Baja California is a peninsula in the western section of Mexico. The peninsula has the Pacific Ocean to the west and is separated from the mainland by the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez) to the east. These waters are home to 39 percent of the world's marine mammal species. Nine hundred species of fish and five of the world’s seven endangered species of sea turtles live here.
In the north are the cities of Mexicali, Ensenada and Tijuana. California's San Diego is just across the border. Many liveaboard dive boats disembark from Ensenada. In the south is the city of Cabo San Lucas. Cabo is a party town that feels more like a city in the United States than in Mexico.
An international scientific expedition in Mexico's Gulf of California has spotted up to 25 critically endangered vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise. The sightings occurred during the first 20 days of the Vaquita Expedition 2015, which commenced on September 26th. However, scientists caution that some individuals may have been counted more than once.
Every summer, hundreds of whale sharks gather off the Yucatan Coast near the Mexican tourist hubs of Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Isla Holbox. The sharks congregate 32 km offshore to gorge on the eggs of a fish called the little tunny, skimming them from the ocean’s surface with enormous, gaping mouths. In recent years, the spectacle has attracted legions of tourists to snorkel alongside the graceful, slow-moving giants.
1,000 hours under the earth. This is the tale of the expedition, led by deep cave explorer Bill Stone, to J2 Cave, located in the Sierra Juárez Mountains of northeastern Oaxaca, México, as told by team member and lead diver, Phil Short.
After my speech at the International Tech Meeting 2012 (technical diving convention in Bratislava, Slovakia), deep cave explorer Bill Stone asked me to join him for lunch. As a result of that lunch, during the course of the next 12 months, I prepared for the trip of a lifetime! In a full hour of one-on-one discussion with Bill outside of the lecture hall of the Rebreather Forum 3.0 convention in Orlando, Florida, later that year, we discussed how the trip was moving forward.
Underwater photographer Gregory Lecoeur journeys to Los Islotes off the coast of Baha, Mexico, in the Sea of Cortez, which is home to a colony of California sea lions.
In between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez [ed.—also known as the Gulf of California], the Mexican peninsula of Baja California takes shape. Located at the mouth of the Sea of Cortez, its capital, the quiet town of La Paz, offers a vast biodiversity and exceptional landscapes.
A study of bottlenose dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico conducted between 2010 and early 2013 has concluded the highest number of strandings and deaths occurred in areas most impacted by the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In comparison, Gulf Coast areas of Texas and Florida, which experienced little to no oiling, saw few statewide increases in stranded dolphins during the same period.
As of February 1st, Cancun tourists will enjoy an extra hour in the sun as the state of Quintana Roo changes from Central Standard Time (CST) to Eastern Standard Time (EST).After more than two years of efforts by the state government and several hotel owners in Cancun, the Mexican government granted approval for the change.
Whale shark, whale shark, whale shark! After several unsuccessful hours of searching the bay by small boat, these long-awaited words came as a welcome relief. Only a handful of us had heard the radio call after opting to stay behind and skip the last dive of the trip.
The excited skiff driver making the transmission had just dropped off his divers when a 15- to 20-foot juvenile whale shark came up to investigate. An explosion of activity ensued as our remaining few frantically scrambled for snorkel gear and made last second camera checks before jumping into the now returning skiff in hopes of seeing the world’s largest fish up close.
The rather dark reputation of Humboldt squid has been readily reinforced by various wildlife television programs and other media which present these creatures as giant animals hungry for blood or ruthless monsters, uncompromisingly attacking their prey.
Humboldt squid live in the very deep waters of the ocean. Knowledge about their lives in the abyss is very limited. Most of the research concerning their behaviour has been done in shallower waters. They are found in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, near the western coast of the Americas. Until recently, they have been observed mostly off the coasts of Central America, but more and more, they have been seen migrating north, even into the waters around Alaska.
A centuries-old religious ceremony of an indigenous people in southern Mexico has led to small evolutionary changes in a local species of fish, according to researchers from Texas A&M University.
For centuries, the Zoque people of southern Mexico would venture each year during the Easter season deep into the sulfuric cave Cueva del Azufre to implore their deities for a bountiful rain season.
As part of the annual ritual, they release into the cave's waters a distinctive, leaf-bound paste made of lime and the ground-up root of the barbasco plant, a natural fish toxin. Believing the cave's fish to be gifts from their gods, they scoop up their poisoned prey to feed upon until their crops are ready to harvest.