Rescue on the Bay

Yesterday a group of 8 or 10 people moved into the hut next to us (nice non-rowdy folks). They are here with a naturalist to study the area and also do some kayaking. Abraham had told us that the woman has brought people and kayaks here several times, so we assumed she was pretty savvy about taking people out paddling in these waters.

We paddle in the early morning while the water is fairly calm, but this morning I noticed that our neighbors were getting on the water late, after the winds had already started to pick up. Kai mentioned that the 2 'older' women (our age group ha-ha) in the double kayak seemed to be inexperienced and were having trouble getting the hang of steering the boat. We assumed they were just going to do some practice maneuvers close to shore today, but the whole group headed out across the bay instead.

The winds continued to get more vigorous and we used our binoculars to keep the paddlers in sight. We could barely see them against the opposite shore and they disappeared for awhile - probably went into a cove to have lunch. Later we sighted them again and it looked like they were trying to head back. It didn't seem like they were making much forward progress and in fact it looked like they were being blown out towards the mouth of the bay.

By then the winds had started blowing away from shore and the water was getting rougher. I went to alert Abraham and he prepared his boat to go out and check on them. Donna is the owner of Mariah http://www.mariahwe.com - a white water rafting company in northern California, and she's very familiar with water rescue so she grabbed a couple of our bagged rescue lines and went with Abraham.

When they reached the paddlers, the 2 women in the double kayak were totally exhausted and were being towed by Marie. They were still 2 or 3 miles from shore and one of the women could barely make it into Abraham's boat. He and Donna tied one of the kayaks across his bow and rigged 3 others for towing, while the stronger kayakers continued paddling to shore.

Abraham had mentioned that his boat was low on gas and we were concerned when he seemed to be drifting farther away. We found out later that it took a long time to secure all the boats before he could start towing them in slowly. Beach Bob had radioed an SOS to the sailboats anchored nearby and a couple of folks quickly motored out in dinghies to see if Abraham needed help with the rescue. He had everything under control by the time they arrived and he just laughed and yelled out, "I'm not giving you any of my boats or my women."

Fortunately there was a lull in the wind when they reached shore and they were able to unload everyone easily. Kai and I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "OK, now we don't have to worry anymore... back to our reading."

Friends and Neighbors

Several of the local redheads gather at this spot to hang out on the cacti.

I spotted this equine memorial along the dirt road leading out to Gecko. Someone has created a unique display to honor the memory of Hector y Sunshine.

Beach Bob

When we were walking north along the beach, we saw an interesting stone building with beer logos hung on the outside walls and a sign above the porch saying 'Beach Bob'. We walked up and yoo-hoo'd for Bob and asked him if this was a bar. He said, "No... but come on in for a drink." Though we declined the drink, we chatted him up for awhile and he shared some interesting tidbits about the area and some of the folks who live here.
We asked if he knew where we could get some fish and he went to his freezer and brought out a big chunk of frozen yellowtail. He said he had caught a lot of fish recently and was getting tired of eating it. Thanks for sharing, Bob! Later we cooked the fish on the grill and made mango salsa to go with it.

Camp Gecko Paradise

We've been here for a few days and practically have the place to ourselves. The tropical storm missed us except for a couple of windy days. We were hoping some fishermen would come by to sell us their catch, but they haven't gone out lately because the water has been too rough outside the bay. Even the birds get off the water in the afternoon when the wind kicks up. It's still warm and balmy and we've been enjoying the luxury of reading for hours or scavenging the beach.
I like to wake up at dawn and watch the horizon turn pink before the sun pops up over the hills across the bay. The water is as smooth as glass until the wind picks up at about 10:00. As soon as it started getting light we got in our kayaks and headed out across the bay. We spotted pods of 2 types of dolphins, though Toni and I think the larger/darker ones may have been small whales. There are 12 kinds of dolphins and whales that spend time in these waters.
We had paddled halfway across the bay when the wind picked up, so we headed back to our beach rather than take a chance on getting blown farther out. We were told that several kayakers have not heeded the weather changes and have been swept out of the bay into the Sea of Cortez, sometimes never to be seen again.

More LA Bay

There is a market nearby at the end of our dusty, four mile long dirt road where we can stock up on beer and fill our water containers from their purified-water vending machine. The fruit and vegetable selection is pretty sparse but we're glad to be able to get something anyway.


Well it's a tough life dining by the bay. Tonight we grilled chicken and made more mango salsa.

Book Project

While nosing around the campground, we found a covered patio with rickety bookshelves overflowing with hundreds of dusty paperbacks that had been left by other campers. Ahah... a project for us! We spent a couple of hours organizing the shelves and putting the books in alphabetical order by author. We also stocked up on our own reading material for the rest of our time in Baja.
Donna was moving a stack of books when ZING - she was stung by a pale yellow scorpion. We didn't know how venomous the Mexican scorpions are, so someone ran to find Doc and ask him if we should be concerned. In the meantime, I ran to my rig and got an icepack that I tied to her hand with a scarf. Abraham came by and said the sting is less harmful than a bee sting and her hand should feel normal within 4 hours.

Patio View

We have a great view of Bahia de Los Angeles from our patio. When we're not hanging out in the hammock or chairs reading, we scan the bay and beach with binoculars spying on the birds or trying to spot dolphins. In the late afternoon light, the mountains surrounding the bay light up and cast interesting shadows. Sometimes I enjoy the view while listening to music on my CD player and 'dancing' on the twist board.

Catavina to the Sea of Cortez

This morning I awoke at dawn and took my chair out into the desert to meditate, then took a short walk with my binoculars to spy on the birds as they chattered their welcome to the new day. We all love the beauty of this area and decided to stop on the way back to hike into the boulder fields. Today we're anxious to hit the road and get to Bahia de Los Angeles where we will hang for awhile. We heard that a hurricane was originally supposed to hit, but that it broke up and got reclassified to the status of tropical storm.

When we arrived at Bahia de L.A. we first checked out the campgrounds to the north and agreed that we would return to Daggett's c.g. if we didn't find something we liked better. On the south end of town we followed a rough dirt road for about 4 miles and found Camp Gecko, a place suitable for our small rigs. http://www.campgecko.com
We decided to be decadent and rented a primitive open-air 'cabin' with a palm-thatched roof. Although we will still sleep in our vans, we have our own toilet and shower in the hut, and use the kitchen for food prep and clean up. Our covered patio provides shade from the afternoon sun.Camp Gecko is owned by Abraham Vasquez, who is also referred to as Doc. He is a medical doctor who fell in love with the area when he came to do social service while getting his medical degree. He decided to stay on and moved down here 15 years ago and started building the camp. He used to have an office in the tiny town, but now folks just come to his house when they need care. Most of them are poor and pay him about $3 a visit.

Catavina Boulder Fields

This morning we drove back out to Mex 1 and headed south to El Rosario, where we stopped for lunch at Mama Espinosa's. The lobster burritos were delicious, though expensive. Portions were large, so we saved half of our lunch to eat for dinner tonight. Kai thought she might be having brake problems so we asked for directions to a repair shop. They couldn't find anything wrong, but the odd noise disappeared so she felt reassured.
Our stopping point for the night is Catavina, a beautiful area of huge granite boulders, date palms, and cacti forests of magnificent cardon and the odd looking cirio (boojum tree). We drove off the highway about 3/4 mile toward Rancho Santa Inez, which is just a large packed-sand parking area with several shade trees. We are the only campers here, so we circled our vans around the largest shade tree and got the chairs out for happy hour and leftover lobster burritos.

We visited with Ralph (I think that's his name) who was out on his 4-wheeler running his dog on a leash. I'm not clear if he owns this place or has just lived down here for many decades. He told some anecdotes about his experiences in the area and said, "McQueen and Garner used to come down here on their motorcycles when they wanted to get away from the Hollywood scene for awhile".