this trip may be just the one for you. Feel free to contact me for further information and contacts.
