by Michelle Alten –  Photographs by Wolfgang Kaehler

Arrival

As we sail away from San Jose del Cabo, a pair of humpback whales, a cow and calf, stitches its way through the water.  Rays flash silver in the evening sun.  Aboard the Safari Endeavor, we cruise away from Cabo’s vacationland into the Sea of Cortez.

Isla Espiritu Santo

Wolf leads a group of photographers through the desert to towering cardon cacti. They rise like stubborn men above the barren landscape.  Thorny needles and deep grooves make for interesting compositions. A sudden shower bathes the thirsty island.  Then a rainbow rises over the hillsides, a sudden gift for the photographers.

Cardon cacti

A long beach stretches like a bird’s tail beneath the desert mountains.  We wade with our snorkels and flippers into the water near a rocky headland then swim among the rocks and corral.  Angel fish and schools of convict tangs thread their way through the rocks.  A cornet fish appears, then a trumpet fish.  A pair of puffer fish slips out from between the rocks.  Each time I think that I have seen all the species, another fish shows up.  This is the best snorkeling I have experienced since the South Pacific.