When my family and I first began to plan our stay at Esperanza, we fantasized over spending as much time as possible in and on the water. Learning how to paddleboard was on my son’s bucket list, my daughter wanted to horseback ride along the beach, and we all relished the idea of a lazy sail along the Sea of Cortez, taking in dips to swim and snorkel whenever the mood struck. We ended up having an amazing time doing all those things, and we also discovered a fantastic—and wholly unexpected—new way to enjoy the water: movie night in the pool.

Some of my friends say their best dreams are of when they fly in the sky, bouncing among the clouds. My favorite dreams are of walking on the water, staying just above the surface but never slipping through. Well, guess what? My dreams came true on my family’s recent vacation in Los Cabos. We did a lot of super fun things, like riding camels along the beach and taking a kids’ cooking class. But the absolute coolest part of the stay was when I got to walk on water. 

There are seven sea turtle species in the world, and Baja California Sur is home to a remarkable five of them—the hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, black turtle and olive ridley—all of which are endangered. These amazing sea creatures can hold their breath for up to seven hours at a time, slow their heartbeat to once every nine minutes, and most can dive to depths of up to 960 ft. (or nearly 100 stories underwater). But there’s another trait that’s even more astonishing, and the reason we give each of our guests a wooden sea turtle when they leave.