Before I started researching for my 2022 Mexico trip, I hadn’t given the Gulf of California WHS much thought. Maybe it’s the uninspirational name or the fact that no less than 12 reserved areas all over the place are included so it seems to lack focus. In its nomination dossier, it compared itself to the Galapagos, Henderson Island, and Gough Island. While the others are more remote and pristine, after now having visited I must say there’s a whole lot of truth in this. Also, Argentina’s Peninsula Valdes came to my mind as a similar site.

I visited location #5: Bahia de Loreto National Park. From La Paz, where my plane landed, I first drove 3 hours through nothing. It was such a boring drive that I was afraid to fall asleep behind the wheel. Then the landscape suddenly changed: it became a kind of Grand Canyon with cactus forests, the Sierra de la Giganta. Only behind this massive mountain range, the Gulf becomes visible. There’s a great viewpoint along highway 1 (Mirador Chuenque), where you have an overview of several of the islands in the bay. There are 5 larger islands in Bahia de Loreto, and many smaller islets.

For an easy tick of the site, you can walk along Loreto’s malecon or on its beaches. I did so on my first evening in town and especially enjoyed watching the Brown pelicans fishing. They are pretty creatures with their reddish and ochre neck and pouch. When they notice a fish, they dive headfirst straight into the water.

For a more comprehensive look, I joined a 5-hour long boat tour to Isla Coronado. This is the most popular destination of the offerings in Loreto. There were 4 or 5 boats from different companies out on the same morning, but they all operate with small boats (maximum 6-8 passengers) so it never got busy. I shared my boat with a father & son from Tijuana. On the way out to the island, I spotted a group of Bottlenose dolphins. There were so many of them, and we spent a good amount of time amongst them.

Isla Coronado is the only of Loreto’s islands that is of volcanic origin. It still has a volcanic cone and remains of lava streams. We started sailing a loop around the island. The lava has created some pretty weird carved rocks. They are a favourite hangout for birds like the blue-footed booby and their more common cousin the brown-footed booby. Around yet another corner, that’s where the island’s residential colony of sea lions lives. The arrival of the boats did make them “bark”, but they kept their spot. I found it amazing how agile they are in climbing out of the water and onto the rocks again.

At the far end of the island, there are a couple of white sandy beaches. Here we stopped for lunch. I did a short hike inland via a boardwalk and return to the beach. The best thing here however is the very clear water. Even without snorkeling, you can wade into the shallow areas for 20-30 meters and see a great variety of small, colourful fish. As an epic subtitle could make this WHS more popular, I suggest using the quote of Jacques Cousteau: “The World’s Aquarium”.