Cabo Pulmo Reef

Cabo Pulmo is the only living coral reef in the Gulf of California and one of the most celebrated marine conservation success stories on earth. After the local fishing community voluntarily stopped fishing in 1995 and secured national park status, fish biomass recovered by 460 percent in 10 years — the fastest documented recovery of any marine reserve globally. Bull sharks patrol the outer reef year-round and enormous schools of bigeye jacks fill the water column in a living tornado. The reef itself is dominated by Porites corals and massive brain corals in 4 to 20 m of water.