Los Órganos, Piura

Scuba diving in Los Órganos, Peru

Los Órganos is on Peru's far-north coast, in the Piura region, about 15 minutes south of Máncora.³ We leave from its pier to dive every day.

What diving in Los Órganos is like

Where

Km 1153 of the Pan-American Highway North, Talara province, Piura region.²⁴

Where we leave from

The Los Órganos Pier.

Sites

9, from Punta Sal to Cabo Blanco, 5 to 60 min by boat.

Depth

10 to 25 m maximum, depending on the site.

Season

We dive all year round.

The nearest site is the pier itself: its pilings host an artificial reef with resident green turtles, pufferfish, blennies and sea stars, 10 m deep at most, ideal for first dives and courses.

Four of the sites are inside the Mar Tropical de Grau National Reserve¹. Its management plan describes the Cabo Blanco–El Ñuro sector as a feeding and resting area for turtles, with “important congregations, especially near the El Ñuro artisanal pier”.¹ At El Ñuro we dive with an instructor, without feeding or touching them; what good practice asks is in our article on the El Ñuro turtles. To see them underwater for the first time, start with a try dive.

What to know about humpback whales, and how not to disturb them, is in our article on the whales.

Visibility and sea conditions vary, so every trip is planned around that day's ocean and the divers' experience.

Dive trips from Los Órganos

We go out every day, with small groups, local guides and gear inspected before every departure.

• Try dive (PADI Discover Scuba Diving): your first dive with a PADI instructor, from the Los Órganos Pier or at the Punta Veleros Reefs.
• Fun Dive, for certified divers: one dive from the pier, two reef dives, or a full day at the Cabo Blanco Artificial Reef or the Punta Sal reefs, logistics permitting and with a minimum of two people.
• Snorkelling, guided, at the Los Órganos Pier, on its own or with a coastal tour, with a minimum of two people.

Two prices per person, to give you an idea:

• Try dive from the Los Órganos Pier:

  S/ 330 · US$ 102 per personTry dive from the Los Órganos Pier

  ask for the price
• One-dive Fun Dive from the pier:

  S/ 290 · US$ 90 per person1-tank fun dive from the Los Órganos Pier

  ask for the price

The options, how long each one takes and the rest of the prices are under the daily trips, and you ask for a date in the booking form.

Why northern Peru

Off Peru's northern coast, the tropical waters of the South Equatorial Current meet the temperate waters of the Peru, or Humboldt, Current.¹ The management plan of the Mar Tropical de Grau National Reserve describes the reserve's ecosystems as the southern limit of the Tropical Eastern Pacific, and says the ecosystem of the transition between the tropics and the temperate sea occurs only in Peru.¹

A study of Peru's rocky intertidal communities places the southern limit of the Panamic province, the tropical sea, at 4.5° S,⁵ and the management plan takes the strip between 4.5° S and 6° S as the transition zone.¹ In the global classification of marine ecoregions, the coast of northern Peru down to about 6° S, transition strip included, is part of the Guayaquil ecoregion, in the Tropical Eastern Pacific, and the coast south of it belongs to two temperate ecoregions: Central Peru and Humboldtian.⁶

Los Órganos and all our sites, from Punta Sal to Cabo Blanco, lie between 3.98° S and 4.26° S (each site's position), north of that 4.5° S cut, on the tropical side.⁷ Which species have records there is in the Tropical northern sea region of our marine fauna guide.

How the water temperature and the rain change through the year, and what El Niño does, is in our article on the climate of Los Órganos.

PADI courses in Los Órganos

From your first breath to the professional level, with PADI instructors and small groups. Every course includes all the equipment you need in the price.

• Discover Scuba Diving (try dive)
• PADI Scuba Diver
• PADI Open Water Diver
• PADI Advanced Open Water
• PADI Rescue Diver + EFR
• PADI Divemaster

What you learn in each one, how long it takes and what it lets you do is on the courses page.

Diving near Máncora

Los Órganos is about 15 minutes south of Máncora.³ Eppo buses pass often² and colectivos run along the highway.³ If you are staying in Máncora or Vichayito, the Los Órganos pier is where you set off from; the Vichayito Reefs are 20 min away by boat.

The nearest airport is Talara, about 70 km away by road, according to De Aventura.² Flights, buses from Lima and Piura and the crossing from Ecuador are in getting to Los Órganos.

Dive sites

Each site, with what you see there and its photo, is on the dive sites page.