Cabo Pulmo Reef

Cabo Pulmo is the recovery story divers cross continents to verify. After the village banned fishing in 1995 and Mexico made the bay a national park, fish biomass multiplied to levels unmatched in the region, and the reef's basalt-and-coral ridges now hold what the rest of the coast lost: dog snapper the size of retrievers, grouper with no fear radius, and the famous rotating tornado of bigeye jacks that can occupy a diver's whole horizon. Bull sharks patrol the sand edges in cooler months, big enough to reset your sense of scale. Site names rotate across the ridges - El Bajo, El Cantil, and others - but the experience is continuous: a working reef running at full population.

The moment you come for: The bigeye jack tornado, bull sharks over the sand, a protected reef at carrying capacity

Topography: Hard-coral ridges - among the northernmost true coral formations in the eastern Pacific - over sand

Current: Gentle most days; swell and surge pick up when south weather runs.

Entry: Pangas launch from the beach at Cabo Pulmo village; surf entries for the boats, not the divers.

Hazards: Surge on the shallow ridges in swell; respect bull sharks with calm positioning and no crowding.

Permits & rules: Daily park fee collected by operators.

Conservation: Cabo Pulmo National Park: no fishing, no gloves, no touching, guided groups with capped sizes and rotating site assignments.