Alberto has spent his entire life in Mexico.  He grew up on the island of Carmen in the Sea of Cortez where his father worked in a salt mine.  The village that supported the mine had a store, a school, a church and close to 300 inhabitants. It had a large beach and was one hour and 15 minutes away from Loreto by small boat. In this environment Alberto formed a close and lasting relationship to the sea. In 1982 the mine closed and Alberto spent the rest of his childhood in his hometown of Loreto.

 

Alberto specializes in flyfishing for oceanic delicacies such as dorado, yellowtail, wahoo, billfish, and marlin. He spends the greatest part of each year taking tourists sport fishing on the panga he owns. Each February and March since 2011 he has worked as the boat captain for the research the GWC has been conducting in Baja for the past 26 years. Alberto is now very experienced at handling a boat around whales, very used to the odd hours a research team spends at sea, and has become quite literally a part of our team in Mexico.

 

Alberto is also a talented chef, has an interest in gardening and makes perhaps the best chile rellenos in the world.

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In 2011 on his second day of working with the GWC research team he was a critical part of the disentanglement and rescue of the humpback whale "Valentina",  which gained global notoriety in the short film Saving Valentina.