The Sea of Cortez has a dreamlike haze to it, a bending of light that occurs when rust-colored sandstone meets turquoise coves, layering dry desert heat atop cool ocean breeze. The local fishermen call it espejismo, from the Spanish word for “mirror”—the water reflects the sun, its own type of fluid distortion. Look too long, and it’s easy to become lost in the sea’s hypnotic glimmer.

The Sea of Cortez, where rust-colored sandstone meet turquoise coves

Hannah Towey

The Valle de Cirios Biosphere in Baja California, a stop on National Geographic-Lindblad sailings

National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions

Travelers to the Baja Peninsula (John Steinbeck among them ) have reported all sorts of miracles and mirages along its cactus-strewn coast. Highways suddenly turn to water, upside-down mountains float above the sea, and islands appear where there are none.…