Sea Kayaking trip - Isla Espiritu Santo

Our sea kayaking & camping trip on Isla Espiritu Santo just off the shore from La Paz, Mexico on the Sea of Cortez got off to a slow start due to high winds. On our drive back south from our trip to Loreto I felt the high winds pushing on our rental car.  When we arrived to the hotel run by Mar y Aventuras the night before our trip was to leave they informed us that we might not be able to get to the island due to the high winds. La Paz closes the port when it's too windy.  The winds made it very cold as well in La Paz. Carol and I both were in similar outdoor gear to what we wear in Seattle most of the year- our heavyweight fleece jackets.

So it was no surprise but a bit disappointing that when we met the guide on the morning of December 24th that we were informed that we could not go out that day. Instead we would do a "land tour" :( We did get to visit the local cactus sanctuary and learned a great deal about cacti. While interesting, it was not what we signed up for. We were anxious to get out to the Island and spend our Christmas on the beach! 

...and we did depart on Christmas day. The winds were still pretty intense though. So we had a very bumpy wet ride to Isla de Espiritu in the tour company's panga (a motorboat) and it took about 3 hours to get out to our base camp. We were all delighted with our base camp on a fantastic sandy beach that was outfitted with nice spacious tents, a sheltered dining area, and an outdoor kitchen set up with our very own cook for our group of six of us.  We got settled into our tents, got a full tour of base camp and then were served a very nice lunch. We anxiously awaited our first sea kayak experience....waiting for the wind to die down continued to be a theme for our trip. We did get out on our kayaks but after fighting the winds we turned around and came back in pretty quickly. 

I was surprised to learn that we got a happy hour each night on the trip. The first night out they served us freshly made margaritas, and the second night we got pina coladas and popcorn!  We did have a well stocked kitchen and a good cook on our trip...which was essential if we were to wait around on the beach for the wind to die down.

Our second day on the island, we took a short hike in the morning and finally got to do some snorkeling in a nearby bay. The waters were still a bit rough. We were all cold and wet by the time we got to the bay that was a bit protected from the wind...due to splashing cold water from the boat ride. Despite the cold bumpy ride we were ready to do something other than wait for the wind to die down! We got our wetsuits on and all made our way into the water and found this to be a good snorkeling spot. Some of the highlights of fish we saw were: guinea fowl pufferfish, juvenile damsel fish, trumpetfish, adult damselfish, king angelfish, and butterfly fish.

We did get out on a longer kayak to another bay on that second day in addition to the snorkeling. Carol and I finally got the hang of synchronizing our paddling on that second kayaking day and found the first half of our trip with the wind quite nice and easy....and then we turned around to return to base camp and that was very tough to kayak into the wind. As we turned back into our bay, it felt like we were on a kayak treadmill rather than making any progress towards our return to base camp.  We persisted though and made it back just before sunset....which was a spectacular sunset! ...as posted in our previous blog post! 

So one lesson we learned is don't schedule a kayaking trip if you can help it when the north winds are blowing! 

On the final day....we got to swim with the sea lions again as Carol wrote about. While there were some challenges to this trip, we were still glad we did it. Next time though I think I will be booking this trip in February:) 

Swimming with Sea Lions!

Written by Carol:

As some of you know, I love sea lions.  In fact, I am convinced that if I were not a human, I would be a sea lion (Mike thinks I would be a cat).  Anyway, ever since our travels in the Galapagos, I have a great affinity for them and a huge selling point for joining the kayaking trip was for the opportunity to swim with them.  

Most of us think of sea lions as these barking, loud, or lounging rather awkward creatures trying to lug themselves on shore or a buoy or rock.  However, under water they are magnificent torpedo ballerinas.

It was a true highlight of our trip, and one of the highlights of our whole trip thus far.  When our boat arrived to the rocks where they like to sun themselves, many of them dove into the waters to swim over to us and were splashing and wiggling their flippers at us.  Our guide gave us some rules about behaving well and respecting the sea lions and their space.  My favorite rule was:  If a sea lion feels mellow and wants to float near you, do not hug it.  Do not hug the sea lions.

When we jumped into the water, they swirled and swam all around us- very excited to play with us and with each other.  They were also very mouthy like dogs- one grabbed on to a fellow swimmer's arm and played tug of war with it.  It kind of freaked me out to watch it, because I could hear him saying, "Hey.  Let go!  She won't let go!"  I found out later it did not hurt and she was gentle, but I could see her teeth gripping him.  They also liked to nibble each others tail flippers and the ends of our fins.  They also liked to play a one way game of "chicken" where they would race at us as fast as they could and then veer off at the last second.

The two biggest highlights were when a sea lion used Mike as a hurdle- she leapt out of the water and flew over him, landing on the other side.  Also, when I thought Mike was bumping into me and grabbing my neck, I popped up and said, "Mike, knock it off."  Only he was nowhere near me.  Mike started laughing and said, "That was not me- that sea lion just rolled into you and it looked like she gave you a kiss on your head.  I saw her flying over to you and was going to say something, but was speechless!"

I am grateful they were so willing to spend some time playing with us.  It is something I will never forget.

Sunset from Isla de Espiritu

Snorkeling and boat trip to Coronado Island take 1

Our trip to Coronado Island began with us all bundled in all our layers questioning our choice to snorkel in this chilly weather.  We were joined by an Argentinian family that was on their summer vacation.  Our guide, Necky, skillfully provided info in Spanish and English. Since the water is quite cold this time of year we were provided wetsuits to snorkel in. Carol and I were both a bit nervous about snorkeling in chilly water but were excited about the opportunity to swim with sea lions and see colorful fish.  We arrived at the island after a thirty minute boat ride and indeed there were a bunch of sea lions awaiting our arrival. 

Our Argentinian friends were the first in the water and seemed to be doing ok. We wiggled our way into our wetsuits. This was a first time for me to wear a full wetsuit and I found it quite awkward.  Carol finally psyched herself up enough to jump in and I was the last to leave the boat. I have always found breathing through a snorkel quite awkward and this time was no different. 

My main problem is that I don't trust that the snorkel will actually work. I finally got the nerve to jump out of the  boat into the water and was pleased that while the water was cold, the wetsuit seemed to be doing its job keeping me warm.  Now the hard part, putting the snorkel in my mouth and my head in the water. My heart started racing from the thought of it. I knew I needed to stop thinking about it and just do it. I practiced with my head outs of the water and soon put my head in. After a couple minutes of breathing rapidly and nervously I finally settled down and enjoyed seeing fish and swimming with the sea lions.  They weren't quite as playful with us as we had hoped but it probably reflected our lack of playfulness on our first day out snorkeling in wetsuits. After about 15 minutes of snorkeling we got back in the boat to get a ride to our next snorkeling spot. 

Our day was about to take a different direction. As we were prepping to get back in the water, our Argentinian friend - the mom (whose name is escaping me right now) was having trouble getting swinging her legs with flippers over the side of the boat. Her daughter, Pia, in an effort to help her mom get in the water lifted one of her mom's legs which caused her to fall backwards and hit her head on an edge of the boat. ....hard enough to cause quite a bit of bleeding. After a moment of shock, we got a towel for to hold to her head and got Pia's dad back in the boat and headed immediately back to the mainland. Thankfully the bleeding subsided and we were all pleased that she was still lucid. 

We were met by a team paramedics at the dock. She got carried off on a stretcher and her family followed. We were glad to see her get safely ashore and also happy to go back to our room to get hot showers. On a  walk later that afternoon, we ran into the dad and daughter on the main plaza. They were happy to let us know she was fine. She had to have four stitches to close the wound and all she needed was a little rest. We were surprised that they were also ready to go back out on the water the next day to finish out our aborted tour and hoped we would join them!....so we did, see Carol's entry to hear how that went.

Snorkeling Isla Coronodo Take 2

Written by Carol:

Pia and Pablo really wanted us to join them the next day for a Trial 2. We hesitated, unsure that we wanted to hurl ourselves into cold and rough waters again (and watching Pia's mom hit her head was very unnerving), but they were very excited about the possibility of trying again and really wanted us to join them. We agreed and then later I turned to Mike and said, "What are we doing?" Mike said, "I know. We were captured by their cuteness." Ultimately, this turned out to be a good thing, as we had a great second day.

The biggest highlight was seeing hundreds of dolphins. I have never seen anything like it. The sea was absolutely filled with them. They were swimming at quite a clip and leaping (really awesome- they are such beautiful animals) and occasionally swimming over to race the boat. It was so inspiring to look out and think we were seeing waves, but in fact it was dolphin after dolphin.

The sun was out the entire day, which made a significant difference in terms of staying warm enough that leaping into cold waters seemed more tolerable. And no one got hurt. A big plus. We saw lots of cool fish, my favorite being the Moorish Idols, King Angel Fish, and Parrot Fish. The North Winds were starting to come in, though, so the waters were pretty rough. After I got stung by a jelly fish (small, so no safety concerns, but hurt like a devil and I had some nice welts as souvenirs), I decided I was done snorkeling for the day. We docked at a gorgeous white sand beach and Mike continued to snorkel from there. He saw a Scorpion Fish, which was pretty cool (and in his words, "One ugly fish.") I enjoyed the view of mountains and turquoise waters from the beach.

Necky took us on a nice hike and explained about the local cactus and other plants before heading back to the mainland. On the ride back, Pia and Pablo practiced their English with us and we practiced our Spanish with them. A couple of pelicans hitched a ride on the back of the boat for a ways, which was pretty cute and a fun cap on the trip.

Snorkeling at Isla Coronado

We took a nice snorkeling trip to Isla Coronado a 30 minute boat ride out of Loreto. Our underwater photos didnt turn out all that great. Here are some of the better ones.

Location:Francisco Madero,Loreto,Mexico

Loreto Photos

Location:J.M. Pino Suarez,Loreto,Mexico

Hiking outside of Loreto

Written by Carol:

Today we woke up to sunlight softly streaming through the mango tree outside our window. After Mike went on a run around the Malecon, we decided to explore the town of Loreto. It is a sweet, mellow town nestled in some jaw dropping scenery... the Sea of Cortez and the Sierra Gigante mountains. There are also a few vulnerable estuaries, a few of which have been heavily developed. That part gives me a stomach ache.

We saw the very first mission, the inspiration for Father Serra's trek up the California coast, building beautiful missions, enslaving local indigenous peoples. It was interesting for me to see, having studied the missions in school growing up, although also disturbing in terms of its purpose as well.

This afternoon we went on a hike up an arroyo of the Sierra Gigante. It reminded me quite a lot of Canyonlands, though with a different pallate. Highlights included the turquoise, purple, and red rocks hosting a stark backdrop for the chartruse cacti and bright white mesquite, turkey vultures drying their wings after a bath, and stumbling upon the skeleton of a baby calf or deer that was some predators meal.

We also walked along an estuary for awhile admiring the variety of sea birds. We were ignorant as to the name of our favorite, but it had a black body, and bright red beak and eyes... very dramatic.

We cooked our own dinner tonight- beans and tortillas and avocado... not quite as good as some we have bought at taquerias (I think the best burrito I have ever eaten cost me 80 cents and was made of fresh beans and a hand made tortilla in Todos Santos), but very satisfying, nonetheless. Fresh avocadoes cannot be beat!

Whales!

Written by Carol:

We have been seeing Humpback Whales on their migration south, which has been extremely exciting. We have seen pods spouting in the distance on the way to Todos Santos and on the beaches near Todos Santos. Particular highlights were seeing two whales very close to shore playing. One kept spinning around and around, fins in the air, which was awesome. And while enjoying the spectacular sunset (photos below), we saw several groups of whales migrating south. When a couple of them got in front of the sunset, they started leaping out of the water! Mike and I wondered if they, too, were inspired by the spectacular beauty and shocking colors.

Some photos

Location:Morelos,Todos los Santos,Mexico

Living it up at the Hotel California

Yep it's true- we are living it up at the Hotel California in Baja California del Sur, Mexico. We scored a Living Social deal and landed in a suite with a rooftop deck here. Some might tell you that the famous Eagles song Hotel California was a metaphor for the spiritual emptiness of the excesses of California and specifically LA but others might tell you that they were inspired by this very hotel that we are lounging in right now! We certainly had to drive down a dark desert highway to get here. (Ok it wasn't dark since we drove in the daytime but it was a bumpy ride on a highway under construction). We were also lulled to sleep by mission bells! (No kidding here, the hotel is right next to the church and bells were ringing last night as well as a choir singing). No pink champagne on ice though:) I did have a lovely margarita with their own house made Hotel California tequila!

This hotel certainly doesn't shy away from making people think it's the inspiration for the Eagle's song. Whether it was or not- it is an inspiring historic hotel that has been remodeled and decorated with gorgeous art, has lovely courtyards with plants everywhere. We have this amazing rooftop deck that looks over the ocean. Still figuring out how to upload photos but will do so soon!

We kicked off our winter vacation on Wednesday the 14th with a flight into San Jose del Cabo airport on the south end of the Baja peninsula and enjoyed our first couple of nights at a beachside hotel. Beautiful beaches and a way too overdeveloped area of the peninsula. It's nice to get out of the touristy Cabo San Lucas region and into some other parts of the peninsula. Todas Santos is known for its arts scene and nearby access to beautiful beaches. So we will be checking out both over the next couple of days. Stay tuned for further posts from Baja!