We navigated south from Puerto San Carlos to Bahia Almejas, 25 km south of Bahia Magdalena. We started the morning with a foggy scene of Santa Margarita Island and Creciente Island just south of it. Santa Margarita Island falls under the Mexican navy’s jurisdiction and is not a tourist site. The terrain of Isla Margarita and Isla Magdalena are quite different the rest of Baja California’s geology. Both were formed when the ocean floor collided with the peninsula as it drifts over the Pacific Plate, resulting in rich deposits of phosphoric magnesite deposits.

 

About a third of Mexico’s fisheries are in Bahia Magdalena, making the lagoon complex one of the most important areas of the country. Industrial and small-scale fishing occurs here. About 50,000 tons of sardines are caught every year and approximately 20,000 tons of tuna and other fish are captured. Small-scale operations tend to focus on shrimp, crabs, mullets, halibut, corvine, and other seafood.