Sea of Cortez, 2011

In September 2011, Adm. Linda (my girlfriend and dive buddy) and I spent a week in the Sea of Cortez aboard the Rocio del Mar live-aboard dive boat. We dive cold water in Monterey, California almost every weekend (about 130 dives a year), but haven't done any tropical diving for several years because the contracting airline baggage regulations made it difficult to impossible to take all our camera gear. But you can drive to the Rocio del Mar. In the spring, summer, and fall, it picks up passengers in Puerto Penasco (incorrectly called Rocky Point by gringos from Arizona) which is about an hour and a half drive into Mexico. We drove from Morgan Hill, California, a couple of days ahead of time, visited with my mom in Tucson, then drove to Why, AZ (Google it, the origins of the name are interesting) to meet a shuttle van. It was cheaper to store Linda's Passat in Why ($15) and catch the shuttle ($100 each) than to drive all the way to the boat (more storage cost, 182 miles of driving, and Mexican insurance). It was a great trip and we'll do it again.