Impacts of Hurricane Odile
Baja California, Sea of Cortez, Mexico
With only a few days notice, we depart Tucson on Sunday morning, September 28, 2014, on another doors off photographic mission with LightHawk.
Our pilot, Chuck Schroll, is a Baja veteran and knows how to handle the single-engine Cessna 206. The sense of urgency comes from the timing being only two-weeks after the strongest hurricane in history.
Hurricane Odile was a category 3 storm packing winds nearly 120 miles per hour walloping Cabo San Lucas and much of Baja California Sur.
In a span of three days, we flew 1700 nautical miles, captured 8000 geo-tagged frames, and shot several hours of video. These images will be added to the Baja Aerial Archive managed by the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), and will be available for scientists and conservation groups working to protect Baja’s wild coast and Sea of Cortez.
This expedition was funded by the International Community Foundation, Packard Foundation, Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, WildCoast, Resources Legacy Fund, and LightHawk.
© Ralph Lee Hopkins
© Ralph Lee Hopkins