Because we live in a place that receives nearly a meter of rain annually, it seems appropriate to flee to sunnier climes during the worst of the rainy season. We bought a folding kayak, packed up some camping gear, and took public transportation south to Baja, Mexico.
We arrived in Santa Rosalia, Southern Baja, after 42 hours on the train (Spokane to San Diego), and 15 hours on the bus (south from Tijuana). Needless to say, we were very tired when we arrived. We dragged the gear to the water, assembled the boat, and paddled out of town to set up camp.
We spent a couple of days camped near town (catching up on sleep and provisioning), then started paddling south. Our next camp was (somewhat) sheltered from the north wind (
el norte), and we ended up spending a few nights there waiting out a gale.
The rocks were fascinating: layer upon layer of sandstone and shells and cobbles. The spirals are some kind of sedimentary rock that accumulated inside shells that have since disappeared; who knows how ancient those scallop shells are!
We used a reverse-osmosis manual desalinator pump to turn ocean water into fresh water. It took one hour to pump a little more than 3 L of water; if we pumped water for 2 hours a day we could stay on top of our water needs. We tried to have a few days' water on hand in case the desalinator failed; we filled up our jugs with
agua purificada when we were in town.
Saguaro silhouette with Isla San Marcos and the sandbar at Caleta San Lucas (thin strip below horizon) in the background. Sunrise was our preferred paddling time - if the sea was going to be calm at any time during the day, early morning was it.
Mangroves!! (A very exciting discovery for a pair of geeky botany-types).
The necessary get-up for desert excursions on windy days! We paddled out to Isla San Marcos with the intention of a circumnavigation, and ended up spending the first four days in camp, unable to paddle because of the strong, strong northerly winds (
el norte again). Every gust of wind kicked up a cloud of sand and grit, which got in our eyes, food, tent, sleeping bags, and teeth.
On Christmas morning, the wind finally let up and we were able to paddle north, up the eastern shore of Isla San Marcos.
At the north end of the island, there was an arch carved out by the waves, and it opened on to a cobble beach that was backed by cliffs. It was beautiful, but because the wind was rising, we didn't stay long.
We camped in a beautiful spot on the west side of the island.....
.... and the wind howled for four more days. We ran out of yummy food (tortillas, avocados, limes, cookies, peanut butter, oats, rice, eggs, etc.) and had to get by on lentils, re-hydrated vegetables, boullion, and tvp for a couple of days. Finally the wind let up enough for us to paddle through an 8-foot breaking sea around the corner to more sheltered water, then down the west coast of Isla San Marcos to the village, which had a store filled with tortillas and tostadas and pan dolces and vegetables. Yum! We were very pleased not to have perished in the desert.
Because of the wind, we ended up spending 10 days on Isla San Marcos (we thought it would be a 3-4 day side trip!). The day we left wasn't windy, but it also wasn't exactly calm, and by the time we had made the 5 mile crossing back to the peninsula, the sea had built up quite a bit and we had to do a fairly exciting surf landing on a lee-shore beach. The wind howled for three more days, and Murray built up his dish-washing-without-getting-a-soaker-in-the-breaking-surf skills.
Finally the wind let up and we were able to paddle off the beach. The day before, we had attempted a surf launch and failed - a wave broke over the boat and pushed me backwards, through the cross-rib that supports my seat (Murray was able to repair it and save the rest of the trip!). The boat filled up with water and one of our food containers leaked, so we had to dry out our tortillas and legumes on the beach.
Murray didn't mind - he feasted on tortillas in the sunshine.
Finally finally
finally the weather changed for the better. We took advantage of a few weeks of relatively calm seas and paddled south to Mulege, then around part of Bahia Concepcion before heading back to Mulege and folding up the kayak. We had originally planned to paddle all the way to Loreto, but we didn't have enough time because of all the wind-delays at the beginning of the trip.
We arrived in Santa Rosalia, Southern Baja, after 42 hours on the train (Spokane to San Diego), and 15 hours on the bus (south from Tijuana). Needless to say, we were very tired when we arrived. We dragged the gear to the water, assembled the boat, and paddled out of town to set up camp.
We spent a couple of days camped near town (catching up on sleep and provisioning), then started paddling south. Our next camp was (somewhat) sheltered from the north wind (el norte), and we ended up spending a few nights there waiting out a gale.
The rocks were fascinating: layer upon layer of sandstone and shells and cobbles. The spirals are some kind of sedimentary rock that accumulated inside shells that have since disappeared; who knows how ancient those scallop shells are!
We used a reverse-osmosis manual desalinator pump to turn ocean water into fresh water. It took one hour to pump a little more than 3 L of water; if we pumped water for 2 hours a day we could stay on top of our water needs. We tried to have a few days' water on hand in case the desalinator failed; we filled up our jugs with agua purificada when we were in town.
Saguaro silhouette with Isla San Marcos and the sandbar at Caleta San Lucas (thin strip below horizon) in the background. Sunrise was our preferred paddling time - if the sea was going to be calm at any time during the day, early morning was it.
Mangroves!! (A very exciting discovery for a pair of geeky botany-types).
The necessary get-up for desert excursions on windy days! We paddled out to Isla San Marcos with the intention of a circumnavigation, and ended up spending the first four days in camp, unable to paddle because of the strong, strong northerly winds (el norte again). Every gust of wind kicked up a cloud of sand and grit, which got in our eyes, food, tent, sleeping bags, and teeth.
On Christmas morning, the wind finally let up and we were able to paddle north, up the eastern shore of Isla San Marcos.
At the north end of the island, there was an arch carved out by the waves, and it opened on to a cobble beach that was backed by cliffs. It was beautiful, but because the wind was rising, we didn't stay long.
We camped in a beautiful spot on the west side of the island.....
.... and the wind howled for four more days. We ran out of yummy food (tortillas, avocados, limes, cookies, peanut butter, oats, rice, eggs, etc.) and had to get by on lentils, re-hydrated vegetables, boullion, and tvp for a couple of days. Finally the wind let up enough for us to paddle through an 8-foot breaking sea around the corner to more sheltered water, then down the west coast of Isla San Marcos to the village, which had a store filled with tortillas and tostadas and pan dolces and vegetables. Yum! We were very pleased not to have perished in the desert.
Because of the wind, we ended up spending 10 days on Isla San Marcos (we thought it would be a 3-4 day side trip!). The day we left wasn't windy, but it also wasn't exactly calm, and by the time we had made the 5 mile crossing back to the peninsula, the sea had built up quite a bit and we had to do a fairly exciting surf landing on a lee-shore beach. The wind howled for three more days, and Murray built up his dish-washing-without-getting-a-soaker-in-the-breaking-surf skills.
Finally the wind let up and we were able to paddle off the beach. The day before, we had attempted a surf launch and failed - a wave broke over the boat and pushed me backwards, through the cross-rib that supports my seat (Murray was able to repair it and save the rest of the trip!). The boat filled up with water and one of our food containers leaked, so we had to dry out our tortillas and legumes on the beach.
Murray didn't mind - he feasted on tortillas in the sunshine.
Finally finally finally the weather changed for the better. We took advantage of a few weeks of relatively calm seas and paddled south to Mulege, then around part of Bahia Concepcion before heading back to Mulege and folding up the kayak. We had originally planned to paddle all the way to Loreto, but we didn't have enough time because of all the wind-delays at the beginning of the trip.
