Cabo Pulmo stock footage: a location guide

Cabo Pulmo is a protected marine park on the East Cape of Baja California Sur, where a living coral reef sits a short swim off a desert shoreline. It has been protected as a national marine park since the mid-1990s, and the protection shows: some of the densest reef life on the Baja peninsula, minutes from cactus and dirt road. The library holds footage from above and below its water, filmed by Phil Maher between 2021 and 2023, all of it licensable today.

Coral reef and red fish under clear turquoise water at Cabo Pulmo
Reef and fish in the Cabo Pulmo shallows — one frame from the Cabo Pulmo collection.

What the footage covers

Underwater: reef fish and schooling jacks over coral heads, snorkelers and divers working the clear shallows, and the reef structure itself in natural light. From the drone: turquoise water over reef and sand, the surf line where the desert hills run down to the beach, and the coast in both directions. The two angles cut together naturally — the same water, seen from above and from inside.

Why it reads instantly on camera

Most reef footage comes from tropical green coastlines. Cabo Pulmo's reef sits against an arid brown landscape, so a single aerial frame tells you where you are: desert on one side of the surf line, coral on the other. That contrast is the reason this footage doesn't substitute for generic reef stock, and vice versa.

Using the footage

The marine life and landscape clips need no releases. Where snorkelers or divers are recognizable, the clip page carries a release notice — editorial use is cleared as shot, and commercial use of a recognizable person needs your own release. Licensing is the same as the rest of the library: $79 royalty-free standard, $199 extended for broadcast, instant 4K download with a license certificate PDF, and a free watermarked preview to test in your edit first.

Where to look in the catalog