Day Twenty Two, Friday (Good Friday), April 6, Cataviňa to San Quintin

We woke up and decided that neither of us really felt like a day-long side trip and would rather just head north. Both of us feel quite comfortable with this decision, and it is nice not to feel we have to pack everything into one short trip because we will be doing this for a while, and we treasure our days of just relaxing and reading as much as our days of adventure and discovery, and in fact, both are necessary for appreciation of the other. We will, however, be back to Baja, to explore some areas we liked in much greater depth, and to stay longer so the journey through the peninsula won’t involve so much driving day after day. Of course, we didn’t realize how tiring the driving would be down here, and just how slow we would travel, which makes days of 100 miles about as much as we want to do. That does allow us to get into our campsite early, and enjoy it a bit on travel days, though, so even one night stays at places are a bit more relaxing than the drive all day to get there before dark sort of experiences.

Today we again stopped for lunch in El Rosario at Mama Espinoza’s, a place with a very good vibe, and still got into El Pabellon about 1:30pm. Sadly, Mama's was still out of Lobster, so we didn't get to try the lobster burritos or soup - yet another thing to look forward to for our next trip down here!

We went through another checkpoint today, and this time they wanted to look in our basement storage compartments outside, so I got to get out of the RV to unlock them all. The soldiers all wanted to know about the Jeep, what year it was, how much it cost – they all want one! I asked for a photo and one of the soldiers took a photo of me with another soldier in front of the Jeep. These guys are surprisingly friendly and non-threatening considering many have large automatic weapons casually slung over their shoulders. I think being in the Mexican Army must be a good “job” for many of them, and they seem to like it and take it seriously. The bases and posts are all very well-kept and attractive, and even towns that have a military base seem to be more well-kept than most others. I also think the soldiers have a definite sense that they are part of doing something good for their country, with the “lucha entre las drogas” (war on drugs). We noticed that most of the inspection posts are in places where you can’t see them until you are almost there – over the tops of hills, around corners, etc. We think this is likely on purpose. Some interesting features are the tack strips on ropes – at each end, there is a box with a bunch of large tire-popping devices, attached to a string going to a small booth on the other side of the road – I guess a guy sits in there and if given the order, pulls the rope and the tack strip goes across the road and stops evildoers from getting away. They also have coffee cans full of diesel fuel that they light at night along the road, and all the roads and walkways are lined with whitewashed stones. I also like the hand-painted army guy signs leading up to the inspection posts – each one is different! Most have a flag in one hand, some have a rifle over their shoulder, some hold up a stop sign. We have never had any difficulty at the stops and actually they are kind of fun – an enjoyable diversion and a chance to talk to more locals!

Wow, what a difference in El Pabellon from our first stay here! This is Friday of the biggest holiday weekend in Mexico, and the park is still not full, but has quite a few people – again, lots of families and kids, kites flying, Mexican flags proudly waving over encampments, ATVs with kids in sleds towed behind, kids hanging on to fenders, kids driving barely able to touch the foot pegs and others hanging onto the back for dear life, flying all over the beach, horseback riders in amongst them, their Mexican horses not a bit fazed by all the ruckus. Other families with little kids making sandcastles and forts, digging holes to China, families cooking under huge shade/wind tarps, pickup baseball games happening, kids playing king of the hill and hide and seek in the sand dunes, ice cream truck coming by playing its tune, music playing (but not too loud), and generally a festival atmosphere. It is GOOD to see so many happy Mexican families doing the same things we did growing up – camping in beautiful spots and each enjoying them in our own ways. Devin says this reminds him of Pismo Beach, but with less people. He said there would be way more “sand toys” (ATVs, dune buggies, etc) up there.

Lots of people that looked like they had been settled in for a week were only out for the day, it turns out. Some people on the beach are now packing up tables, tarps, and all sorts of things and loading up their vehicles with improbable numbers of people and heading out. Next to us, a old small pick-up pulled up and over a dozen people piled out!! Little kids ran up the dunes and slid down or rolled down for hours, some went swimming, they got out a bucket of clams after being out at the water and I asked about them, but they had bought them, not dug them. Ha. Getting everyone back in was like putting together a Chinese puzzle and took quite a while, and I got a photo as they drove off, waving happily.

Semana Santa, for us at least, has not turned into the zoo that was predicted by other RVers high-tailing it out of Mexico as we were just coming in. The worst effect of the holiday for us has been increased traffic on the already difficult roads – coming down, the very little traffic really helped make them not as bad, but now, even though traffic is still SO much less than in the states just about anywhere, we have cars meeting and passing us on a fairly regular basis. Still, the passing system down here, though it seemed a bit sketchy when we first learned about it, works so well we will miss it when back in the states!

Dinner at Cielito Lindo again? Or tunafish sandwiches?

Cielito Lindo!! And the Especialidad of "Jaiba a al Cielito Lindo" – cracked crab – the ingredients for the seasonings the waiter told me are:
Butter,
Paprika,
Garlic salt, and
Pimiento.
I think pimiento is probably just chile powder, based on the flavor – it was quite tasty and topped with orange slices. I could definitely taste the paprika, but I thought there might be some secret ingredient like cinnamon or chocolate because it had a somewhat mole-like flavor. Wait, is pimiento black pepper? I guess I’ll have to experiment! During dinner, a random guitarist came in and played “Besame Mucho” for us. Over the extremely loud music that was already playing –ha! There were these three Texans at the bar. No, that’s not the intro to some bad joke – ha. There really were three Texans at the bar – one had a big white duster to match his big cowboy hat. That place is funny – it has an interesting clientele. From “RICARDO” of last time, to RV tourists, to Mexican families on vacation or enjoying a treat… We liked it.

There was a live band playing at another campsite when we returned to El Pabellon – it was in an amphitheater created by 3 or 4 RVs circled like wagons! Worked very nicely to keep the sound away from the campers on the beach – we can hear music, but it’s pleasant and we’ll be able to sleep no problem, old fogeys going to bed early that we are – ha.

Turns out, this was to be our last night in Mexico. Cracked crab and serenades made a nice send off!

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Day Twenty, Wednesday, April 4: Guerrero Negro to Cataviňa

Heading north again, we crossed the border into Baja California from Baja California Sur. We took a side trip from Villa Jesus Maria, which is the south end of the “gas gap” after filling up both the RV and the Jeep. Our friend Tonya had told us to go out to Morro Santo Domingo, and it was a short and very worthy side-trip. The beach was nice, and we explored up on the morro in the Jeep – lots of little secret coves with great tidepools, photo ops with the old lighthouse, and even a natural arch with Pelicans and Sea Lions all around! Quite beautiful. Found a neat shell in the desert, and hammerhead and other types of shark and ray heads in the “basurero” (dump) the road passed through on the way out. So that’s what that fishy smell was!

A lady from a little store where I bought us some drinking water told me about a baile (dance) that would be out on that beach over the weekend and asked us if we didn’t want to stay. She was really cute, one of those small feisty middle aged Mexican women I just love. I asked her if she was going to dance and she said oh yes and demonstrated with a few little moves :) She told us to drive safely in the extra traffic, and I assured her that we would, and we were on our way. It would have been nice, probably, to stay and enjoy the “ambiante” (atmosphere, I think) of the beach dance, invited as we were by a local, but we seem to have itchy feet these days.

Arrived at our old familiar campsite in Rancho Santa Inez, outside of Cataviňa, and immediately set up camp – rolled out the awning, put out the chairs, served cold beer and smoothies (not at the same time – ha) got out the binos and cameras and books and proceeded to relax after the days harrowing drive. Roads both north and south of Guerrero Negro are some of the worst we’ve encountered – even narrower lanes and no shoulders at all, wavy lines, rough pavement, and add to that this time the additional traffic of Semana Santa holiday goers..Nice to get “home” to Rancho Santa Inez, greeted by the “peso lady” and cattle wandering through the camp.

To see more photos of Morro Santo Domingo, click here

Smoothies
1 banana (or 1/2)
1 small container (or 1/2) of yogurt (any flavor)
Fresh or frozen fruit - whatever you've got
Protein powder (if desired)
Fruit juice or rice milk

Blend in the glass with the Bamix Hand Blender until smooth. Paper umbrella optional.
Enjoy!

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Day Eighteen, Monday April 2: San Ignacio Otra Vez

Heading back north from Playa Santispac, it was a beautiful clear day, and we took more photos of the beautiful Gulf of California. We stopped at Santa Rosalía and just sat in the motorhome for a while parked at the malecon as we were, looking out to sea, watching pelicans, and admiring the day.

I noticed a cute little brown dog outside and talked to it, to which it responded enthusiastically. She looked like she either had pups and was nursing or was going to have pups. She was so excited to see us, and was very thin and seemed starving, so much so that even Devin said we should feed her. We don’t have much meat, so I fed her a can of tuna, which she wolfed down hungrily! She was very well-behaved, didn’t try to come in, but was so eager to get the tuna. After she finished, she looked up and asked for more, like a little Oliver Twist… ah the spell of the Baja dog. She almost was the kind of dog I would keep… but she probably had a home - she was very accustomed to people, and probably worked the Malecon regularly for tasty handouts. Poor thing probably needed de-worming and she would have been quite healthy, I’m sure. I fed her a little bit of evaporated milk in the tuna can, which she lapped up eagerly, and looked up as if to say, “is that all?” So I looked for more, but couldn’t come up with anything, and thought she could need fresh water, so I put water in the tuna can. She took a few sips and when she realized it wasn’t food she stopped and looked up at me, like, ”I didn’t order this!” Ha.

So we unhooked the Jeep as planned, and drove into Santa Rosalía, which was quite busy, found a parking place several blocks from the Panaderia Boleo (World Famous French Bakery!) and I walked down and got us more goodies. Fresh from the oven Pan Dulces in three flavors – one is Pitaya, which is the fruit of one of the cacti down here. There is pitaya and pitaya agria (sour pitaya) which is supposed to be quite delicious also. I also got some of their wonderful giant cookies in oatmeal, sesame and plain sugar cookie flavors. When we got back to the motorhome, our little friend was still there – she had been waiting underneath and came out to welcome us home as if she belonged there. So I searched a little more, and so did Devin. He thought she might eat some bread, and we had some old raisin bread that I tried with her – she gently took the torn piece of bread from my hand like a little lady, and tasted it but then set it down on the grass. I tried another which she ate. She didn’t like it so well, but was willing to eat it. I remembered then that we had too many eggs, so I cracked an egg and put it in her tuna can, and put the uneaten bread pieces in it, and she lapped that up. I gave her one more egg, but then we had to go – as soon as we got in the cars and Devin started the motorhome, she trotted back up the street, knowing her temporary benefactors were leaving, no hard feelings.

We stayed unhooked for a while because we knew that shortly after Santa Rosalía, the “Cuesta del Infierno” began – literally, the grade from hell! We did okay coming down it, but figured it wouldn’t hurt not to have the motorhome towing the Jeep UP the hellish grade since we didn’t have to. It was a lovely day, the Sirius Satellite stereo in the Jeep works great, and I cranked Jack Johnson while driving along the oceanfront highway, listened to the Barenaked Ladies sing “Easy” while watching Pelicans glide easily along the coastline – one of those days where everything seems in time with the music. The Cuesta del Infierno was no problem in the Jeep – and the scenery is spectacular – like the Badlands, Painted Desert, and Saguaro all rolled into one. In fact, almost the entire length of Baja’s Mex. 1 could be a road through a great National Park. It is so much like going back in time – the narrow two lane highway that winds up and down and over and around the terrain instead of slicing through it for greater speed – reminds me of long past family trips across the US on old Route 66. I loved that road as a kid!

After we reached the top I found a place that was safe for the RV to pull over and re-hook up to the Jeep so Devin and I could ride into San Ignacio together. I missed Devin while driving the Jeep, but I missed the Satellite Stereo while riding in the RV! Ha!

In San Ignacio, we decided to stay at Rice and Beans, since it was only for a night and we are both starting to feel the “home to the barn” fever a bit –though, ironically, we don’t have a barn…

At Rice and Beans we met Margie, who was having car trouble and doesn’t speak Spanish. She had been down to San Ignacio Lagoon to see the whales and had kissed a baby whale!! What a character. She is traveling alone from San Francisco – well, not alone since she has her two dogs, Joey, a big chocolate lab, and Sadie, an old, deaf Australian Shepherd mix. I acted as translator between a local mechanic and her – which was difficult because although I do speak simple Spanish, I don’t speak mechanic! But between us, we figured out the problem – she needed a new battery, and she had an unusual style of battery and there were none to be had in San Ignacio. The mecanico could sell her a local battery for 500 pesos, but he would have to cut her cables and wire them to clamps to make them work with the different battery, or someone could go get a battery of her style in a neighboring (relatively – about an hour drive away) community for 1500 pesos! She opted to go with choice A – it was about 1000 pesos better – ha. I hope she makes it home with her jury rigged electrical system – it’s sort of funny, though, and it will probably work just fine, because Mexicans are quite adept at making things work when they break! Maintenance, not so much, but once it breaks, they can fix it!

Dinner at Rice and Beans was good – I asked which seafood was most fresh and our waiter said shrimp, so I ordered shrimp “al mojo de ajo” (which is literally “wet with garlic” but means sautéed in garlic butter) and Devin ordered shrimp burritos. Tonight we’ll take showers and then refill our fresh water tanks and dump our wastewater.

Now to decide what to do tomorrow… drive to Guererro Negro, or stay and try to go out to San Ignacio Lagoon? It’s a LONG and very bumpy ride out to the lagoon – we went part way on that road when we came through here before, and it is very badly washboarded. It’s about 40 miles each way, too. But we found out from Margie that there are little cabanas and tents for rent there, and food available, so we might consider it as a multi-day trip, rather than all in one very tiring day. Resting up tonight will help us decide. It’s very hot here now, and we had such a fantastic experience with the whales at Ojo de Liebre that we didn’t feel the need for further whale adventures – almost like that one was so perfect, anything else would only disappoint, but that probably isn’t true. It’s wonderful being out on the water at any rate.

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Go back to Day One of Baja Trip

Day Seventeen, Palm Sunday, April 1st: Mulegé/Santispac

The sea is like glass this morning – we wish we had rented a kayak last night! Ana’s, the restaurant/store on the beach, is in “summer hours” right now, open from 2pm to 10pm, so if you want to kayak in the morning before the wind, you need to rent one the night before. The spell of this place is that once you are here, you don’t want to leave, even for a little while. Vendors come by to sell you what you need, so there is no need to go into town. Obero came by this morning already with his musical horn – I told him we came back because we missed his morning music – ha. We bought some fresh hot tamales for breakfast – yum! We plan to go into Mulegé this morning to explore the town a bit, but it’s so hard to leave here!! We will camp here one more night, then continue north.

Mulegé is the first place we’ve been where we did not feel welcome. We drove out to the lighthouse, and got friendly waves from a bar near the beach, but that was it. Mostly we got no response to smiles and waves, and even got distinctly cold and dirty looks from some. Never mind the hurricane – what too many tourists can do to a town is not always pretty. The Mulegé Mission was pretty, but after the warm, open, welcoming feel of San Javier, with people inside saying prayers even welcoming tourists into their sanctuary, I think we are spoiled.

Back to Santispac where more happy familias are setting up camps – reminds me of when I was a kid and we camped in Yosemite Valley – kid heaven! Lots of other kids, water to play in, rocks to climb, adventures to be had. Kids are everywhere just having a blast! Kids having a blast being kids sounds great in any language.

God knows why, but my friend Jenny Dodge told me I should add recipes to our blog... but I did make a great bean dip today, so here's the recipe! You may notice similarities in the ingredients to the fish marinade... hey, when you've got ingredients that work, stick with them! Ha.

Bamix Bean Dip
1 can Trader Joe's Organic Pinto Beans (or whatever kind you have on hand!)
Grated cheese - I used some soft white cheese from Mexico, enough to get the dip to the right consistency
Cilantro
Onion
Lime Juice to taste and consistency
Serrano chile to taste
Spices: Cumin, Paprika, Chili Powder, Oregano, Pepper, Salt to taste

Mix it all together and blend with the Bamix * Hand Blender (hence the name, Bamix Bean Dip - ha)
Eat with totopos (chips)!

*The Bamix is a powerful Swiss hand blender that I first saw at a county fair years ago and wanted one ever since! Now I finally have one, and use it to make smoothies on a regular basis, and this bean dip was a new, and successful, experiment!

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Go back to Day One of Baja Trip

Day Sixteen, Saturday, March 31: Loreto back to Santispac

Today we braved the Semana Santa traffic and returned to “our” beach at Playa Santispac – there was only a little bit more traffic on a Saturday than there was going down on a Wednesday, and the beaches along Bahia Concepcion were not crowded…yet. The weather was clear and beautiful, and we got some nice views of the beaches all along the highway - El Requeson, in particular, looked spectacular, and El Coyote - the smaller camping beach to the south, not the Trailer park, looked nice also. But Santispac still seemed to have the easiest access road for our motorhome, and we enjoyed our stay on the way down so much, it was an easy decision to go back. We even parked in our same "campsite" next to a couple of palapas at the north end of the main beach, with no one else around... again, yet!

To our delight, we could see the sailboats of our new friends Tony and Marquita and Caleb – they had been harboring from the wind here while we were doing the same in Loreto, in a sense. After we set up camp, Tony and Marquita took their little dinghy and motored in to say hi and give us their card with contact information. We had both felt bad that after that nice dinner out on their boat we had not remembered to exchange numbers or emails! We stayed out until sunset then it was time to hurry in before dark. We gave them a “tour” of the motorhome (after they got some ice cream from an ice cream truck, complete with music, which magically appeared on the beach after they arrived!) and they encouraged us to be sure to look them up if we were in the Albuquerque area, where they live in summer – they also have land in southeast Colorado that sounds neat. They are really nice people who seem genuine and fun and very bright – we hope we do see them again! The neat thing about traveling in an RV is that we are more likely to look up people we meet, and extend our network of friends (and “campsites”!) wider and wider! We look forward to this lifestyle, even while we are enjoying it already.

Tony and Marquita introduced us to the saying (printed on their card) that, “A day spent on a sailboat is not deducted from your lifespan” – so, they informed us, our day on their sailboat was a free day in our lives. :) I feel that way when we are traveling in the RV heading out on the road together, toward known and unknown adventures and experiences. In fact, this whole adventure is a bit like sailing - as we pulled up our anchor, we began to slowly drift away from familiar shores. As our old life receded from view, our gaze shifted from backward to forward - out to sea, with the wind in our hair... metaphorically speaking, of course.

When we arrived back at Santispac, we suddenly felt like we were on vacation again. It’s odd – the San Javier day was a wonderful (and a bit exciting at the end) adventure, but yesterday we just hung about the motorhome in the RV park and did some errands in Loreto and updated the blog a bit – not on vacation. Here in Santispac, I’m writing longer and more detailed updates for the blog, Devin is enjoying reading The Log from the Sea of Cortez again, which he says has more meaning read here, looking out at the sea, while we are watching pelicans and osprey and Frigatebirds swoop and dive for fish, herons and egrets wading, gulls begging for scraps, picturesque sailboats moored out in “our” bay between us and “our” island… on the way back we saw the island from farther south and recognized it, and thought how lovely it was to have our own island – ha. Even the sound of the truck Jake brakes echoing in the cove as they descend the hills on the highway above make us feel nostalgic and “home.”

As if to give lie to the thought of this beach being “ours” a very large Mexican family moved in between us and the next campers, started unloading several trucks of gear, stacks of inflated mattresses, set up huge tents in a circle, started cooking and playing – cute young girls with a kite, called a papalote in Spanish, and boys on an ATV – one of the English speaking daughters came over and asked if it was okay if they camped around our RV, and we said yes – this IS Semana Santa, after all – the biggest Mexican holiday, where everyone wants to go camp on the beach with their families – and we are lucky to have a very nice family next to us, I think. No loud music, polite kids, friendly people. They came all the way from Tijuana! I talked to some other folks who came from Ensenada, and I thought that was far! Our new neighbors told me this is their third time here. I think it’s neat we will get a taste of this big family holiday! We already had some quiet time on this beach, now it’s time to have a little fiesta.

Yes, at 9pm all is quiet next door – they had a long drive today! I’m sure they will wake up early tomorrow, so we had better get to bed early ourselves. Here at Santispac, one sleeps to the sound of gentle waves lapping the shore and Jake Brakes blaring from the trucks descending the hills above both sides of the beach! Some are so loud – they seem to echo off the walls of the cove. Luckily there aren’t too many trucks, and especially at night. We were thinking earlier about how rare a place like this is – an idyllic beach you can drive to and camp on – with fishing, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, birding, etc – and it’s not owned by a big hotel that charges you an arm and a leg just to be here. Or maybe it is, but they haven’t built it yet – we saw a poster of Santispac at the realtor in Loreto with “SOLD” written on it. So the rumors are true… and maybe in a few years there will be a hotel here. In Mexico, all of the beaches up to 50 meters above high tide are public and cannot be owned, but of course, access roads can be owned, and the land above the beach. If they build a hotel, I hope they at least allow beach access for the public, and allow RVs to camp on the beach, and families… it would be una lastima – a shame – if it were closed off to the public.

Devin commented that one of the ways you can still find these types of places is with a boat – little coves that there are no roads, or whose access is private. Maybe someday we’ll get a little sailboat, like Tony and Marquita… even though Devin, as a former boat owner, has acquainted me with the proverb that "the happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day he buys his boat… and the day he sells it." I think I might like living on a sailboat – at least a nice 34 foot Catalina like the Georges (Tony and Marquita) have! We’ll have to keep playing that lottery!! Ha.

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Go back to Day One of Baja Trip

Day Thirteen: Wednesday, March 28: Santispac to Loreto

Wind and haze today –air quality affects everything, and we didn’t enjoy the scenery as much today because of it. Baja folks call it fog, but it feels more like a light marine layer with dust – almost SoCal like. We could tell it would be pretty if clear, but didn’t take too many photos and decided to go to an RV park in Loreto with internet access, the Rivera del Mar, for a whopping $14 a night. There were laundry facilities there, and it was clean and nice, and had a café, too. We did 4 loads of laundry and took showers and felt much better!

There were Hooded Orioles and lots of other nice birds at the RV camp, the wind in the palm fronds was very relaxing, and there was a nice sidewalk cafe in the old part of town - Café Olé. We sampled "City Life" in Loreto while resting up from relaxing on the beach. :) Check out the video of the "megaphone car" adding atmosphere to our sidewalk café experience!

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Day Twelve: Tuesday, March 27: Santispac – Dolphins, rainwater, kayaking around a real desert island, and dinner on a sailboat

We woke up to see dolphins out in the bay!! And some earlier rising kayakers already out among them. We took photos (too far away to show up well) and watched. Obero came during the dolphins, and since we needed water, I made arrangements for him to return in “about an hour” with barrels of water and a pump to fill our 75 gallon tank which was very low. The dolphins left while we were talking, so no kayaking with dolphins today.

We made coffee and breakfast and said goodbye to Bernardo and Alethea, and about 3 hours later, Obero finally showed up! I think "Baja Time" is a lot like "Indian Time" and "Maggie Time," everything is "mas o menos"! It took a while to fill our tanks with what Obero said was rainwater (!) and our new friends left while we were filling up. But first they got some water from Obero for their neat pressurized solar shower – it was like a black balloon of heavy rubber material, so when it was full, it was round, and gave a nice hot high pressure shower for camping - I've never seen one like it.

After our tank was finally full, we got in the kayak and began to paddle out to the island – the kayak was an Islander sit-on-top tandem, and quite short, even for a regular kayak, so it had horrible tracking across flat water – we zig-zagged across the bay trying to figure out who should do what and when to keep it going in a straight line. It was quite maneuverable when we got to the island, though, and we wove in and out of rocky outcrops and mini-islets all around the shore. We didn't take our camera because we were afraid of dunking it - but wow do I wish we had!

Looking down in the clear water, we could easily see large sting rays gliding along the bottom, and schools of bright yellow and black striped “Sergeant Major” fish that I called “bumblebee fish” along with various others – some dark black or green fish with yellow eyes, a large parrotfish with blue fins and lips, a couple of what looked like dolphinfish, some Jacks, a big Angelfish type thing – and interesting seaweed and rocks they would all dart into and out of.

The most exciting part of the island, however, was the bird life. Brown Pelicans were nesting on ledges and at the top of the island among the giant Cardon cactus – we saw baby pelicans in their nests! They are all white and fluffy, with little pouches under their bills that flutter in and out. Parent Pelicans came back and fed them while we watched! Great armies of Pelicans stood out on the rock shelf at the waterline around the island, and on the little islets, and we guided the kayak quietly between them, passing right next to these huge and strange sentries! It was like being on the Discovery Channel, with 3D surround 360 vision, sound and smell-o-vision! Ha. The smell of guano as we would drift in close was almost overpowering, but worth the views! Overhead Pelicans, Frigatebirds and Turkey Vultures made interesting dance partners as they soared an aerial ballet, joined by an Osprey that landed on a Giant Cardon cactus atop the rim of the island and watched us as we circumnavigated their fortress. We saw American Oystercatchers on the far side, and as we paddled close there, the rocks came alive with hundreds of large, prehistoric looking insects or crustaceans – they looked like giant pill bugs! Like something you’d see in a horror movie!

As we finished circling the island, we encountered two young boys in a kayak who landed and began to fish with a spearfishing device – they were from San Bernardino, and said that they were out of food and their parents didn’t want to do anything, so they had to catch dinner! What an adventure for the mighty hunters that must have been. We zig-zagged our way back as the wind started to pick up, and set to another round of serious relaxing. Sorry, no photos of our island cruise – we were afraid to bring the camera in case of dunking!

That afternoon, Marquita and another sailor, Caleb, came by after a trip to town, and Marquita told us Tony would come and pick us up in the dinghy at 4pm and she was making lasagna for dinner! Right on schedule, Tony picked us up and we motored back out to their sailboat, the “Seaclusion” and they showed us around. She is a beautiful 34 foot Catalina – sailboats are just so much nicer than RVs – solid teak trim and fittings, very neat living area, and of course, the deck! They had an old cranky Siamese cat that lived onboard with them, who I convinced to let me scratch his head for a bit. I took some photos then joined the group on deck and we were entertained by all sorts of sailing stories from them and their friend Caleb from a neighboring boat. Dinner was delicious, we brought Trader Joe’s wine, stories flowed – we stayed out till sunset then Tony brought us home.

That night, as predicted by the ham radio weather forecast we listened to out on the boat, the wind picked up in the middle of the night. We were glad we had put in our “sail” (our awning) and “battened our hatches” in preparation for leaving the next day so we didn’t have to worry about wind blowing anything away. I had dreams that the RV was a sailboat, as it was rocked gently by the wind… I woke up smiling.
It was definitely another “Life is Good” day!

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Go back to Day One of Baja Trip