Swim with whale sharks in the Bay of LA

In all the years that I have been exploring Mexico’s Baja peninsula, by far the coolest discovery has been the whale shark migration that happens from summer to fall in the Sea of Cortez near the small fishing village of Bahia de los Angeles. The town is located at the base of a mountain on a pristine bay protected by more than a dozen islands. It is, in my opinion, one of the purest bodies of water left on the planet.

There are two routes into the “Bay of LA,” and they can easily be done in one day if you get an early start. You can cross the border from San Diego and take Highway 1 south for about 400 miles – though longer, it is paved. Alternatively, you can cross via Mexicali and take Highway 5 along the Sea of Cortez – this route has a stretch of graded dirt road that is passable by any SUV. As long as it’s not raining and you take your time on the dirt, this is my preferred route. Either way, I like to break up the drive and stay in San Felipe or San Quintin for a night. Don’t be deterred if you don’t speak Spanish – many “Bay of LA” locals speak English.

Bahia de Los Angeles (Photo: Rhiannon Cooper)

My favorite accommodations in town are at the Los Vientos Hotel. Bought last year by William Roberts and his wife, Rosa María Chávez, it is on the beach and has a swimming pool and restaurant. I relax poolside before heading to the local Nature and Culture Museum, which is well-curated and filled with artifacts from the town’s mining history – there are even whale skeletons on display! After lunch at Hotel Las Hamacas for some fish tacos and a shrimp and scallop cocktail, I end up at the sand spit – a narrow peninsula that protects the town – and take a walk to the lighthouse at the end of the beach, collecting seashells along the way.

The next day, I arrive at Joel’s Sportfishing & Ecotours at 7 a.m. – located across from the museum, it’s owned by
bay natives Joel Prieto Jr. and his father. The pair offers fishing charters and marine wildlife trips (as well as a van trip to Mission San Borja), but today we are going on an “everything” boat trip. I always ask Prieto to bring fishing poles so we can do it all.

He has me park the car and jump onto
a boat hitched to his truck for a drive to the boat ramp down the street. It’s the busiest
place in town – tourists and fishermen all
launch here. Though the morning starts
off a little cloudy, we head out and throw a
couple lines in the water with the hope of
catching dorado. When none hit, we head
to Don Juan cove. At this safe harbor, the
water is crystal clear and less than 5 feet
deep at low tide – if you look down, you can see small stingrays cruising along the sandy bottom. We have come here to dig for clams for tonight’s dinner, so I put on a mask and snorkel before jumping into the warm water; don’t worry, the stingrays are more afraid of me, but I like to see them when I walk around. You can literally dig up clams with your feet, and I waste no time filling u a bag and even eating a few raw!

With a big bag of clams, we make
our way to a seamount between the cove and one of the small islands where we try fishing again, this time for yellowtail. After a few small triggerfish are caught and released, Prieto pulls in a large broomtail grouper and says we are very lucky that this is a great fish or eating – we now have our entrée!

Next, we move to the south end of the bay, where many whale sharks tend to feed. With the sun shining, it is easy to spot two of them near the shore. The largest fish in the world, whale sharks were classified as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List of Threatened Species in July – you should keep at least
5 feet away for your own safety. Though they are filter feeders, it is quite a sight
to see a 30-foot “shark” gliding along the surface in the sunshine. At least for me, it’s hard not to think about the movie “Jaws,” but once you gather your courage to get in the water with them, it’s exhilarating. The sharks really don’t seem to give you a thought as they move along with their day.

Read the rest by heading over to DESERT magazine, part of the USA Today Network!

A whale shark (Photo: Rhiannon Cooper)