Mike in the Wild

I've written quite a bit about my snorkel adventures in Cabo San Lucas.  Even beating out whale watching and beachcombing, snorkeling is indeed my favorite activity in this resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.  As a cruise passenger, the easiest site to visit for underwater exploration may be Pelican Rock, a fast ride in a water taxi from the municipal dock.  I even wondered if it might be Cabo's best snorkeling spot when I wrote about it just over two years ago. (See  Pelican Rock .)  But I was recently reminded on a November cruise that there are two additional sites that are also both excellent for snorkeling and almost as easy to reach: Chileno Bay and Santa Maria Bay. I've actually visited those beaches before, on excursions while on other cruises.  Cruise lines sell tours that sail vacationers from Cabo's harbor to both bays in the Sea of Cortez.  Usually from a catamaran, I've snorkeled in the pristine water shelteri...

While the bays around Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, Mexico are currently welcoming spectacular humpback whales for their annual winter visits, the coral reefs in the area have a colorful array of tropical fish in residence year-round.  Two reefs easy to reach either from nearby beaches or by a short boat ride from Cabo's harbor are Santa Maria Cove and Chileno Bay.  I chose the latter means of transport to visit these Sea of Cortez gems, taking a fast Zodiac boat tour organized by my cruise ship's tour desk. Each site has calm, shallow waters and most importantly vibrant and healthy coral reefs.  With less than an hour at each reef, I wasn't expecting to see the abundant and vast array of fish I witnessed.   Having learned to identify a number of individual species in Maui, I was excited to see some new and unique specimens in the same families.  And thanks to that experience, I was able to distinguish surgeonfish from filefish, and to find a first t...