Weekend Window: Loreto, Mexico

April 12, 2009— -- About halfway down Mexico's Baja California coast, nestled on one side by the Sierra Gigante Mountains and the sparkling Sea of Cortez on the other, is a spot that Jacques Cousteau once called his favorite place on earth. And yet Loreto, Mexico, is still relatively undiscovered.

"This is really the un-Cabo, as we like to call it," says Scott Serven, an American expat who bought a vacant motel a few years ago on Loreto's picturesque seaside promenade, renovating it and reopening it as La Mision Hotel, the town's only five-star resort. "It's still kind of an Old World place. Very simple way of life."

"There aren't any wet T-shirt contests here in Loreto," he adds, laughing.

The town has a rich history, both before and after its brush with Western civilization. The surrounding mountains have some of the most extensive cave paintings in the region, dating back about 12,000 years. Loreto also has the Mission of Our Lady of Loreto, an iconic structure more than 300 years old and one of the best-preserved buildings from the days of the Jesuit missionaries.

But beautiful as the Mission is, Cousteau was drawn to Loreto for its wildlife. Its Marine Park has the highest concentration of whale species on the planet, from resident and migratory gray whales to humpbacks to blue whales. In 2002, UNESCO established it as World Heritage Site.

Within minutes from leaving the marina, visitors immediately see what Cousteau meant. The explorer once called the Galapagos Islands the "closest thing I've seen to the peaceable kingdom on earth." The waters and islands off Loreto are perhaps the closest thing in this hemisphere to the Galapagos, the area teaming with charismatic fauna, remarkably tame and approachable, if they don't approach you first.

"Right now in beautiful Baja California, the area of Loreto, you have an amazing amount of wildlife," explains naturalist and lifelong resident Cecilia Fischer at C&C Ground Services and Tours, describing the diversity of birds, as well as lobos marinos, or sea lions.