8MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

SEA CAVES OF LORETOby Dave BunnellOn previous trips to Baja Californiawe had found numerous and large sea cavesnear Punta Banda. While we expected tofind more sea caves along the Pacificcoast, we would never have bothered tolook for sea caves in the relativelyplacid sea of Cortez had not Walt Petersentold us that large sea caves were said toexist in the Loreto region. Walt iswriting a reference book on Baja and has aspecial interest in caves. I had also seenreference to large sea caves on the Isladel Carmen in "Baja Book II," so armed withthis information we planned a trip to theLoreto area over the Thanksgiving weekendof 1984, which coincided with some very lowtides.Thus it was that Carol Conroy, BillLiebman, Ed Moody, Bob Richards, JohnSchmidt, and I arrived on an Aeromexicoflight to Loreto. We found a hotel only ashort walk £rom the town I s little marina.Saturday morning we ventured out on a pangawith a Mexican guide, and headed towardsIsla del Carmen, located about 9 nauticalmiles east of Loreto. It is one of thelargest islands in the Sea of Cortez,measuring about 32 kilometers in length and11 kilometers in width. The island isuninhabited, but salt was mined there inthe past.Much of the northern part of theisland is composed of volcanic rock in 10­to 15-meter-high cliffs. However, as weapproached the island on its northwestshore we saw little in the way of caves inthe volcanic rock. About midway betweenthe two points on the north coastline weentered a small bay with cave-studdedwhite limestone cliffs and beautifulturquoise-green water. We beached the boaton a lovely sandy beach and donned oursnorkel gear, since all the caves wouldrequire swimming to reach. As we snorkeledAbove: The Puerto Napolo caves are located in the peninsula in the left foregroun~(Dave Bunnell)68