Gringo Gazette Review

“OCEAN OASIS”
“TWO WORLDS – ONE
PARADISE ”

Thanks to the generosity of Pat and Doreen Butler, of El Dorado Ranch, we’ve had an opportunity to see this movie, along with a total of 1,000 children and their teachers, here in San Felipe, over the past several months.

After viewing the movie with our 104 students, we were fortunate enough to be invited to a 2 day – 14 hour teaching workshop, at the El Dorado Ranch, the first day and then back to the “Boom Boom” the next day. This was an unexpected, well organized, first class workshop, on the edge of the ocean, with gracious staff, gourmet lunches and enticing desert-filled coffee breaks.

A Master Teacher, from Tiajuana and Cambridge , Dolores Monterubio Alvarez, the Academic Director of the Bi-regional Environmental Project, PRO BEA, facilitated the two day event.

Forty-two teachers saw the film again in strips and spurts, to allow us to use it and Dolores’ incredible methodologies as teaching tools. Much to her credit, these classes were held on Friday and Saturday, and we were surprised once again, when 40 of the 42 teachers returned on their day off, to complete this very intense workshop. The knowledge gained and shared was so much more than could be squeezed out of any one movie or group of people in such a short time frame. All of this, including a copy of the movie for each school, was complimentary.

What an opportunity to see and learn far more of “our” Sea of Cortez, in all its splendor, sea life, marine habitats, topped off with daring helicopter views of the sparsely populated nooks and crannies of Baja.

Many of you who have traversed the back country in your buggies may even recognize the rugged mountain trails to El Diablo, waterfalls, herds of wild horses, hieroglyphics on red hewed canyon walls, working cattle ranches, Gonzaga Bay , Chapala and so much more, yet to be discovered.

Known to many as The Gulf of California, we are so very fortunate to live at the foot of this astonishing sea which Jacques Cousteau called “the world’s aquarium” full of an unmatched treasure of marine life.

Waiting for the incredible sunrises to the East, and those very special golden full-moon nights, one cannot imagine the magnitude of the world under the surface and deep into the majestic canyons of the sea right in front of us. This film allows one to see all of this and more.

This movie made by Summerhays Films, Inc. has received rave reviews since 2001, when it opened at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival with the “Best Theatrical Program Award”. Equal accolades from the NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, and the ASSOCIATED PRESS, all agreed on the sea’s tremendous beauty and ecological value to the world.

The making and distribution of this film is a joint project of the Department of Education, Bi-national Museum of Natural History of San Diego , PRO BEA of Mexico, California Environmental Protection Agency , U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wells Fargo Bank.

The purpose of the movie, workshops and especially the distribution to schools is to allow our children to know, care, respect, and have pride in the rich natural resources, of Baja and the Sea of Cortez , and together, to learn, conserve, protect and enjoy them.

We have now seen this very special movie five times; four in Spanish and once in English and we’re still amazed at how much more we see each time. Perhaps the workshop sharpened our senses and they’re in a higher place.

Each morning when I awake to the sunrise and the sea becomes alive with flocks of birds, walking, flying, fishing, squawking, and our resident blue herons start their early morning search to feed their nesting babies, fish jumping high and long lines of pelicans break ranks to dive, dive, dive, along with the competing fishermen in the bay, I can now think about what’s really far below the surface, the multitude and beauty of it all. For me, this movie brought a new realization and respect. I absolutely love it more each day and couldn’t think of living any other way.

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