Snorkeling with Sea Lions in Mexico's Sea of Cortez

by Kristin Batchelor

It all started out at what had to be the most boring New Year’s Eve party on the Baja Peninsula. A group of friends had decided to spend New Year’s Eve camping on the beach, but due to some unseasonable rain showers and cold winds, the trip had been cancelled. Instead, we decided – at the last minute – to cook spaghetti at a friend’s house. It was about as exciting as it sounds. I would never have imagined that what appeared to be an incredibly pathetic crawl into the New Year would evolve into one of the most emotional days of my life – snorkeling with Sea Lions off the coast of Cabo Pulmo.

After suffering through several hours of small talk and boredom, one of my friends suggested that we head off to Cabo Pulmo anyway. Cabo Pulmo is a beautiful cape located less than two hours east of San José del Cabo at the tip of the Baja Peninsula. Relatively untouched by tourism, Cabo Pulmo is a paradise familiar to locals, RVers and bicyclers.

We woke up to the light of the sun sparkling on a crystal blue sea with pelicans fishing just off the coast. I never cease to be amazed at the hunting prowess of these birds that dive at wing-breaking speed to snatch fish from the ocean.

As luck would have it, one member of our group ran into Juan Castro, a weatherworn fisherman and a walking encyclopedia of information regarding Cabo Pulmo’s geography and history.

Juan offered to take us snorkeling at a nearby beach and we agreed, having no idea of what he really had in store for us. After loading a variety of personal and borrowed snorkeling gear and pushing off the beach into the Sea of Cortez, we jetted across the ocean in the little panga. Juan pointed out a line carved in a sand cliff, dividing Cabo Pulmo’s beach between private property and the land designated for the fisherman, including the section which belongs only to the ancient natives buried there.
 

Despite the fact that it was already 3:00 in the morning, we decided to head out. The majority of the trip to Cabo Pulmo is made on a well-maintained, paved road, exiting off the trans-peninsular highway at Las Cuevas and continuing to La Rivera before turning off for the final few kilometers. Here the pavement ends and the last 20 miles or so are endured over a washboard-ribbed gravel trail.

We arrived at Cabo Pulmo at about 5:00 a.m. We threw our blankets out on the sand, making sure to place our bedding well above the high-tide water line. Sleep was impossible as we took turns looking through binoculars at the expanse of stars that can only be seen when one leaves behind city limits and lights.

Juan cruised around hidden reefs and weaved through boulders as we beached on a little stretch of sand nestled between towering rock mountains. I couldn’t wait to get in the water as it was only my second time snorkeling and I was anxious to once again see the colorful fish that abound in the Sea of Cortez. The fish here were much larger than those I had seen on my first snorkeling expedition. I was thrilled by schools of yellow and black angelfish and the colorful, but shy parrot fish. Coral reefs offered rough contrast to the grace and fluidity of the fish. The waves were tempered by the rocks, allowing us to explore rocky crevices and see clearly for several feet in every direction.

After snorkeling, I joined Juan on the beach and was treated to a guided tour of the surroundings. He pointed out the smoothness and shape of the rock formations and explained that in hurricane season, the waves crash over the towering rocks and land on the beach where we stood. Smooth, round boulders are stacked in a huge pile that looks as if a giant had tired of his game of marbles and left them there to be collected at a later date. We hiked over the boulders to see the even calmer waters found on the other side. The rocks are so smooth that we hiked barefoot over rocks and cliffs, collecting large fragments of conch shells and startling the crabs.

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