by Michelle Alten –  Photographs by Wolfgang Kaehler

Bahia Agua Verde

Male Frigate bird                                        Brown pelican

This morning a pod of dolphins stirs up the fish in the bay–minutes later a flock of pelicans joins in, darting at the instant buffet.  Blue-footed boobies plunge into the water like javelins.  A frigate bird swoops down and flies off with a shiny fish flapping in its talons.  Wolf and I jump into a kayak and paddle around the bay to rock outcrops and nesting grounds.  A pointed rocky island, looking like a grey whale spy hopping in the sea, hosts blue-footed boobies, Herman gulls and cormorants.  The pungent smell of guano wafts from the rock.  Up top, as though in his penthouse, a male frigate puffs up his red pouch as a female soars past.  He flaunts his masculinity, competing with another male below him.  Near the beach Caspian terns sail in the sea breeze swooping over the water as delicate grebes poke their long necks above the surface like submarine telescopes.  There’s plenty of life here in the Sea of Cortez and the arid Baja Peninsula—it is a nature lover’s dream.