scubish.com: Scuba diving San Carlos - Mexico

San Carlos is a beachfront subdivision within the port city of Guaymas, in the northern state of Sonora in Mexico. It is noted for the exceptional clarity and warmth of the ocean water in its shallow bays. It lies on the body of water known as the Gulf of California or Sea of Cortez. Given the size of the city, with nearly 7,000 inhabitants, there is a remarkable number of RV parks, resorts and stores. There is also a very large and active diving community.

There are also many Americans and Canadians that live in San Carlos during the Winter as the Summer months are very hot. There are many opportunities to fish, dive, and relax on the beach.

San Carlos is a roughly 6 hour drive from the United States along Mexican interstate Highway 15 . The trip from the United States requires that you obtain a tourist visa and you are no longer required to get a permit if you are traveling by private automobile. This is only required if you travel south of Guaymas. The area where these car permits are obtained is referred to as "El 21" as it is 21 kilometers from the border or at the border itself. Also, some of the highways in Mexico are actually tollways. As such, be prepared, cars are required to stop at checkpoints roughly every 150 kilometers to pay a nominal fee. Watch out for speed bumps. They are not always marked (TOPES).

History and legal background

The community of San Carlos was founded on lands that previously integrated a large cattle ranch known as the Baviso de Navarro. This was later subdivided in four great estates known as Ranch Los Algodones, Ranch San Carlos, Ranch El Baviso and Ranch El Represo. In the mid 1950s, Mr. Rafael T. Caballero acquired the ranches Los Algodones, San Carlos and El Baviso, contracting the services of City planners who designed the first stages of a gradual and carefully planned tourist development that in time would become one of the first and most important tourist and recreational communities in the State.

When the private investors began the initial works for this development, in support of this vision, the State Congress of Sonora during the governorship of Lic. Luis Encinas Johnson issued a declaration establishing the official incorporation of the Township of San Carlos, Nuevo Guaymas, Municipality of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, through a Decree published in the State Official Bulletin Government no. 26, on the 28 of September,1963, with an endowment of 27.746 square kilometres of privately owned lands located in the Southern portion of the estate Ranch El Baviso.

To complement the Township Land Endowment, the State Congress, during the office of Governor Faustino Felix Serna, increased the Legal Land Fund by adding the estates known as Ranch San Carlos and Ranch Los Algodones, both with a surface of 22.04 km², as published in the Official State Bulletin no. 23, on the 21 of March, 1973. A total of 49.79 km² of privately owned lands constitute...