On Thursday, February 27th, my friend Mike was nice enough to pick me up at home and take me to the airport bus. I had an interesting conversation with the bus driver, mostly about the Boulder flood.
The first leg of my flight took me to LAX, where I would stay overnight. I had an interesting conversation with my seatmate, a black lady who was in Management of Information Systems. She got in that field 20 years ago, and you can imagine what a minority she would have been in that technical field. She was working for Time-Warner cable, so we were both in the telecom field.
On the shuttle bus to the hotel, I found out that the driver was from Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. We ended up talking about the pilgrimage to San Juan de Los Lagos, which his father often made on foot from Leon, about three days. He was impressed that I had walked 300 km in Spain.
All in all, very interesting conversations on my trip out here. You do meet more people traveling alone.
On Friday Feb. 28th, I got up early to catch the shuttle to the airport, and the flight to Loreto. I left LA in a rainstorm. The flight was a little late, a little bumpy, but we arrived without incident.
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| The breakwater in Loreto, with a seal sculpture |
My hotel in Loreto was La Damiana, kind of a Bed and Breakfast without breakfast, with 7 rooms.
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| The Mission tower |
I went to mission museum, which was somewhat interesting. Loreto was the first capital of the Californias, dating back to 1697.
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| Loreto, Historical Capital of the Californias |
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| Municipal Building |
Since the start of Lent was a few days away, there was a Carnival parade, kind of low key, something for the locals, not the tourists. It was kind of fun to watch.
Saturday March 1
I tried to join a whale tour, but no one was there. The directions, from another tourist, were not very good. I heard later that it was a great tour, they saw many whales up close.
I took a long walk, and eventually found the thatched roof bus station. After a nap, I headed to the malecon (waterfront), and watched crabs. Did you know that crabs could jump?
In the afternoon we had a trip meeting, where I met the group. There were seven guests, some younger, some my age. There were three guides, Gini, Marco, and Andrew, a visiting guide from Washington state.
I had dinner at La Palapa restaurant with Sam, George, and Donna.
Sunday march 2
The van picked us up at the hotel, and we drove south to the beach at la Quemada (rattlesnake beach). Unfortunately, it was too windy to make the crossing to Danzante Island. Instead, we paddled to Punta del Coyote, made loops in the waves, and practiced wet exits and reentry. We paddled back to rattlesnake beach for dinner and stargazing.
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| Ann-Marie |
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| Sam, me, Carol and George |
The kayak assigned to me was a Romany Surf, a British style kayak designed by Nigel Dennis for playing in rough water. Unfortunately, I found the boat unstable and uncomfortable, which is not a good way to start a trip. My own sea kayak is a larger boat, a Wilderness Systems Sealution, a North American style kayak.
Monday march 3, we got up at 6 am, to flute music. Gini played flute music as a wake up call each day, kind of a pleasant wake up call. After breakfast, we packed for the crossing. I got very frustrated packing the boat, which had quite a bit less storage than my own sea kayak. I kept trying to adjust the backrest to make the boat more comfortable, but nothing worked. Finally Marcos inflated a water bag and stuck it behind me as a backrest, which did improve my comfort level. We crossed to Danzante island in moderate waves. We considered going on to Carmen Island, but the wind was building. After we set up camp, we paddled to party beach at honeymoon cove, where we found another group, and were serenaded by a sailboat playing 60s music. We climbed to the overlook, and some folks did some snorkeling. In addition to my issues with the kayak, I was not feeling well, so the trip was not getting any better.
March 4 Tuesday, we paddled over to Carmen island, around N side of Danzante, in modest wind and waves. I was feeling better, but a little shaky in the waves.
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| Rob and Gini |
We made a brief stop at a small beach on the West side of Carmen Island, then proceeded to the southern tip, punta Baja. Punta Baja had two palm trees, which provided welcome shade. We would spend two nights here. I snorkeled a little. Marco hand caught several fish for dinner, including triggerfish. We had really fresh sushi. The whole idea of hand catching fish was amazing to me. The group sang happy birthday to me.
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| Sam |
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| Mary and the boats |
Wednesday march 5, half of group went on a long paddle. The rest of us snorkeled with Marco. We saw a fair number of interesting fish, including the King Angelfish and some Parrotfish. We also saw whales at a distance, including a blue whale, as well as dolphins cavorting nearby. This was my first time to see a blue whale, which looked like a small island.
Marco is amazing at spotting wildlife. He grew up around the water in Baja, and started fishing at an early age. You could really see that the sea was his life. He said that he tried being a vaquero (cowboy) for a while, but the sea called him back.
After lunch we took a short paddle, where we met up with the other group returning. We also saw dolphins near our kayaks, and several sea turtles. We all returned together and had dinner. The view east included a red sky and sea, and a blue band in between.
Thursday march 6
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| Gini taking advantage of the glassy sea. |
We paddled to aquarium beach, where some folks snorkeled. Marco and Ginni fished with a handline, and caught mexican hogback fish for dinner. The vegetation was surprisingly lush, considering that we were in a desert.
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| Ventanilla - Window |
We moved to Ventanilla (Window) beach, named for the large rectangular rock opening. We had a good dinner, mojo de ajo fish and pasta. After dark, we went and ran paddles through the water, to see some bioluminescence. It was an evening of stories. George told merchant marine stories from Alaska and Vietnam. Ginni told some sailing stories, including some big storms.
Friday March 7
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| Gini with our flute wake up call |
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| Me in my boat |
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| George |
We got up early, and rock-hopped down the West side of Danzante Island. That fun, playing in and around the rocks near the shore. We stopped for a hike at Arroyo beach. Some of us hiked to the top, where we could see both sides, including the venatanilla opening.
We then paddled back to Rattlesnake beach, where we started, in a following wind and sea. When we arrived at 1 PM, our taxi was there, and took us to Hotel Angra. We met for a farewell dinner at the Giggling Dolphin.
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| Ann-Marie and Marcos |
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| Gini and Andrew |
Saturday march 8
I had signed up for a private lessons with Ginni. We met at the beach in town, and started with some dry land exercises. We went out and practiced, and I learned that I should be making my paddle strokes more vertical. Ginni tried to get me to sit more upright, but my back muscles got tired very quickly. We had taken out the backrest, trying to use the boat as the designer intended, but I was only able to sit upright for a short time. We quit early due to my back pain and increasing waves.
I had dinner with Sam, and we agreed to share a taxi to the airport in the morning.
Sunday March 9
The plane left Loretto on time, and I cleared customs in LAX. I headed over to United to catch my flight back to Denver. When I got to the gate, they announced that the flight was overbooked, so I volunteered to receive a cash payment for being voluntarily bumped. I was told to stay near the desk at the gate; some people were pretty upset, worried that they might be involuntarily bumped. When it was all said and done, no one was involuntarily bumped. I was the only person voluntarily bumped, as I was the first person to volunteer. I got a $200 credit on United, as well as a hotel room and some money toward meals.
Monday March 10
I caught an early flight to Denver, took the bus to Boulder, and walked a couple of blocks home, to find my cats happy to see me.
For me, the highlights of the trip were our time on the beach at Carmen Island, and the still water crossing to Danzante, where we saw so much marine life. On the good side, the guides were good, the scenery was spectacular, and the marine life was great. On the bad side, I never really got comfortable in the kayak, and I did not feel well during the trip. Would I recommend a sea kayaking trip to Baja? Yes, but I suggest that you carefully consider the kind of kayak that you want to paddle. I did not have any experience with this kind of kayak, so did not realize the extent to which the kayak would be a problem for me.
