Carrie Robertson Personal Website

CARRIE ROBERTSON
Personal Website

Carrie poses with her dog Salsa and her '91 Trooper on a recent family vacation to Colorado

About Me

Carrie pausing for a siesta along the Gulf of Mexico during her first trip into the Mexican interior in 1989.

I'm a 41-year-old SWF, photographer, traveler, diver, windsurfer, ocean lover. I grew up in a land-locked, small Texas town for the first 17 years of my life but spread my wings after high school graduation and left for a year abroad as an exchange student in Switzerland. That year I discovered the traveler within me when I backpacked around Europe, riding the rails to visit several countries. I returned to Europe in '83 to ride my bike around southern Ireland with a college friend but unfortunately haven't been back since.

Carrie riding a mountain biking during a six-week tour of southern Mexico and Guatemala in 1990 she did with three friends. After graduating from UT-Austin in '84, I began my photojournalism career working for newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. While climbing the corporate ladder, I also learned to windsurf, snowboard, mountain bike, and whitewater kayak. From my year in Switzerland, I had learned to love whitecapped mountains and babbling streams. In addition to the mountains, the deserted beaches of the Pacific coast were a favorite weekend destination. I enjoyed my work and loved the progressive thinking and alternative culture of the West Coast, but I left it for warmer climates and a new lifestyle.

Cancun, Mexico, was my first stop, in 1992, in what has turned out to be a long career in eco-tourism. I started off as a windsurf instructor at a hotel, then eventually became a dive master, underwater videographer and marine naturalist. I still teach windsurfing on the side and am a volunteer diver at the Texas State Aquarium, where I worked in the education department teaching kids about the marine environment. Now I'm the communications coordinator for the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, a marine conservation nonprofit based in Corpus Christi. I redesigned their website during my first month and now maintain it, as well as assist the director with funding projects and running the office.

Carrie posing with her '71 VW van and homemade trailer that she drove from Texas to Baja California, Mexico, in 2001. After two years in Cancun, I moved westward to Baja California, Mexico, where I lived two years. While living in Mexico, I took a special interest in learning Spanish, a language I often speak here in Corpus. Leaving Mexico in 1995, I moved to Maui, Hawaii, where I stayed five years and made some very special friends. I enjoyed the weather, the amazingly beautiful green mountains, the waves, the underwater world, and the gentle culture of the Aloha State. I love that island and will miss it always.

In 2001, I left Maui to return to Baja California where I lived for a year, exploring more of the peninsula in my '71 VW van. While there, I worked in eco-tourism doing windsurfing, whale watching, scuba diving, mule packing, and sea kayaking. After September 11, 2001, a new commitment to family brought me back to Texas. I settled in Corpus Christi because of its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico (the fourth ocean I've lived on) and because of its relatively close proximity to family in Austin and Amarillo.