Espécies e épocas do México: calendário do Pacífico
O lado Pacífico do México é um gradiente: do kelp frio de Ensenada ao azul quente de Los Cabos, o menu muda a cada mês. A Baja tem duas faces — a fria do Pacífico e a temperada do Cortez — que raramente atingem o pico juntas. Este guia organiza o ano mês a mês, marca as vedas e, sobretudo, deixa claro o que NÃO se arpoa. Lembra: sempre em apneia, com licença CONAPESCA e máximo 5 peixes por dia.
Abrir o destaque — La Paz →O ano, estação a estação
- Inverno (dez–fev): água fria. No Pacífico da Baja o kelp dá yellowtail e calico bass; o sul do Cortez arrefece mas ainda dá cabrilha e pargo em dias de calma. Nortes frequentes. Veda do mero de Yucatán começa a 1 de fevereiro (lado Caraíbas).
- Primavera (mar–mai): transição e vento. Água ainda fria, afloramentos no Pacífico; janelas curtas. O mero de Yucatán segue em veda até 31 de março. Bom momento para o sul do Cortez quando o vento amaina.
- Verão (jun–ago): aquece e clareia. O Cortez e o Pacífico sul (Nayarit–Jalisco) ficam tropicais; chegam xaréu, pargo e serra. Começa a época de furacões no Pacífico (jun); vê o banner de alertas.
- Outono (set–nov): o pico. A melhor visibilidade e água mais quente do ano no Cortez (26–29 °C, 15–25 m). Máxima atividade de pelágicos. Mas é o coração da época de furacões — planeia com a previsão e o NHC.
Pacífico da Baja vs Mar de Cortez
São dois ecossistemas quase opostos separados por uma península estreita. O Pacífico da Baja é frio, com kelp e a Corrente da Califórnia: yellowtail, calico bass, corvina e bonito, com visibilidade que cai com o afloramento. O Cortez é subtropical e mais claro: pargo, cabrilha, xaréu, serra. No mesmo fim de semana o vento pode fechar um lado e abrir o outro — por isso cruzamos a previsão de ambos.
Tamanhos, o limite de 5 peixes e consumo próprio
A pesca desportiva em apneia rege-se por um limite de 5 organismos por pescador por dia — e só peixes (nada de lagosta, búzio ou polvo). Cada espécie tem o seu tamanho mínimo: dispara ao adulto, não ao juvenil, e deixa crescer os reprodutores. A captura é estritamente para consumo próprio: não se pode comercializar. Leva só o que vais comer; o arpão premeia a seleção, não o volume.
O que NÃO se arpoa
- Espécies reservadas da faixa costeira: dourado, marlin, peixe-vela, peixe-galo (roosterfish) e tarpão. Reservadas à pesca desportiva com cana; a nossa recomendação conservadora é NÃO as arpoar, embora a proibição exata ao arpão não esteja citada no DOF.
- Sempre proibido: a totoaba e o refúgio da vaquita no Alto Golfo, todas as tartarugas marinhas, e os mamíferos marinhos. Nas Caraíbas, o mero de Yucatán tem veda de 1 de fevereiro a 31 de março. E nunca lagosta, búzio nem polvo com arpão.
Onde mergulhar, por região
Baja Pacífico
A fachada pacífica da Baja Califórnia — água fria de upwelling da Corrente da Califórnia, florestas de kelp e yellowtail. Ensenada e La Bufadora são ícones; aquece para sul.
- Playas de Rosarito — Playas de Rosarito opens Pacific Baja: beach and rocky reefs with the Coronado Islands offshore.
- Ensenada — Ensenada is the biggest NW port and Baja's dive capital: the Todos Santos Islands offshore hold big yellowtail.
- La Bufadora — La Bufadora (Punta Banda) is a Baja dive icon: rocky headland, kelp and lobster, with shore access.
- San Quintín — San Quintín is a mid-Baja bay and estuary: remote kelp reefs toward Colonet, cold productive water.
- Bahía Asunción — Bahía Asunción is a mid-Baja fishing-and-abalone village: rocky coast, kelp and clean cold water, very remote.
- Bahía Tortugas — Bahía Tortugas is a protected anchorage behind Punta Eugenia: kelp, yellowtail and good cold-water visibility, isolated.
- Punta Abreojos — Punta Abreojos is exposed rocky Pacific Baja Sur coast: kelp and lobster, heavy surf, for when the swell drops.
- Puerto San Carlos — Puerto San Carlos opens Magdalena Bay, BCS's big Pacific lagoon: bay water is murky, the real hunt is at the mouth and outer banks (bluewater).
- Todos Santos — Todos Santos is a Pueblo Mágico of Pacific beaches with heavy shorebreak (Punta Lobos): the hunt depends on swell, best near the points.
Mar de Cortez
O Mar de Cortez — «o aquário do mundo» e coração da pesca submarina do México; visibilidade de 10–25 m no sul (La Paz, La Ventana, Los Cabos). As marés caem de norte a sul: no Alto Golfo a macromaré de 6–7 m — mergulha na estofa.
- San Felipe — San Felipe is the Upper Gulf of California: giant tides and temperate water, rocky reefs just south of the protected core.
- Puerto Peñasco — Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point) is the Upper Gulf gateway from Arizona: huge tides, Isla San Jorge with sea lions offshore.
- El Golfo de Santa Clara — El Golfo de Santa Clara sits at the apex of the Upper Gulf funnel: the country's most extreme tides and very turbid delta water — marginal diving, more info than spot.
- Bahía Kino — Bahía Kino is Sonora's classic: facing Isla Tiburón and Isla Alcatraz, reefs and banks with good visibility.
- Guaymas — Guaymas is a Sonora port and bays, neighbour of San Carlos: murkier harbour water, good reefs toward San Pedro Nolasco.
- San Carlos — San Carlos (Nuevo Guaymas) is Sonora's premium dive base: Isla San Pedro Nolasco with sea lions and the state's best visibility (up to 20 m+).
- Yávaros — Yávaros–Huatabampito is a bay and lagoon of southern Sonora: shallow, slightly turbid water, scattered reefs and shoals, little visited.
- Topolobampo — Topolobampo is a Sinaloa port with islands and islets at its mouth: rocky banks and reefs, medium visibility, easy logistics base.
- Bahía de los Ángeles — Bahía de los Ángeles is a wild Gulf icon: an archipelago of ~16 islands, whale sharks, groupers and yellowtail in clear water.
- Santa Rosalía — Santa Rosalía is a historic mining port of central BCS: Isla San Marcos offshore, rocky reefs and good autumn visibility.
- Mulegé — Mulegé is a river oasis beside Bahía Concepción, one of the Gulf's most sheltered bays: shallow reefs and easy shore access.
- Loreto — Loreto is the Gulf's dive mecca, with Bahía de Loreto National Park and its islands: clear water, groupers and snappers on the reefs outside the buffers.
- La Paz — La Paz is Mexico's spearfishing capital: Isla Cerralvo (Jacques Cousteau), El Bajo and outer banks yield cubera snapper, tuna and wahoo.
- La Ventana — La Ventana is the channel facing Isla Cerralvo, a kite and dive mecca: the lower Gulf's best visibility (10–25 m) and pelagics in season.
- El Sargento — El Sargento is La Ventana's neighbouring village on the same Cerralvo channel: very clear water, strong winter northers, pelagics in season.
- Los Barriles — Los Barriles is the heart of the East Cape: big-game and reefs with snapper and cabrilla, warm clear water, strong winter northers.
- Buenavista — Buenavista is Los Barriles' quiet neighbour on the East Cape: the same snapper/cabrilla reefs and banks, warm clear water.
- Cabo Pulmo — Cabo Pulmo is the Sea of Cortez's only hard coral reef and a world recovery story (+462 % biomass): a total no-take park — here you dive to look, not to hunt.
- San José del Cabo — San José del Cabo is the gateway to the Gordo Banks, legendary yellowfin-tuna and wahoo seamounts, with reefs at the Gulf's tip.
- Cabo San Lucas — Cabo San Lucas caps the peninsula where the Pacific and the Gulf meet: a marine reserve sits by the Arch, and hunting stays on the outer reefs outside the park.
Pacífico Continental
O Pacífico continental (de Nayarit a Oaxaca) — recifes quentes em cabos e ilhas, turvo nas fozes dos rios. No SE os ventos-jato de Tehuantepec levantam mar curto e afloramento — janelas estreitas.
- San Blas — San Blas is a historic Nayarit port with mangrove and murky inshore water: the real hunt is on the rock banks, with the Isla Isabel sanctuary offshore.
- Rincón de Guayabitos — Rincón de Guayabitos is a shallow, sheltered Nayarit bay with Isla del Coral offshore: easy snorkel-hunting near the island.
- Sayulita — Sayulita is a Nayarit surf town with rocky points between the beaches: hunt the points when the swell drops, warm green-blue water.
- Punta de Mita — Punta de Mita is the north point of Banderas Bay: rock reefs on the cape, clearer water than the inner bay, with the protected Marietas to the west.
- Puerto Vallarta — Puerto Vallarta is the Banderas Bay hub: the malecón is murky, but the southern rocky coast and the La Corbeteña seamounts give good hunting.
- Boca de Tomatlán — Boca de Tomatlán is the gateway to the clean southern Banderas coves (Yelapa, Majahuitas): the bay's best visibility, with protected Los Arcos nearby.
- Chamela — Chamela–Pérula is a quiet Jalisco Costalegre bay with an archipelago of islets: rock reefs and clear water outside the sanctuary islands.
- Barra de Navidad — Barra de Navidad–Melaque is a bay and lagoon of southern Jalisco: sheltered rock reefs, warm water and easy shore access.
- Tenacatita — Tenacatita–La Manzanilla is a sheltered Costalegre bay with coral patches: classic snorkel-hunting in warm clear water over rock and reef.
- Manzanillo — Manzanillo is Colima's big port with the Santiago and La Boquita bays: the harbour is murky, but the rocky points (Roca Elefante, Juluapan) hunt well.
- Zihuatanejo — Zihuatanejo–Ixtapa mixes calm bays with Isla Ixtapa and the Los Morros de Potosí pinnacles: warm water with snapper, cabrilla and deep rock.
- Acapulco — Acapulco is a big closed bay with murky inner water: the real hunt is at Isla de la Roqueta, Pie de la Cuesta and the outer points.
- Puerto Escondido — Puerto Escondido is Oaxaca's surf capital with a powerful south swell: the rocky points (Carrizalillo, Puerto Angelito) hunt when the sea calms.
- Huatulco — Huatulco is 9 bays and a national park with southern Oaxaca's best visibility and corals: hunt outside the cores, with the Tehuantepec upwelling in play.
- Salina Cruz — Salina Cruz is the gateway to the Gulf of Tehuantepec: an industrial port with upwelling and the violent winter Tehuanos, hunted on the rocky points only in calm.
Golfo do México
O Golfo do México — plataforma turva e lodosa com micromaré diurna (uma maré por dia); a caça só faz sentido nos recifes ao largo (Lobos, Sistema Veracruzano, Alacranes). «Nortes» no inverno.
- La Pesca — La Pesca (Soto la Marina) is a Tamaulipas river mouth and beach: murky river-and-shelf water, marginal inshore diving — more shore fishing than apnea.
- Tampico — Tampico–Playa Miramar is a port and beach of southern Tamaulipas: shore turbid from the Pánuco, the hunt is on the outer rock banks (Tuxpan-Lobos group).
- Tuxpan — Tuxpan gives access to Isla de Lobos and the Lobos-Tuxpan reef system, reefs 10–15 km offshore: cleaner water and coral — the northern Gulf's best hunting.
- Veracruz — Veracruz–Boca del Río faces the Veracruz Reef System, the Gulf's largest reef complex: dozens of shoals, but with protected cores — hunt outside them.
- Antón Lizardo — Antón Lizardo is the dive base toward the southern SAV reefs (Enmedio, Anegada): water a bit clearer than Veracruz port, hunt the shoals outside the cores.
- Campeche — Campeche is a colonial port on a very shallow, turbid shelf: inshore diving is weak, the real hunt is on the outer banks (Campeche bank).
- Sisal — Sisal is an old henequen port of northern Yucatán on a shallow silty shelf: mythical Alacranes is far offshore (no-take), the real hunt is on local banks and wrecks.
- Progreso — Progreso is Mérida's port with its long pier on a shallow silty shelf: turbid inshore water, hunt on local banks, with Alacranes far offshore as an info-zone.
Caribe Mexicano
O Caribe mexicano (Quintana Roo) — água quente e cristalina (10–40 m) sobre o segundo recife do mundo, mas a maioria dos pontos famosos são ANP no-take (Cozumel, Puerto Morelos = zonas info). Sargaço abr–out, furacões jun–nov.
- Isla Holbox — Isla Holbox is the north corner of Quintana Roo: a shallow, slightly turbid north-facing lagoon, inside the Yum Balam Reserve and the whale-shark route.
- Isla Mujeres — Isla Mujeres has reefs and the MUSA underwater museum, but the West Coast NP cuts the best zones: the reef is no-take and only lionfish is a legal target.
- Cancún — Cancún is crystalline Caribbean water, but almost all the nearby reef sits in the West Coast NP and under hotel-zone swim buffers: an info-zone + lionfish product.
- Puerto Morelos — Puerto Morelos protects a barrier reef inside a total no-take national park: no hunting here — it's an info-zone, and the reef is worked only in authorised lionfish programs.
- Playa del Carmen — Playa del Carmen is the Riviera Maya drift-dive hub: constant north current and protected reef — a lionfish and info-zone product, with hunting only outside the closed sectors.
- Cozumel — Cozumel is a world dive benchmark (15–40 m visibility), but its entire west reef is a no-take national park: here you dive to look, not to hunt — a pure info-zone.
- Akumal — Akumal is «the place of turtles»: a protected clear-water bay where you don't hunt, ringed by no-take reef — an info-zone and lionfish product outside the bay.
- Tulum — Tulum joins the national park below the ruins to the huge Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve in the south: almost everything is heavily restricted — an info-zone and lionfish product.
- Mahahual — Mahahual is Costa Maya: very clear water and the Banco Chinchorro atoll offshore (no-take biosphere) — an info-zone and lionfish product, with hunting only on the coast outside the reserve.
- Xcalak — Xcalak is the southern tip by Belize: a wild, little-visited village with excellent water and the Xcalak Reefs NP — hunt outside the cores, a lionfish reef.
Perguntas frequentes
Regras em vigor em 2026 — confirma sempre com a CONAPESCA/CONANP antes de ir. A pesca submarina é só em apneia (NOM-017-PESC-1994); a licença da CONAPESCA é sempre obrigatória, e os parques marinhos ANP (Cabo Pulmo, Cozumel, Puerto Morelos) são no-take.
Pode-se arpoar peixe-galo ou dourado no México?
A nossa recomendação é NÃO. São espécies reservadas à pesca desportiva com cana na faixa costeira; embora a proibição exata ao arpão não esteja citada, o prudente e respeitoso é não os disparar.
Quando há veda do mero no México?
O mero de Yucatán (lado Caraíbas/Golfo) tem veda de 1 de fevereiro a 31 de março. Respeita-a e consulta os tamanhos mínimos das outras espécies.
O que se caça no lado frio do Pacífico da Baja?
Yellowtail e calico bass no kelp, corvina e bonito. A visibilidade baixa com o afloramento, por isso cruza o vento com a previsão do dia.