El Pescadores

My mom has departed. We had a lovely time and I think she has a new appreciation for Mexican wine. Even as her airplane was leaving the runway in Loreto, we were hurdling south, away from the Baja winter, toward the warm waters of the Bay of Banderas. If you’ve never been here, northern Mexico does get a winter, a much more manageable winter than Canada but still a winter. Of course we’re hurdling at a leisurely pace. Willow has given herself a makeover. Apart from the new leopard print top and frilly shorts, her eyebrows, which she dyed quite dark this morning, have really matured. Soon they’ll blossom into beautiful butterflies.

Tensions are a little high at the moment. Sunshine III has recently become a non smoking vessel and as her crew sweats out the last bit of nicotine in their bodies, anyone could snap at any second. I’ll keep you posted on any developments. We saw a herd? Flotilla? Pod? Flock? (Feel free to give me the correct nomenclature)Of whale sharks yesterday. We rowed after them in the tiny boat but they seemed annoyed by our presence and evaded us time after time, so no great pictures. It feels really good, at least to me to be moving south at a steady pace again. Kirstyn and I were both tired of traveling and ready to relax when we arrived in La Paz back in November, but that was November. This sea has been good to us but what’s the point in being mobile if you don’t keep moving? New is exciting, yesterday’s news is just that. Our tentative plan is to do some long haul trucking through the summer. It’s been a long time since we’ve lived a land based existence, and it’s time to remind ourselves why we left it behind. It also feels like time to rebuild the savings for next season. What happens when you swallow large quantities of gum? When you were a child your parents might have told you it all collects in you and stays in your guts. Kirstyn claims this is untrue and she once had an entire gum poo. It was a pink Double Bubble poo to be precise. Costco sells the stuff by the bucket complete with the comic strip in each piece. She didn’t eat the comics. The gum poo left no residue and came out clean. “Was it a sticky situation?” Willow wanted to know. So tell your children, swallowing gum as eh-okay and requires little wiping. Modesty versus function, where did clothes come from? Is the loincloth a real article of clothing that was worn or a fictional creation by European and American artists to hide the heathen’s junk? Were the natives in the Amazon happily going about their business naked before some Jesuit priest showed up and told them they need to cover their stuff up? Will dolphins wear clothes some day? I can swim faster nude so it’d be a shame if they did. When I’m in charge nudity will be mandatory, weather permitting.

Kirstyn: Is that person on shore?

Willow: Shorely not.

Jerin: The water is very clear here.

Willow: Clearly a great spot.

Complete with battle scars

After a lengthy dry spell we finally slayed a fish, and a hell of a fish it is. When we were in Mulege we were told there’s no Dorado this time of year and we ought to be jigging yellow tail or trolling with a yellow and green plug. We tried a bunch of stuff and not a single bite. So today we went back to the tried and true slayer of Dorado. We put it on our new handline setup, and low and behold, we reeled in, or more accurately, dragged in a chubby yellowfin tuna.

Bahhhhhh. Bahhhhh.

Piñata stuff

My mom has spent this past week with us. We cruised to Isla Carmen, visited an abandoned salt works and ghost town and the beautiful beach in Bahia Salinas. It rained for about a half hour, the first rain we’ve seen since September. The salt ponds are very cool. It looks like a winter wonderland in the desert with electric blue water and salt formations, mostly snowy white but in some places the salt is pink or even green. Last night we had a fire on the beach, barbecued some burgers and destroyed our piñata that we’ve been hauling around since La Paz. Isla Carmen is populated with desert big horn sheep and the island is a hunting destination. We met a fellow from Calgary that’s here hunting, or more accurately, his friend is hunting and he’s along for the ride. He told us his friend paid a hundred thousand dollars to shoot one sheep. Now, there are a lot of animals that he could shoot in Canada for the cost of a hunting license and a bullet, so what makes this particular sheep so special? Could it be the challenge of the hunt? Isla Carmen is not that big and we’re told there’s over six hundred sheep on the island. We’ve seen two and we weren’t even looking for them. So is it that he’s paying a hundred thousand dollars to hang the head of an endangered species on his wall? Apparently the sheep were transplanted on these islands because they’re about to go extinct on the Baja. I also wonder how much it costs to shoot a lion or a rhino. Wouldn’t those be the most sought after by trophy hunters? I guess it’s probably a cash cow for the Mexican government, if there are rich people that will pay it, why not sell them a sheep? It doesn’t seem like good value to me though, a hundred grand to drive around an island for ten days and shoot one sheep. If I paid that I’d want to be picking off every sheep I could find, and maybe some jackrabbits as well, get my money’s worth. Anyway, with a couple days left (as of when I wrote this) till my mom flies out, we’re heading around to puerto Ballandra on the other side of the island to see if we can spot some of these overpriced sheep.

Hallway sleeping

The other day at Puerto Escondido, Willow and I did an epic hike up a canyon with water falls and dangerous rock climbs well beyond our level of expertise. We didn’t plummet to our deaths, so it all worked out. It was like a desert oasis in the mountains with waterfalls and frogs and palm trees. It’s behind the power substation, just follow the canyon up if you find yourself in the area and wanna do some great hiking. Did you notice I used the word epic above? Yup, douchebaggery.