Lonely Planet

An evening view acrossthe sheltered waters ofBahía de los Ángelestowards the island ofÁngel de la Guarda``````A whale shark surfacesin the Sea of Cortez.OPPOSITE FROM FAR LEFTDiving specialist RicardoArce; sea lions bask inthe sunshine at Bahía delos Ángeles; brownpelicans take a breakfrom fishing``````October 2017 Lonely Planet Traveller 53whale sharks and sea lions in the Sea of CortezGuillermo’s Hotel has eight simple rooms.There’s also a waterfront restaurant withexcellent seafood. You must pay in cash, andthere are no ATMs in Bahía de los Ángeles, socome equipped with plenty of pesos (£70 fora room with two beds; 00 52 200 124 9104).Ricardo’s Diving Tours offers excellentrelaxed day trips to find whale sharks and sealions, and provides masks, snorkels and flippersso you can swim with them (£40 per personincluding permits; scubadivingbaja.com).EssentialsRejoin Highway 1 and continue south. You’ll reachSan Ignacio after four hours, and Loreto aftera further three-and-a-half hours.``````is a member of a local conservation group,Pejesapo, which since 2008 has workedto preserve the whale shark’s habitat andto count their numbers. The sharks aremost commonly seen between June andDecember, and at the season’s peak Ricardohas seen as many as 55 in one day. ‘It’s agood feeding ground here,’ he explains.‘We used to think that they just ateplankton, but by filming them here wefound out they eat bigger fish too.’There are only a couple of very smallhotels in the town, which means that formost of the year there are likely to be morewhale sharks here than tourists. Ricardois happy to keep it that way. ‘We try to setan example for the next generation abouthow you should do things,’ he says. ‘Wewant to show them that this is how youprotect the environment.’GREAT ESCAPEBAJA CALIFORNIA