The Baja Paddle

After yesterday’s down day, my mood had improved somewhat today, though not because the weather is any better.

I got up before sunrise with the wind still blowing hard, though not as violent as yesterday. By the time I was ready to start paddling, the wind had died and the water was calm. This was a teaser; one hour later it was blowing again at nearly full force.

I decided to stay on the water anyway and hug the coast very closely. This meant taking the longest route from point to point but that was still immeasurably better than sitting on a beach waiting for the weather to improve.

Soon after I had left, I was overtaken by a pod of dolphins in a playful mood, judging by the way they moved through the water. It was as though they were playing catch with each other.

The coast was somewhat more interesting than the day before. There were still many pebble beaches but sandy beaches were becoming more prevalent the further south I went.

I was feeling fit and strong and decided to have a good day of paddling and put some distance on the clock, despite the strong wind.

I took my first break after three hours. I had noticed a little cove with what looked like a fish camp in it. I decided to see if I could get some water from the inhabitants. The closer I came to the shore, the more of a bad feeling I got about this place. It did not look like a fish camp. It had a derelict structure on it and a whole pile of old rubbish. Next to it were bundles of what looked like blankets with things rolled into them and against the rocks, somewhat higher up against the cliffs were what looked like two very big boxes, both covered.

It was clear that this was a place which had been used recently, but it was totally unclear to me what its purpose was. I did not go near any of the structures but had a quick snack and got right back into the kayak. I wanted to be away from this place as soon as possible.

Although the paddling continued to be challenging and strenuous, I felt that I was making good progress. Early on in the day I had to decide where to paddle; close inshore through all the rock gardens with the risk of hitting submerged rocks, or further out, which meant a few hundred feet out, to avoid the rocks but paddle in more turbulent waters and take chances with the gusts of wind that sometimes hit without warning. I decided to paddle close to the shore.

I took another break at Punta Trinidad, a beautiful point, low sand banks with hills in the background but the wind was so strong that I could not eat anything without getting a mouthful of sand also.

I paddled around the point and immediately got into trouble. The wind around the point was very violent. Inshore the swells and waves were much bigger than I had had earlier in the day. I could see an area of much calmer water ahead but before I got there I got stuck on submerged rocks; three times in succession. The first one was the worst; I was stuck solid and could not move. There were no waves to wash me off the rocks again; there was only turbulence.

I was lucky to have landed on a relatively flat rock. I was firmly stuck, but at least I was steady and in no immediate danger of capsizing. It took me a few minutes of pushing and shoving but I managed to get off, albeit it with a lot of scraping against the bottom of the boat. I was concerned about damage but could do nothing immediately.

I got pinned twice more until I was through this rough patch, then paddled straight to the nearest beach to inspect for damage.

There was indeed sufficient damage to cause me to stop paddling for the day. At one spot, the fiberglass had been punctured and there was a dent in the bare wood. At a few other places, the fiberglass had been rubbed through and the wood was showing. This needed to be repaired before continuing with the trip so I unloaded the kayak, turned it upside down and let it dry in the heat and the wind.

I decided to do the repair the following morning so that the wood had a chance to dry out completely overnight before I sealed it again with epoxy and fiberglass.

The beach I was on was beautiful; crescent shaped, about one half of a mile long, wide and flat with soft, white sand.

Since it was still early in the afternoon and I could not yet do any work on the boat, I had all the time I wanted to do some beach combing.

It soon became clear that this beach had not been visited for a long time. There were no tire tracks or footprints anywhere. On the other hand, there were sand dollars everywhere, hundreds of them. I only picked up two very large ones to add to my collection and did not bother with the rest. I continued walking down the beach and came upon the shell of a tortoise, about 30” x 25”, in rather good condition. It looked as though this tortoise had died a natural death; inside the shell, a good part of the bone structure was still visible and the shell had not been cracked open. After spending an hour cutting open the bottom plate and removing the excess skin, I was left with a rather large shell to take back for Martijn, which I had no clue how to transport on my kayak. The rear deck was already full with the kayak cart, sand dollars; dolphin skull and water bucket. There was no way I could add anything else; something had to go.

Continuing my walk down the beach, I found a second tortoise shell, about the same size as the first one. This one had obviously been poached; about one third of the shell had been hacked off to get to the meat inside.

The wind was still blowing hard and I needed to find a place to camp for the night. The beach was bordered by dunes with scrub vegetation and I was lucky to have found a small space in a little arroyo which was completely away from the beach and wind protected. This is where I put my tent, cooked my meal, had my cup of chocolate milk, was visited briefly by a hare with impossibly long ears and went to bed, on the whole quite happy with the way the day had been and looking forward to calmer weather. May be tomorrow?