Sea of Cortez

A huge bait ball of mullet was swirling aggressively just forty yards away from me. Something large was feeding and pushing on them from below. Their backs were out of the water. In the late afternoon light they were a buttery, copper colour. They moved close to the beach then further away.  A mother porpoise and her infant arced out of the water in unison. Pelicans were circling. Occasionally one dropped from the blue Baja sky and plunged into the sea. The afternoon winds had kicked in and with it white capped waves. Sting rays were leaping out of the water and belly-flopping. I kept hearing smacking and popping sounds. Large schools of rays swam by in fighter jet patterns. Some were going north, some south. I saw a large Jack and then a Rooster fish crashing some smaller bait balls sending sprays of mullet into the air like fireworks. Sea turtles kept surfacing to breathe and then disappearing. I was on foot witnessing the Sea of Cortez . Everything was occurring all at once. I couldn't believe the life. I couldn't believe all the energy: The wind, the waves, the circling bait, the charging rooster fish, the airborne rays, the diving birds, the turtles...everything. It is the richest piece of water I have ever seen. What a gift.