Ojo de Liebre Lagoon

It lies approximately halfway between the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula and the U.S.-Mexico border, opening onto the Pacific Ocean.

The lagoon is surrounded by coastal dunes ranging from 12–15 metres (39–49 ft) in height, which support an unstable community of vegetation, and sandy beaches, some of them with shoals.

[3][7] Geological studies indicated that Laguna Ojo de Liebre began as a pocket beach on the coastal plain of Baja California at a time when the ocean was some 12 meters lower than today's level.

Tidal changes resulted in the formation of inlets and sediment from nearby river gradually built a barrier to form the lagoon.

The salt plant creates an effluent called bittern (a liquor remaining after salt-boiling) that is discharged into the lagoon.

[8] In December 1857, Charles Melville Scammon, in the brig Boston, accompanied by the schooner-tender Marin, under Lefft, first entered Laguna Ojo de Liebre to hunt the gray whales breeding there.

[9] Scammon returned to the lagoon the next winter (1858–59), this time with the bark Ocean Bird and the schooner-tenders A.M. Simpson and Kate, under Easton and Hale.