The Baja Paddle

Today, I was bitten by a shark! We got on the water at 6.30 am from San Lino, without a breeze and with the north swell in our backs. Within one hour, the wind was back, but also from the north so we had the wind and swells pushing us in the right direction, albeit in difficult paddling conditions with white caps on the swells and some breaking waves. We rounded Punta El Medano Blanca with the goal to reach San Nicolas. After a tough two hours we stopped for a break at San Sebastian where the locals told us that San Nicolas was 6 miles away and that tomorrow the wind would be even stronger than today. We decided to look for a reasonably sheltered spot to spend the rest of the day. Back out on the water, though, we found that… Continue reading

I launched at approx 7.00am for a six mile paddle to Mulege. The sea was calm, the wind had not yet started.I was paddling in the direction of two shrimp boats which were moored off Mulege. I rounded the point and the light house was right in front of me, less than a mile away. The lighthouse was the meeting point that Martijn and I had arranged. I did not see his car, or tent so decided to paddle into the Rio Mulege and land somewhere close. As I was entering the estuary, I saw Martijn’s “Diablo rojo” come into view on his roof rack. I saw him get out of the car and talk to some people; he had not noticed me yet. I started waving the paddle which someone noticed and then Martijn came rushing to the shore to help me get the boat on land.

I met Christine and Rosie, two australian women traveling the USA and Mexico, as well as Sam, their friend from California. I also met another real character, Tarzan (not his real name, I am quite sure), who the previous day had become Martijn’s big buddy. Apparently they had been drinking beers all evening and if they remembered anything at all it was that they got on like a house on fire.

Tarzan had lots of stories to tell… Continue reading

I woke up regularly during the night to shift my body in a more comfortable position. During one of these awake periods, I witnessed a most beautiful moon set; it was a very clear night, a waxing moon just above the horizon and it had the same orange/yellow colors which we had seen a few weeks earlier, when the moon was full and rising. I watched the moon set completely and then went back to sleep a few more hours.

The sun was well up before I decided it was time to get out of my sleeping bag. I was not in a hurry because the waves crashing on the shore were not very inviting. The surf on this spot was rough; big dumping waves on a very steep shore. Continue reading

The next few days were going to be a solo paddle. Martijn was going to organize things in Mulege while I paddled the 35 odd miles. Martijn accompanied me for a while after we left the Campo Lucas. We paddled out through the mouth of the estuary, which supposedly harbors great numbers of stingray, but we did not see any on the shallow sand bank which we paddled across. We paddled close along the shore, on the fringe of the sea grass where Martijn saw a big moray eel. After a while, he decided to explore the rocky shore for a while before paddling back to Campo Lucas.

I continued on my way south in increasing wind and turbulent water. Ultimately it would become a day of heavy paddling in sometimes very confused seas which took more… Continue reading

We shared a panga with Jim and a family of four. Our expectations were high; everyone we had talked to recently had had close encounters, with the baby whales and sometimes the mothers coming towards the pangas to interact with the people on board.

We had no such luck; we saw plenty of whales but mostly from a distance of at least 60 ft away, without anyone being inclined to interact with us. We were already on the way back to the camp when we got close to about five or six whales; they did not move away immediately. They did not come c lose, either, but at least…  Continue reading

I got up before sunrise, showered, and started driving south to Bahia de LA, where dad was waiting. It was a pretty uneventful drive, I stopped for gas and snacks, as well as a piece of Agave cactus to later make a didgeridoo out of. 8 hours later I got to Bahia, it was still windy, and Dad told me it had been blowing violently the entire day before. The forecast had said light winds, hah, we know not to trust the forecast anymore. We packed up most of our stuff in order to drive to Santa Rosalia the next day. Since we were going right through Guerrerro Negro we decided we might as well go see the Gray whales which have their calves in one of the lagoons there. Good dinner, and bed followed.

Congratulations!! It is March 8th, Martijn’s 30th birthday of all days. I wonder how he is going to spend the day today? Fortunately we got a very short, scrambled email this morning from Martijn and Herman and I just got a very bad Skype call from Martijn, unfortunately I could hardly understand a word. They are in a small little fishing town called Gonzaga Bay (check out the map) and are having a lot of difficulty making progress because of very strong head winds but otherwise things are going fine. Please, everybody who reads this, drop Martijn a birthday wish by leaving a comment, I know he’ll appreciate it!

It was a very calm morning; the sea was placid and a beautiful deep azure color. We were apprrehensive, though, we had been fooled by these kind of conditions before. However, we did take advantage of this calm to have a relaxed breakfast and gather the strewn about gear. Everything was dry; the strong wind had made sure of that, there was not even dew anywhere. We finally get on the water, at 7.15 am and had the most pleasant and leisurely paddle possible; unreal after the battle of the previous day. Today is Matijn’s birthday; when I congratulated him this morning it hardly seemed to register. He is obviously very concerned about the conditions we find ourselves in every day and has a hard time relaxing. We neede to paddle only about one mile to reach Gonzaga Bay. Halfway there I paddled over to Martijn and congratulated him on behalf of his mother, and pulled a birthday card and present out of my PFD. I had strict oders to deliver this by boat, and fortunately the weather conditions allowed me to do this today. Martijn’s mood improved noticeably after that. This was unexpected, and the weather was still nice. I do not think that he could have had a better birthday present when considering the circumstances we were in… Continue reading

Against all expectations, the wind has diminished in strength. We have had this before, though, only to be surprised by a sudden increase, mostly accompanied by strong gusts. We carry a wind meter with us and take a few readings every day. Invariably the average wind strength is around 20 mph, with gusts of up to 30 mph, and a total unpredictability of direction. Thus, we are not in a hurry to pack up and when John invites us into his home for a cup of tea for breakfast, we eagerly accept. John tells us that he lives on an island, approx. 80 miles before the Alaska main land. He is the only inhabitant of this island and spends his time fishing and improving his home, as well as entertaining lots of visitors. The only way to get to his island is by boat or float plane. Much to our surprise… Continue reading

Daybreak was beautiful. Breakfast was good, and the hot chocolate tasted very good on a sunny but cold morning. We were hoping for calm weather to continue with our paddle. A little before noon we were ready to go and since the winds were calm, we set off at a good clip, the ebb tide helping us along. Juan had told us about the Percebu estuary. We got there just before high tide and caught the last of the tide filling the estuary. The beach was full of pelicans, with an assortment of other birds also lining the beach. The beach was supposedly full of sand dollars. Martijn and I searched high and low, and far away, but we only managed to find a grand total of one sand dollar! So much for “local knowledge”… The sunset was beautiful and we took the time to take a number of low light pictures. Martijn made a great dinner and as we were about to finish our meal, we saw the most beautiful moonrise. The moon was big and bright and yellow and orange. It rose against the backdrop of a dark deep blue sea and a black night. There was not a cloud in the sky. It seemed to take forever to rise higher, as if it was showing off its beautiful colors. After about ten minutes it lost its color and turned the normal silvery white, although it stayed very bright. We slept next to the boats to be able to launch immediately at high tide, which was at 1.00am.