I awoke on the top floor on my
beachside palapa to the heat of the rising sun over the sea of
Cortez. Jerry in the palapa next door was brewing coffee, and would
soon turn on NPR for the morning news. A shrimp boat trawled lazily
offshore and a few pelicans worked the inner bay. The view was
spectacular with the mountains reaching out to the sea to our North,
and a picturesque white lighthouse still flashing to our South. I
could get used to this. After filling my coffee mug a couple of
times thanks to the generosity of my neighbors I unloaded the boats
off the Jeep in order to ensure that I got out on the water today
instead of just heading South. Josh and John were up soon thereafter
and were still “keen for some paddling”. John's bike had some
mechanical issues they had to deal with, so I took some time to
organize my gear and relax on the beach.
Soon a school of dolphins (yes, it's
school, not pod) showed up in the bay. After a couple of minutes on
the beach, I couldn't help myself. I had to get a better look. I
hopped in the XP (the blue kayak) and headed 100 meters or so
offshore. I had seen several boats approaching the whales in Cabo
and knew that the laws here must be different than back home, but I
still didn't want to approach the dolphins. Maybe... sure enough
they came to me. Soon I had 6-8 bottlenose dolphins and another 8-10
porpoises darting around me. The water was so clear that I could see
them swim beneath the boat and turn on their sides to check me out.
They were as curious about me as I was about them. As soon as I'd
turn my head I'd hear another one surface behind me with that
“Phhttuppth” of air and a subtle splash. Then there was a
different sound off to one side and I turned to see Josh paddling the
X-Ray out to meet me. He'd left John to deal with his testy chain
and was absolutely ecstatic at being able to share the water with the
dolphins and porpoises that surrounded us. I don't know that I could
ever accurately convey what it felt like to sit there in a sparkling
blue sea surrounded by friendly fins under the watchful eye of the
lighthouse with a powdery tan beach in the background, but I know
that Josh's smile said everything I wish that I could. After a few
more minutes I realized that I had to head back to the beach and let
John have a spin. I might not have had the boats off the Jeep had
they not been so excited about getting out on the water, and it just
wasn't fair to not let him play as well.
For the next half hour my new friends
from New Zealand paddled around the Sea of Cortez with an entourage
of dolphins and porpoises. It was stunning to watch from shore, and
I'm sure that it was an experience that they will remember for the
rest of their lives. John later told me that he'd never seen a
dolphin before, and that this was his 2nd time in a kayak.
I hope he realizes that he's a bit spoiled now.
I had my gear just about all loaded up
when a brief conversation with one of the locals changed my plans yet
again. The little Mexican offered up that the guys on the shrimp
boat have a lot of fish and shrimp to sell cheap. When I asked what
time they come into port he shook his head and said that they didn't
and pointed at the kayaks on my roof. It took me a few minutes to
decide, but soon I was unloading a kayak and heading back out into
the Sea of Cortez.
As I paddled up to the boat I didn't
know what to expect. My Spanish still pretty much sucks, but I did
have a few cold beers strapped on deck to convey my good intentions.
At first the men on board looked at me a bit suspiciously, or
so it seemed. They had the hardened look of working watermen
everywhere, and it can be a bit off-putting. As I closed in on the
boat I asked if they had any shrimp and made a move to toss a cold
beer up to the guy leaning over the side. He caught the beer, opened
it, and asked if I could manage to climb aboard. I tied my kayak to
a line they dropped, and used all of my limited climbing skills to
scale the side of the trawler and haul myself up on deck with the
rest of the cerveza. I was met with the curious eyes of 6 strong men
who spoke a language different from my own and who called this
particular boat home. I sincerely hoped that I had understood them
correctly and that I was not acting like some sort of stupid gringo
pirate.
The brief tension was one sided to say
the least, and as soon as I passed out the remaining beers they
pointed to a large basket full of shrimp and squid and encouraged me
to dig in. I hadn't counted on lunch out here, but I've spent enough
time on shrimp boats to know that they are the best places in the
world to eat shrimp. I tried to explain my trip in halting Spanish,
and they told me that the captain was asleep and I'd have to wait for
him to buy some shrimp. In the meantime it seemed that I was
expected to eat and relax. I can do that.
Soon a panga from town pulled up along
side and the captain emerged from his cabin. He looked at me
curiously and then focused his attention on the small crew of the
panga. After a brief conversation he gave some orders to his crew
and soon they were hauling huge bags of fish out from the storage
freezer below. As the crew worked the captain reached into a large
sack of frozen shrimp and pulled a couple out. He looked at me and
shrugged in a way that caused me to shrug back with a nod. Then he
tossed me a frozen shrimp. I looked at it for a second and thanked
him, trying not to look too confused. He took another and stuck it
in his mouth like a lollypop. O.K. I guess I'm supposed to eat this
frozen Mexican Shrimp. So I popped it in casually and tried to look
as normal as I could on deck with a frozen shrimp hanging from my
mouth as the captain stood next to me and watched his men work. At
some point I asked the fisherman nearest me what type of fish were in
the bags. He turned to me and in his best Jack Sparrow drawl spoke
the only English word I'd heard on board; “Shaa-ark”. As if on
cue a crew member below tossed up the tail fin of a Thresher Shark
that had to be 7 feet long. The tail fin that is. I have no idea
how big the shark was, but I'd imagine it was pretty damn big.
Once the panga was loaded up and headed
to the fish market the captain turned his attention to me. It took
us a couple of minutes to sort out our conversation, but soon I
understood that I could get a couple of kilos of shrimp for a very
reasonable price. However, the captain insisted that I join him for
lunch and once again pointed to the basket of shrimp and squid. We
sat and tried to converse for a while. He told a few dirty jokes
that I hoped I wasn't the butt of and I told the crew as much as I
could about where I'd been and how I'd ended up on the deck of their
trawler off the coast of San Fellipe. When it finally came down to
business the captain handed me back my money and said “is for beer”
“For me?” “No. For me... on boat.” I tried to give him
back the cash. “No. is for beer.” and with that he pointed to
my kayak and made a paddling motion with his hands. The Captain was
sending me on a beer run.
As I paddled back to shore with a boat
full of shrimp and fresh fish I couldn't help but laugh. At the
beach I hauled my take up the camp site and told Josh, John, and the
rest of the assembled campers the story and headed off to the store.
I returned to the trawler half an hour later with a case of cold beers
and a small bottle of tequila. Back on deck we finished off the
squid, the tequila, and a couple of beers before I bid my new friends
a fond fairwell and headed back to Shore.
It had gotten late, and my plan to head
South to Bahia Los Angeles was shot all to hell. Well, maybe I'd
just go to Puertocitos and re-stage from there. Or I could always
stay in San Fellipe. Back on the the beach Josh and John had a
better plan. A friend of theirs had a beach house 40 km down the
coast, and I could stay with them on the deck if I wanted. Perfect.
Free and on the beach is always a good plan. By the time John got
his chain issues all sorted it out, their neighbor Ken had convinced
us to have a “fairwell margarita” with him in town. We obliged,
naturally, and then were on our way to Tornsten and Tiki's house. I
know the spelling's off, but you try to figure out how to spell Dutch
names given to you by Kiwi friends.
Trying to follow these guys on their
bikes reminded me of watching dogs chase bottle rockets. It was
futile at best to try to keep up with them. As darkness fell it was
all I could do to keep their taillights in sight and try to use them
to judge when the next curve was coming up. I was breaking Baja rule
numero uno, and I was doing it at speeds that I didn't hit on the San
Diego freeway. Speaking of bottle rockets, I did see a shooting star
that looked like something we would have been stoked to shoot out of
Bowdy's yard on the 4th of July. Gotta love the desert at
night.
At the beach house we cooked the shrimp
on the fire, and Josh worked up some seafood chowder that had all 3
of us scraping our bowls. I broke out the growler of American Pale
Ale that I'd been keeping from High Desert Brewing Co. and we had one
hell of a night sitting on the deck and telling stories. As I
retired to my tent and looked up at the stars I couldn't help
wondering how it was that things were working out so well. Better
not to jinx it now. I'm just thankful that I am where I am and I
hope that tomorrow will bring more of the same.
I had hoped to get through more of the
trip tonight, but the boys here at the Villa Vitta are closing up shop, and
I still have to find a way to get this up on-line. I will continue
to write when I find another outlet and internet connection. In the
mean time, thank you for reading along. Obviously I am enjoying
myself, and I am happy to report that taking the time to convey all
of this to you is making me think even more about each experience and
each new friend I meet along the way. Thanks.
