This is a difficult review, as our condo was nice, the food provided our group (Scott Geitler out of LA), was adequate, and the underwater photography (whale sharks & other critters) was outstanding.

That said, we experienced major safety issues on boats and with air. To be specific:

1.) There were no 02 analyzers on any boats, so divers used ones that myself and others brought down.

2.) There were no safety briefings on board regarding where life preservers, o2, and first aid kit were located.

3.) The port engine on one boat (Uno Mas) kept cutting out, and finally died. Water from rinse buckets was used to replace evaporated radiator water. The next day we went out, experienced similar problems, compounded by a small electrical fire. When I went to find a fire extinguisher in the cabin, I could not find one. Fire was extinguished with water.

4.) One day several divers started coughing during their dives. When they surfaced, their air appeared bad. The next day we checked air prior to departing, and there was a nauseatingly strong organic smell and taste. It appeared compressor oil had leaked past the filters into all tanks. Since we had 30 divers, this was a major logistical issue, with dives cancelled and folks hacking for several hours.

My group of Seattle area divers are extremely experienced and have traveled extensively around the globe. We had a fun time, and had excellent photos/videos. This could have been tragic (or fatal) with less experienced divers. Had the engine fire been more severe, it could have been fatal for divers on Uno Mas.

Cannot recommend Cantamar for diving.

Dan Clements

The hotel is a nice hotel that grows on you over the course of the week.
CONS:
The trip from Cabot is a long three hour drive in a van with A/C but fully packed to capacity. Bags go on the roof, which is bad when the winding road goes through the higher mountain passes where it rains.
The hotel is built directly on the main road across from the ferry terminal. This means that all of the rooms in building 3, which has all of the single rooms and possible some doubles, hear the trucks loudly all day and early in the morning. They quiet down during the night. The odor of diesel is also around that area of the hotel. The main office is on the main level of building 3.
Occasionally they have people at the front desk at night who do not speak English very well so it is best to get your important matters taken care of during the day.
The water will take a bit getting used to. It is purified but has a strange taste, they say it's the minerals.
There is no wireless Internet, the computer in the office is old but works for a fee. The network is up and down, mostly down while we were there. Internet cafes are in town.
The ride to town is 30 minutes by free shuttle.

PROS:
The rooms are simple but very functional and comfortable.
The beds are very firm and everyone in the group found them comfortable to sleep on.
The supply a closet with hangars.
There is a tool kit in the bottom of the closet to be used as a place to store your important documents, it is not a safe nor is it bolted down but a lock can be put on it for some security.
The showers are roomy and the pressure is good.
The a/c is good, quiet, and controlled by a remote.
There is a tv in the room and phone.
The staff tried as hard as they could to accommodate all of our needs.
The dive staff was amazing and spoke English perfectly.
The boats are ugly and need a paint job but are some of the best laid out dive boats we have been on, and we have been on a lot. They have a huge dry area below, great bathrooms, plenty of shade, good ladders, very sturdy. Their 45 & 55 foot boats are both roomy.
The food for breakfast and dinner was very good.
The accommodated for non fish eating divers for lunch on the boat.
The diving was spectacular!
The hotel is no too big so it's comfortable to walk from place to place.
The dive lockers are so airy that the gear dries overnight with no odor. They supply you with wetsuit and accessory hangars.
Rinse tanks are well set up and they give you soap at the end of the week for your suits.
Lockers are locked at 8pm for security.
Nice little beach with some good snorkeling around jetties and in front of restaurant.
The ultralight the hotel has finds the whale sharks almost 99.9% of the time. They found them twice on our trip!
We were in building 2 and it was nice an quiet.

Places we ate as a group:
El Patron - In town-excellent food and on the water. Price per person was ~$50
Buffalo BBQ - In town-good food, staff not wonderful if you have a problem with your order. Price per person was ~ $35
Tres Virgines - In town-Great food, beautiful courtyard, great staff. Price per person was ~$45
Bismark (not on water)- In town- food was fantastic. Price per person was ~$35
Luna Bruja- Around the corner from Club Cantamar- great food, pretty ambiance, great service. Price per person was ~$40
Club Cantamar restaurant- need to let them know you will be eating with a group so they are ready. Good food. Price per person ~$15

Well we made it back to Club Cantamar in November 2010 and had a great time. We did 15 dives from their roomy boats and saw whale sharks, hammerheads, sea lions, and massive amounts of fish.

This was my third trip and stay at Club Cantamar and it was great! We had dinner most nights at the resort and the food was excellent. You have to try their tortilla soup. We also had dinner a couple nights in La Paz and at a little restaurant around the corner from the resort. All were great and the people splendid.

We dove all dives from their boat Uno Mas which is a big roomy boat that has nice shaded area and plenty of space.

Two days diving at Los Islotes where we saw and interacted with sealions pups that pulled our fins and just seemed like puppy dogs playing with us. There where also massive amounts of fish here darting around us.

La Reina we saw massive balls of fish that blocked out the sun and surrounded us making it possible to loose sight of your dive buddy just a few feet away.

Salvatierra Wreck was alive with fish shimmering across the deck making it hard to see the deck.

We did a morning trip to see the whale sharks and were not disappointed. The airplane spotted and guided the boat to 6 sharks for us to slide into the water and snorkel with. Lots of great pictures and videos.

The Resort rooms were good, though the showers run a little slow and take time to get use to. The resort was most cooperative when our ac broke they gladly moved us to another room and even sent some one to assist us moving every thing.

At the pool and bar we enjoyed cooling off and drinking margaritas, what a life.

I am looking forward to taking another group to Club Cantamar in the future.

Safe Diving,
Brad

This hotel needs some serious upgrades to make it liveable. 1) Our bathroom was disgusting: no vent, the seat had stains, it barely flushed and the seat would fall-off to one side. 2) The shower was a complete joke: the head was so clogged it had maybe 5 small streams of water and hot water was very hard to come by. 3) The beds are very uncomfortable: cheap matress that kills your shoulders and hips after 20 minutes. 4) The remote controls for the AC and TV are on cables, this is soooo annoying after about 1 day. 5) There was NO hallway or stairwell lighting so walk and climb steps at your own risk..... 6) We were on a meal plan where breakfast was included. You choose one item off the menu: do you think 3 small pancakes is enough for breakfast??? Portions are horribly small & cheap!!! Most days it took 20-30 minutes to get a cup of coffee and about another 15 minutes to get a re-fill. The resturant was under-staffed and the quality of service was unbelieveably poor.

Bottom Line: the diving is wonderful but I would NOT recommend staying at this hotel on a diving trip to the Sea of Cortez.