Cabo Rojo is a long sand bar cape extending 70 miles south of Tampico, in Veracruz State, Mexico. It encloses La Lagoona de Tamiahua, a large brackish lake with numerous islands.  It is called Cabo Rojo, or Red Cape because the sands on the beaches have a reddish color when wet. I believe that Cabo Rojo received its present form due to wind and water currents. 

  The Lagoona has a north south canal cut on the north end to connect it to the Rio Panuco as an inland waterway. On the south there is an outlet at the town of Tamiahua.  A new channel was dug at the Barra de Tampachichi.  The area is sparsely populated with small fishing villages and camps along the lake shore.

   Isla de Lobos, Arrecife Medio and Arrecife Blanquilla are small coral reefs located near the tip of Cabo Rojo in the western Gulf of Mexico. They lie offshore from Laguna de Tamiahua and about sixty miles from Tampico. Territorially it is part of the State of Veracruz. It is of more than ordinary interest because it is apparently the northernmost surface reef in the western Gulf. There are rocky substrates further north which do not have reefs. Thus Cabo Rojo forms the dividing line between two faunal provinces; tropical to the south, and subtropical or warm temperature to the north. Although currents are poorly known in this part of the Gulf, it is apparent that a branch of warm, clear oceanic water permits the growth of reef corals in this area.

Laguna de Tamiahua is included on The Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance