out to sea

one of the wonderful things about my job at CEDO is the opportunity to go out on the water, in various actividades. after the course of sub-tidal monitoring i took last summer, i've been able to go out with the fisheries team to do monitorings, including a visit to rocas consag, all the way across the gulf near san felipe to do a monitoring. the vaquita refuge is centered around rocas consag, so although i knew it was horribly unlikely, i still half hoped i'd get the chance to see one. no luck there. we did see dolphins on the way back though, which is always fun when they jump out of the water and flip around for you.

but, rocas consag:





[sea birds at rocas consag. that white-ness is not snow]


it was pretty cool. too bad the diving wasn't so great. the visibility was literally a foot, and horror of all horrors, as we're preparing to descend, i was attaching my camera to my BC and .... there it went, falling down to the bottom. ivan and i immediately went down to look for it but to no available. i hope the vaquita are having fun playing with it. it had a good life, but i was still sad to see it go.

....

i took a group out to isla san jorge in november as well to go snorkel with the sea lions. freakin' cold the water, at about 55F, but with a 7 mm wetsuit it's not too bad. :)

there were tons of pups around, swimming right up to us, kissing my mask. i don't think i'll ever get too tired of that!





[babies coming to check us out]


honestly, if the appeal of sand and sun isn't enough to get you down here, then the sea lions should be a huge draw.

....

and finally, i just like these pictures because i think they represent peñasco so well - the town of shrimp and tourism.

i do love shrimp, but these trawlers are absolutely destroying the ecosystem. they rip up the sea floor and capture everything they come upon without any discrimination. 10 lbs of bycatch for every 1 lb of shrimp. it's just unbelievable. i love shrimp, and i hardly eat it anymore (only on the rare occasion).



[trawler]


and well the tourism - these huge condos are suffering massively under the negative press coverage of mexico in the US news. they are practically empty at this, the highest season for visitors. i am truly afraid for many of the businesses in town if tourists don't start to return.



[trawler and sandy beach condos]