Back to Cabo

I'm in Cabo San Lucas again. I had forgotten how awful the water outside the town is, because it is riffled by thousands of small boats, all driving at the maximum wake making speeds. So there is a GodAwful chop that rocks the boat here.
I'll be here for Christmas, then go across to Mazatlan and continue my trip south through Mainland Mexico. I'm not sure how long I'll be in Mexico, but since my visa expires in April, I will be leaving before then. I may try to push and get to Costa Rica in March, but I am not sure.
I'm going to miss everyone over Christmas, but I've met some friends who invited me to come down and spend Christmas with them, so I'm not alone.

More pictures from the trip north

Its hard to get all the pictures to load at once...
and while these were loading, I took apart my camera and did a post-mortem dissection of the innards. A lightning bolt must have come down and zapped its way into the brain of the beast, because during the inspection of the heart, it began to quietly beat again. I am now in possesion of a frankenkamera.
I think it will only take pictures of dead things, but it is dark now, so I can't try it out until morning. If it doth live, then it seems the planets (and moon) and stars (well, the sun) have alligned.
Oh, eclipse tomorrow night, by the way....

Mako Shark

So I was minding my own business and trolling a line, and then I saw a little fin hanging off my line!
And it was a short finned Mako shark! Here is a video of when I brought it alongside. I got my lure from its jaws, and hooked my gaff in the mouth to hold it, and then let it go. I didn't pull any teeth, which I am now thinking that I should have done. It was a beautiful fish, and had wonderful coloration, and nice smooth skin. Also it had a bunch of parasites all over its skin.

Sea of Cortez

I'm back in La Paz, after a very brief, and not too extensive tour of the lower Sea of Cortez. I'm going to Cabo San Lucas for Christmas, then crossing over to the mainland of Mexico, and continuing south thereafter. There will probably be some changes in my blogging, since I have managed to break my camera, so it no longer takes pictures. I'm looking into trying to fix it, but not too hopeful. I still have the small video camera, and I'll probably get a point and shoot or something, but they don't do the same justice as the SLR. I've also not been getting internet as often as I thought I might, and that is a pity, since I like getting online and posting pictures and stories of where I've been. I think the mainland might have more access.
The year is wrapping up, and it has been a good one for me. I've met a lot of really nice people, and been to a lot of great places. Yesterday I was "racing" another sailboat (they were going in to La Paz as well) and when they passed me in the channel, I saw they were from Bellingham. It made me really miss my home, and I've been having dreams about the house I was born in. I think I'll be back sometime.
Since it is near Christmas, I'm going to be missing my family, in fact I am already missing them, I hope they are all having a great time in California.

Bahia Auga Verde

Its been a long time since the last post, and I am sorry for that. There is no intertet out in the wild... Until now! I am at this remote beach with nothing around, except a nice little tripod with a satellite dish on top, and a battery hanging underneath with civilization streaming from it wirelessly! There is a boat here, Wahkuna, who are very generous and let me get on their network.

Since leaving La Paz, I spent a few days on Esperitu Santu Island, where I met up with this fast (they said it could do 30 knots) boat which had a bunch of french people on board. They had a young crewmember who came from San Francisco, and he took me out spearfishing. I borrowed a gun from them, and shot a six person Grouper, (a leopard grouper) which fed all six of us. The biggest fish I've got so far.
After Esperitu Santu, I headed north towards Isla San Francisco, and caught my first Mahi Mahi (or Dorado, or Dolphin fish) I didn't keep it, or get any pictures, so it could be imagined....
Eventually I made it to Punta Evaristo, which is a beautiful little spot, and I spent a few days diving there, and shot a skipjack tuna, and saw a Mahi Mahi in the water. I'm working on my spearguns a lot, but don't have enough power still... (Scottie! I need more Power)
Anyways, I then headed up to Puerto Los Gatos, and found some Geodes, and then made it to Bahia Auga Verde, where the water is green and barracuda roam freely.
My camera has died again, so I think I need to get another one, and that will present plenty of difficulty. I also think I need another speargun, but I might be able to make my own trigger, and then make the whole new gun. I have a pretty nice little design that I think will be rugged and strong enough for a lot of power.
Yesterday I went down to 54 ft and stayed there a while, and my max breath is 2:08, according to my video camera. I think I can go deeper and stay longer, but I don't have recordings of it, so they don't count. Yesterday I dove with this couple who were using scuba, so I was going down to them and playing around, then returning to the top. They stayed about 50 ft down and I made about 8 trips to them. I am very comfortable at 40 ft, and I think I can managed 70 or more if I were to really try.
I have more pictures, but I can't post them all, so it will be another week or two before they come up.
But life is good.

More Esperitu Santu

So due to difficult connection problems, I didn't manage to get all the pictures posted from that last trip. Here are some more.

Isla Esperitu Santu

Outside of LaPaz, there is Isla Esperitu Santu. It is a popular place to visit for the tourists here, and is one of the nicest islands in the Sea of Cortez (according to my sources). Anyways, it is a desert island.
Normally the winds blow from the north, but in this case, they decided to blow towards the shore of the cove I was anchored in.
So after a few sleepless nights, I went over to the other side (the north side) and then the wind promptly switched to be from the north. What a wonderful world. There were some neat places to dive, including a spot where the sea lions frolick, and I had a nice time swimming with them, hoping not to get bit. I saw a Harris Hawk, see picture, and it was neat to see.
It is refreshing to visit the desert shore, it makes me feel alive.
I am back in La Paz, and I'll spend Thanksgiving here, giving thanks for food and looking for Wokoloti (if that is how you spell "owl" in spanish) to eat. There are a lot of cruisers in La Paz, which is nice, but also kind of annoying, slightly, but I did meet a young (19 year old) couple on a Cal 30, so bigger than mine, and I am happy to see that. I like the spirit of young and go.
It is sadly, mostly old, big and expensive, and slowly carefully, going around for the population here.
And I need to get a coconut still.
So for the future, I think I'll be working my way north up the Sea of Cortez for a few weeks, then down the east side, and finally, out and south into mainland Mexico.
Of the pictures I got, of course, there was a full moon, and a nice little lizard, of which species I do not know, and a pelican about to eat a little fish. He is just about to hit the water, so if you look carefully, you might see the fish....!

Comments

The contest was won by someone without a name! Why not post your name at the end of the comment, so that I can tell who wrote it. Snide remarks, I can understand, but a contest, with a wonderful prize...?

Isla de los Muertos

It is really called Isla Cerralvo, but there was so much dead stuff on the beach I figured it should be renamed. If you can figure out what all the creatures are in the pictures, you will get a prize. Though I may have to get you the prize in a few years.
So after I took all these pictures, I went to Isla Esperitu Santu, which is a great place, but my camera has memory loss now, so I don't have any pictures from it. And until I get new CF cards, I won't have any pictures at all.
I am now at La Paz, and will be lurking around here for a little while, then maybe turn north some more. The plan is not clear from here on out, or at least not fixed.

The South Sea (of Cortez)

While I was in Cabo, I saw some storm petrels dancing on the water, looking for food, and I managed to spear a Pacific Sierra, which is the tastiest fish I've eaten so far this trip. But when Danny flew out, I got out myself. I headed northbound, into the Sea of Cortez. My first stop was near San Jose del Cabo, which is where the airport is, and its basically the same as Cabo. Exept that I saw a sea turtle there. But the economy is based on tourism, and it is mostly resorts anyways. So onward I headed, north, into the unknow. My next stop was Bahia Frieles, which is about 50 miles away from Cabo. There is some coral on the rocks, so I went out diving, and I climbed up the mountian that forms the point that shelters the bay. There are so many different kinds of plants there, some of them like apples or pear trees, but without the fruit, and a lot of Locust kind of trees. Also some Sugaro cacti, shrugging their shoulders eternally. Or maybe doing sun salutations. There was also a break on the point. I went out and played around with the kayak, and almost got my board out, but being alone, it was hard. Also the waves were really small, so I would have been banging against the rocks a lot, and I didn't want to break the board. I don't think I will surf anymore for the next few months, because there shouldn't be any waves (well, any good ones) up here. Instead, I will probably spend most of my time in the water snorkeling. It feels really good here. I can be in the water about 2 hours and be just fine with no suit on, and if I eat well, or swim hard, or maybe just stay at the surface, I think I can be in for longer. The water gets kind of cold down about 20 ft.
I think I can dive deeper here than normally. In Cabo, I think I got down about 50 ft, with no weight (and I need about 5 lbs to be neutral) and it wasn't even that hard. It is a mental thing, I guess, since the water is clear enough, I can see 50 ft, and then feel better about going deep. Sometimes the wind blows really hard from the North, and this bay was really sheltered from that, but after a day there, the wind shifted from the east, so off I went. My next stop was Bahia de los Muertos. It was a really good anchorage as well, but a lot of pangas were ripping around in the night, and there was a bit of a harbor for sportfishing, so I slipped away pretty quick.