Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point) - Mexico

I spent the day at Playa Hermosa and Playa Bonita. I arrived in the morning at low tide, and high tide came in the afternoon. High tide is the best for swimming. This area is part of the Altar Desert, one of the driest, and hottest areas of the larger Sonoran Desert. Geologists estimate the gulf formed 12 to 35 million years ago due to a clash of tectonic plates that caused the Baja California peninsula to drift westward from Mexico's mainland. The area now containing the gulf subsided, allowing ocean water to flow in from the south.

Rocky Point has some of the most extreme tides in the world. The Sea of Cortez is a long narrow body of water. As the gravitational pull of the moon and sun pushes massive volumes of water north, the narrowing gulf acts as a funnel, forcing the water upward and causing extreme water fluctuations. The highest and lowest tides occur every month during the new moon and full moon phases, when the gravitational forces of the sun and moon align. There are typically two high tides and two low tides each day.

The maximum depth of the gulf is roughly 10,000 feet. Located in the southern portion, particularly in the Guaymas trench, the deepest parts are caused by complex plate tectonics. The northern portion is much shallower, typically less than 200-600 feet deep. It's profound depths are characterized by hydrothermal vents, specifically in the Guaymas basin.