Into The Sea of Cortez: Then, Now, and the In Between. Part 2
As discussed in part one of this intro, some of the pre-trip planning I am undertaking for another possible expedition down Baja includes going back through my field journals from earlier trips, particularly from the summer of 1992, my first foray into the Baja Peninsula. Of all my travels in Mexico, this was by far the most inspirational and educational trip to date. True, this was in part due to the fact that I was a wide-eyed and idealistic college student relatively new to marine biology, but it was also due in large part to the caliber of people on the trip.
At the time of my first trek into Baja, I was a marginally dissatisfied fine-arts major at the University of Arizona that had found my childhood interests in science rekindled after taking up scuba diving. As an aspiring wildlife and underwater photographer, I was repeatedly told both by my compatriots and professors in the fine arts department “You have talent – why do you want to waste it taking pictures of fish”? Any type of outdoor or nature photography was generally met with scorn by others in my department.
Just imagine my joy at finding out that while my scientific leanings weren’t terribly popular in the photography department, my photography was extremely well respected and valued in the science department! Not only that, but there was an upcoming marine biology field course that was headed down Baja for 5 weeks, led by some of the most well known biologists working in the Sea of Cortez. Among them was Dr. Donald A Thomson, one of the three authors of Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez, the bible for ichthyologists working in the Gulf of California. He had led this field each summer for 23 years by the 1992 trip. Another individual leading the trip was Alex Kerstitch, an internationally known underwater photographer and another author of Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez. Both of these individuals would become close personal friends and mentors and have been tremendous sources of inspiration for which I will forever be in their debt. Needless to say, it was due in no small part to these two individuals that a semester before graduating with my fine arts degree, I ended up changing my Major to a double in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology. My gen-ed advisor actually giggled as he crossed off all of my once-valuable requirements and moved them to the elective pile. Yep, 7 years to get the two Bachelor’s degrees… But I did at least get to claim a minor in photography.
At the time of my first trek into Baja, I was a marginally dissatisfied fine-arts major at the University of Arizona that had found my childhood interests in science rekindled after taking up scuba diving. As an aspiring wildlife and underwater photographer, I was repeatedly told both by my compatriots and professors in the fine arts department “You have talent – why do you want to waste it taking pictures of fish”? Any type of outdoor or nature photography was generally met with scorn by others in my department.
Just imagine my joy at finding out that while my scientific leanings weren’t terribly popular in the photography department, my photography was extremely well respected and valued in the science department! Not only that, but there was an upcoming marine biology field course that was headed down Baja for 5 weeks, led by some of the most well known biologists working in the Sea of Cortez. Among them was Dr. Donald A Thomson, one of the three authors of Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez, the bible for ichthyologists working in the Gulf of California. He had led this field each summer for 23 years by the 1992 trip. Another individual leading the trip was Alex Kerstitch, an internationally known underwater photographer and another author of Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez. Both of these individuals would become close personal friends and mentors and have been tremendous sources of inspiration for which I will forever be in their debt. Needless to say, it was due in no small part to these two individuals that a semester before graduating with my fine arts degree, I ended up changing my Major to a double in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology. My gen-ed advisor actually giggled as he crossed off all of my once-valuable requirements and moved them to the elective pile. Yep, 7 years to get the two Bachelor’s degrees… But I did at least get to claim a minor in photography.
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