Sea of Cortez – Syndication Server

Loreto Bay National Park invites you to dive into the aquarium of the world

Explore the bay.

I’m all geared up with snorkel and flippers, ready to jump off a boat beside a sea lion colony near Baja California’s Coronado Island. About 100 of them are barking their heads off. It’s deafening. I’m a little leery, as I’ve heard stories of sea lions elsewhere being less than welcoming. But my guide, Ivette Granados Marines, assures me that the local sea lions are friendly. They only bite rude people who stick Go Pros in their faces.

I let go of the boat and fall into the deep warm water. An enormous sea lion torpedoes under me, staring with round black eyes. Sure enough, I am watched but unbitten while snorkeling in the unreal turquoise waters of Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto. Here’s what you should know before visiting the park for yourself.

Cliffs rising out of water. — *Photo by Teresa Bergen*

The marine park

Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto, which translates to Loreto Bay National Park, includes five uninhabited islands and 510,000 acres within the Gulf of California. The Mexican government established the park in 1996. Since then, it’s gained the added distinction and protection of being declared a Ramsar site in 2004 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. Ramsar sites indicate internationally important wetland areas.

A blue kayaking approaching a shore. — Approaching Honeymoon Beach on Danzante Island. / *Photo by Teresa Bergen*

The Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortez, is the Pacific Ocean inlet between the Mexican mainland and the eastern coast of Baja California. I spent three days exploring Loreto Bay National Park and the nearby Baja town of Loreto.

Wildlife in the Sea of Cortez

Locals and tourists alike enjoy taking boats out to snorkel, swim, fish, dive, and kayak in the park. While the moniker “aquarium of the world” has made the area vital to the local tourism economy, the point of being a park is to protect the area’s many non-human inhabitants. In addition to friendly sea lions, other big mammals who swim here include dolphins, orcas, fin whales, and humpback whales. The world’s largest mammal, the blue whale, migrates through the park in February and March.

Shells laid out on pebbles and rocks. — Shells of some of the smaller Sea of Cortez residents. / *Photo by Teresa Bergen*

As we boated back from a glorious kayaking and paddle boarding excursion on Danzante Island, Ramon Arce told me about blue whales, his favorite Sea of Cortez animal. “They are huge,” said Arce, an elite kayaking guide with Sea Kayak Baja Mexico. “Sometimes when they show up and you don’t expect them, maybe you get scared for a few seconds. But then they just pass nearby.” While it’s against marine park rules to intentionally go whale watching in a kayak, sometimes they’ll come towards you, Arce said. “In February and March, it’s pretty common to see them.”

A person SUPing on water near an arch rock formation. — Ramon Arce leading our paddling excursion. / *Photo by Teresa Bergen*

Each of the five islands — Coronado, Danzantes, Santa Catalina, Del Carmen, and Montserrat — has slightly different species of the same animals. Santa Catalina Island, the most remote, has seven endemic reptile species found nowhere else in the world. These include the leaf-toed gecko, the desert iguana, and a very disconcerting rattlesnake.

The critically endangered Santa Catalina Island rattlesnake lacks a functioning rattle. Instead, the buttonlike base of the snake falls off every time it sheds its skin, preventing a rattle from growing. “The snake doesn’t need that rattle,” said Granados Marines, a geologist by training who is now operations manager for the central-northern region of Visit Baja California Sur. “Why? Because no one on the island is going to attack the snake.” Uh, but isn’t their courteous warning one of the best things about rattlers?

A cactus growing above a rocky cliff. — *Photo by Teresa Bergen*

The importance of algae

While few people would question the awesomeness of a huge creature like the blue whale, sometimes it’s the lower-profile organisms that make a difference. As we sit offshore in our boat, admiring Isla Coronado, Granados Marines tells us a story of the hero of the marine park: algae beds called rhodoliths.

“Those algaes are like the nurseries of the Gulf of California,” she said. If you cut into a rhodolith you can find up to 140 species of different eggs of fish, nudibranchs, shrimp, sea stars, and other critters, Granados Marines explained. “That was the motivation that the community wanted to create the marine park. To defend the bottoms of the sea here. Because without rhodoliths, we don’t have a place for some of the species of fish to put their eggs.”

A seagull on shore looking at a sea lion sticking its head above water. — *Photo by Teresa Bergen*

Snorkeling the Sea of Cortez

While I love paddleboarding and kayaking, there’s nothing like being in the water with whatever animals live in the area or are passing through. After visiting the sea lion colony, we went ashore for some beach time. I spent my time in the water, cruising around looking for critters. Colorful king angelfish and surgeonfish are beautiful, but I especially enjoy the surprising fish. I got a shock when a long, tubular trumpetfish silently passed beneath me. And when I was examining some rocks on the sea floor, I realized one had eyes. It was a stonefish, an ambush predator that zaps its prey with highly venomous spines on its back!

Two snorkelers underwater among fish. — Taking a look inside the turquoise water. / *Photo by Teresa Bergen*

If you go

The small town of Loreto is the best base for visiting the marine park. You’ll need an outfitter to take you to the islands on a boat. There are many choices, but both options I went with — Dolphin Dive Baja and Sea Kayak Baja Mexico — were excellent.

Loreto offers many lodging options, too. If you want to stay in the town square amid all the action (and near La Route bike and espresso shop), I recommend Posada de las Flores. It features an airy courtyard and rooftop pool. For a beachier experience, Hotel Oasis is right on the malecon, so you can gaze at the Sea of Cortez from your hammock.

Disclaimer: While this article was not sponsored, Outdoors Wire did visit Loreto on a press trip hosted by Visit Baja California Sur. As always, Outdoors Wire operates independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

Watch: Orca’s dramatic leap leaves boaters in awe

Boaters in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez were amazed Sunday as an orca leaped 15 feet clear of the surface while attacking a dolphin.

Boaters in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez were astonished Sunday as an orca leaped 15 feet clear of the surface while attacking a bottlenose dolphin.

The accompanying footage, captured by Miguel Cuevas of Cabo Pulmo Divers, shows the orca launching itself and the dolphin as the orca rammed the smaller mammal during a high-speed vertical charge. (Best viewed with sound.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO80C_0AiJi/

The predation event at Cabo Pulmo, a dive spot north of Cabo San Lucas, occurred after several boats had gathered to view an orca pod as it hunted dolphins.

Cabo Pulmo Divers described the great leap as an “amazing moment” on Facebook.

Orca slams dolphin at the surface. Photo: Miguel Cuevas

Researchers who had seen the video tried late Sunday to obtain more information about the encounter and to determine whether any males accompanied the pod.

They noted that another Instagram post contains underwater footage – viewers must swipe to the third clip – of the orcas’ dolphin pursuit. (See post below.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO9LlMrlWYX/

Cuevas told For The Win Outdoors that he counted “at least 10 orcas,” all females, and that the predation event, although it involved just the one kill, lasted several hours.

He estimated the height of the leap to be “four to five meters.”

Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas, or killer whales, prey largely on marine mammals and mobula rays, which are abundant in the gulf. The orcas are known to express curiosity toward boaters and to occasionally surf in vessels’ wakes.

On April 20, farther north in Bahia de los Angeles, several orcas from a pod of 12, including a young calf, swam so closely to a panga that one of its passengers later recalled, “I laughed and cried and was in utter disbelief.”

–Images courtesy of Miguel Cuevas/Cabo Pulmo Divers

Orcas interact with boaters in emotional close encounter

Emotions ran high when orcas appeared alongside the small boat and began to interact with passengers and crew in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

“I laughed and cried and was in utter disbelief,” Tara Weberg recalled.

It was Weberg’s 12th trip to Bahia de los Angeles and each previous time she had hoped to see orcas. On this day, April 20, her wish came true in the form of 12 orcas spread out in three pods of four.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN-TyiYhBH0/

“My initial reaction when our captain Pancho spotted them was ‘No way!’ ” she said.

Weberg, who lives in Yucca Valley in Southern California, was with Chalie Harmer, owner of Silver Shark Adventures, and Capt. Pancho Verdugo.

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The first of two clips accompanying this post shows four orcas, including a newborn calf, swimming alongside the boat and exhaling loudly each time they surface to breathe.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COB_1osBN97/

The second clip shows two orcas swimming alongside and immediately behind the boat, at times opening their mouths in what might be considered unusual behavior.

Said Harmer, who can be seen placing his phone only inches from one orca’s head: “I’ve heard stories previously that fishermen in Baja sometimes toss the orcas fish when they’re feeling threatened by them. Perhaps this is a learned behavior.”

Tara Weberg expresses joy during orca encounter

Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas, or killer whales, are spotted sporadically in the Sea of Cortez and have been known to surf behind vessels and express curiosity toward boaters.

But encounters such as this are still considered rare.

Harmer recalled how the excitement level increased once the initial sighting occurred:

“As soon as my captain spotted them with the binoculars in the distance, he turned and looked at me with eyes wide open. I knew right there we got the orcas.

“A few seconds later, I saw a huge dorsal fin in the distance and realized we were just gifted a day we’d never forget.

“Tara still didn’t completely get it and kept on looking back at us with a look of disbelief. Pancho and I didn’t tell her anything. We wanted her to figure it out and react without our help.

“She completely lost it as all of her emotions came out. Both me and Pancho realized how incredible the moment was and were all emotional for her.

“Watching her and Pancho that day was as rewarding as observing the orcas.”

Watch: Blue whale ‘explodes out of the sea like a submarine’

An eco-tourism operator in Mexico recently captured rare footage showing blue whales breaking the surface while racing side by side in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

Blue whales, which can measure 100 feet and weigh more than 150 tons, are the largest creatures to have inhabited the planet. Though swift and powerful, they’re not often observed exhibiting such high-energy behavior.

“We were all stunned and excited, and knew what we were seeing was exceptionally rare,” Charlie Harmer, owner of Silver Shark Adventures, said of the mid-February encounter. “I still can’t believe it.”

On Friday, Harmer published another clip from the same day, showing a single blue whale in slow motion, breaching at 20 mph against a Baja California desert backdrop. (Video posted below.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMn24fgBCCi/

His Instagram introduction reads, ”A blue whale, the largest animal species on earth, exploding out of the sea like a submarine.”

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An apt description of a scene that reveals the immense power and majesty of a sleek mammal designed for seemingly effortless propulsion.

The footage was captured off Bahia de los Angeles, a vast biosphere reserve on Baja California’s eastern shore, about 400 miles from Southern California.

Harmer, whose company keeps a boat in the bay for seven-day adventures, said the two blue whales measured about 80 feet. The behavior might have been part of courtship, or merely competition.

Sea Shepherd says it was fired upon by poachers in Mexico

The crew of a vessel involved in a campaign to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in Mexico says it was shot at by poachers.

The crew of a vessel involved in a campaign to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in Mexico says it was fired upon Sunday by poachers.

Capt. Jacqueline Le Duc of the M/V Sharpie says in the accompanying video that her crew was surrounded twice by angry fishermen in the Sea of Cortez, and that at one point crew members heard what sounded like gun shots.

Viewers can hear the possible reports of weapons at 49 seconds. Subsequently, when the footage is slowed, viewers can see splashes, possibly from bullets, well short of the ship. Nobody was injured during the confrontation.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdcb9IRELK0]

“It just shows how aggressive the poachers are here, and it proves to us that they are armed, and that we need to take every [skiff] that we come across seriously, because we have no idea what they’re capable of,” Le Duc says.

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The M/V Sharpie is one of four Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels working in conjunction with Mexico to patrol a vast area in the northern Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California, and remove gill nets set by fisherman to snag a type of fish called totoaba.

Vaquita image courtesy of Tom Jefferson/NOAA

Totoaba swim bladders are sold on the black market in China for up to $10,000 per bladder, and illegal fishing operations inside the Vaquita Refuge are directed largely by Mexican drug cartels. The nearly invisible gill nets pose a grave danger to vaquita, whose numbers are said to be fewer than 20.

The skiffs, referred to as pangas, are speedy and not easy to detect. Their crews set gill nets inside protected waters at night and hope to retrieve them before they can be found by authorities.

Sea Shepherd, whose ships typically have Mexican authorities on board, have retrieved several illegal nets since it launched Operation Milagro in 2015.

Monday morning’s encounter was not the first scary confrontation involving angry fishermen. In January 2019 Sea Shepherd captured footage of fishermen racing alongside the M/V Farley Mowat, hurling objects and attempting to foul the ship’s propellers with nets.

The vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest cetacean, is endemic to the northern Sea of Cortez. The estimated size of the vaquita population in 1997 was 600, but they’ve been in sharp decline for decades, thanks mostly to the use of indiscriminate gill nets.

–Tom image is courtesy of Sea Shepherd; vaquita image is courtesy of Tom Jefferson/NOAA