California sea lion

Present, though the dedicated sea lion colony diving in this region is at Los Islotes near La Paz rather than here.

Year-round diving with no closure. The constraint is permit capacity: roughly two dive groups per site per day, with El Vencedor allocated by weekly lottery. Both sources agree Aug-Dec gives the warmest water (27-30C) and best visibility (24-27m); ZuBlu's Feb-Jun bull shark window sits in the coldest, murkiest part of the year, which is part of why the contradiction matters. Book 3-6 months ahead for peak season.

Resident colony of roughly 400 including pups. Biologically present all year; the Jun-Aug gap is a site closure for breeding, carried in operating_months and in the highlight seasonality rather than faked into this array.

Diving runs year-round, but Los Islotes, the single biggest draw, is closed 1 June to 31 August for sea lion breeding. That is a hard site closure inside an otherwise open destination, which is why Jun-Aug reads 'limited' rather than 'open' or 'closed'. Hurricane season overlaps the same window.