Kayaks, Sea Lions, Dolphins (11/7/2011)

I was awake at 5:00 AM.  The waxing moon had set and the darkness of the night sky finally allowed the stars to sine though with brilliance. The sun rose at 6:30, so I had a good hour of quiet, in this dark, surreal place.  The temperature had dropped during the night and the wind had picked up a bit, so I layered on some clothes and a jacket to stay warm.   During the day I came to appreciate two articles of clothing: my Marmot rain jacket for its ability to break the wind and keep me dry from sea spray and splashing waves in the boat, and my Mountain Hardware hat for keeping me dry and protected from the sun.

Next time I need to remember to bring a travel mug for coffee.  I had to gulp down my coffee before the call for "Fishing!" went out each morning.  Becky was smart - she brought her mug along!  Four of us went fishing today: me, Becky, Russell, and Mo (Becky and I went every morning that fishing was available).  I got a small hit on my lure, but nothing else.

We were back at camp a few minutes before a breakfast of scrambled eggs, beans, tortillas, juice, and of course more coffee.  After that we packed up camp, loaded gear on the boats, and headed out along the eastern coast of Espiritu Santo Island.

On this side of the island the sheer, rugged cliffs rise abruptly out of the sea to hundreds or a thousand feet.  There are a couple of small beaches, but most of the coast is rocky cliffs.  The rock walls are stunningly beautiful with their horizontal bands of reds, greens, and shades of brown - a geologist's dream!  Waves striking the rock walls send geysers skyward towards the nesting sea birds whose presence leaves whitish streaks of guano pointing back to the sea.  The air was still cool and the wind was blowing, so the ride was cold enough for us to don our rain gear for warmth.  The trip to the sea lion rookery at Los Islotes took about 1:20 and we were a bit chilled when we arrived.  Fortunately the day had warmed considerably, and within just a few minutes we were all warmed up again.

Our first stop was the sea lion rookery at Los Islotes.  As we dropped anchor the sea lions were visible sunning themselves on the rocks about 40 years away.  The water looked a little choppy at first but turned out to be quite calm once we jumped in.  The water was warm, clear and full of schooling tropical fish.  As soon as we entered the water a large adult sea lion swam over to check us out.  It kept its distance watching us as we snorkeled around the boat.  Apparently we passed inspection and were deemed not a threat because a few minutes later the parents gave the kids permission to come and play!  Soon there were four of five young sea lions darting around us.  They loved to speed straight for our faces like a game of chicken, then swerve away at the last second, missing us by inches.  They liked it if you dove down deep because they'd often swim along side you in graceful arcs and curves.

After Mom warmed up she joined me in the water and we swam up close to the rocks to watch the smallest juvenile sea lions playing with the adults.  As we swam back to deeper water a larger pup followed us to repeat the game of chicken for several more minutes.  It was a magical experience!

Next Chuy's skiff took us to San Francisco Island.  It was a long, cold ride and we were glad to arrive and climb out on the warm sand to bake under the hot sun.  After a lunch of smoked tuna, cheese, salad and drinks, we kayaked for about 2 hours south along the coast of the island.
The weather forecast indicated a high pressure front was about to pass through the area, so our guides decided we should head on to San Jose Island and camp there for the night.  That was another 1:20 north, so loaded the boat and headed out.  Along the way I was watching for signs of whales, and far off to the left I spotted what I thought was water spray from a whale's blow hole.  I pointed it out to Chuy and he immediately changed course to investigte.  It was not a whale, but  small pod of bottle nosed dolphins who looked just as happy to see us as we were to see them!  As we approached they began jumping high into the air on all sides of the boat.  We had a wonderful time for a few minutes watching them surf our wake, race under our bow, and jump repeatedly into the air (photo of dolphins jumping was by Russell - thanks!).

We arrived at San Jose Island about 30 minutes before sunset and were surprised (and happy) to see the crew had already set up all our tents!  All we needed to do was pick a spot, carry our tent to it, and secure the sand stakes, a process that took only about 10 minutes.  After that I took my first seawater bath and changed into warmer clothes for the cool evening hours.  Then it was time for happy hour with a huge bowl of fresh guacamole (these guys were GREAT cooks!) and a pot of pina coladas.

A young white dog joined our group and became known as "Pero Blanco".  He belonged to one of the local fishermen who was part of a group camped a few hundred yards up the beach.  He was skittish as first, but after a few handouts and a bowl of water he warmed up to us.

Carlos treated us to ghost stories about events that took place along the baja coast line, including one about a crazy ring-tailed cat near Puerto Gato, where we'll go next.

At least that's "plan A."