Cabo Pulmo

 Monday, December 11, 2023

Cabo Pulmo and Los Frailes

This is an easy day to write up, although it was rigorous and tiring.  This morning we left for touring on pangas, local small boats with a cover, in the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park.  The park extends five miles along the coastline between the communities of Cabo Pulmo and los Frailes.  We were with a national park guide.


It was a coolish and very windy day, and the coastline was spectacular.  In addition to all the other birds, we saw a red-tailed hawk!


We passed a pelican rookery:


And we saw many colonies of sea lions:

 


 We searched for whales but saw none this morning.  We returned to the ship where we had a lecture on the conservation efforts by the Cabo Pulmo community leaders which led to the remarkable success in the reestablishment of corals, fish and birds.

 After lunch we had shuttles to the beach. There are fishing shacks on the beach just at the border of the national park, and we landed in front of them.

 


As usual there were multiple options, from vegging on the beach to hikes of various difficulty.  I chose the intermediate difficulty hike (the most difficult climbed a small mountain behind the beach).  Ours was no picnic.  We walked about a mile down the soft sand beach, and then turned inland to find a fresh-water lagoon:


My group climbed up a high sandy hill which gave a great view of the lagoon (you can see the easy hike hikers at the right side of the lagoon):

 


We circled back to the landing site where there were cold drinks and lawn chairs waiting for us, and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach.  Getting off of the Zodiac today I scraped my arm enough that it required bandaging, and I won’t be able to snorkel tomorrow.  Oh well, there’s lots to do without it.  More later.

Comments

  1. Ralph P. LockeDecember 12, 2023 at 4:13 AM

    Wonderful that the locals have helped restore the natural environment: coral, fish, birds. There's so much wanton destruction going on elsewhere.... -- I marveled at the fresh-water lagoon. Does it form entirely from rain, I wonder, or is there an underground spring as well? Did humans ever live near here? If so, they must have been astonished and relieved to find natural drinking water. I tend to take water for granted....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ann Carol GoldbergDecember 12, 2023 at 3:45 PM

    Such a fantastic tour, so glad for you. I know you enjoy every minute. Hugs

    ReplyDelete

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