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Isla
di Espiritu Santo, Baja California, Mexico
On a desert
island on the Sea of Cortez, far from the rest of the world, I set
up a tented camp with a group of friends. . The camp was situated
on a long stretch of beach flanked by a large rocky mountain. We
lived for days on what we fished, sharing our meals together under
a big green tent. We felt very close in our little tented village,
and depended upon each other. The island was ours, the tides were
our watch, and we did not need much else. I came to this island
for the first time a few years ago to fish. I was brought here by
a Mexican fisherman who was taking me by boat to the best fishing
spots in Baja, teaching me how to recognize the best species of
fish to eat. I returned to Los Angeles where I lived with a cooler
full of fish. At my dinner parties, over a delicious meal of grilled
snapper and yellowtail, it wasn't difficult to convince a few friends
to go on a new expedition. Organizing expeditions in far away places
has always been a family tradition. My uncle, Paolo Tamagnini, was
a famous white hunter who organized sea and jungle safaris in Africa
all his life. I worked for eleven years with Folco Quilici (a well
known italian documentarist) following him across the various seas
and oceans of the world. In 1990 I went to Baja California with
him for the first time to film whales and
it was love at first sight. During my childwood in Africa I had
experienced the beauty of waking up to the sun rising on the Indian
Ocean, of breathing the humid and warm air of the monsoons, of waiting
for low tides to go fishing. I couldn't believe that I had now found
all of that on a tiny island in Baja. Just like in Africa, I found
that I could set up camp on any of the uninhabited bays, throw a
line and catch tasty groupers. I also discovered that I could kayak
in deep and tranquil waters for hours, as well as swim amongst the
playful seals. I was impressed by the rugged beauty of the peninsula
that splits two bodies of water so diverse from one another. The
contrast of the dry desert added to the richness of the surf, the
fish, seals, and whales, not to mention
the fun-loving Mexicans who live there . it all seemed too good
to believe. Over the last ten years I have lived and worked in Los
Angeles and I have spent all of my free time fishing in the Sea
of Cortez and surfing at Todos Santos, a little village on the Pacific
Ocean side. I have now decided to share my enthusiasm for this paradise
with others. I have established a small tented camp where visitors
can experience a wonderful vacation without giving up the simple
pleasures of modern life.
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My brother Luca Tamagnini has published a three hundred-page
photographic book full of exciting off-season coastal views: the
coasts and the sea of Sardinia as you’ve never seen them before.
Click to look inside
www.photoatlante.it/ sito_pa/sardinia.html |
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