Kayaking, Whales & onyx mine

We finished our  glorious 9 day stay on Santispac beach with some kayaking where we saw dozens of stingrays - glad we weren't swimming! I spent our last day of hot weather floating on my floatie in the ocean soaking up the last of the sun, then enjoying pizza delivery (unsolicited, just brought to the beach hoping to sell them). Robin went out in a small/tiny tin boat with Randy & they returned with 2 trigger fish.

We have spent 3 days driving through the desert, now much greener, with flowers blooming amongst the cacti. We unhooked the car & drove separately up the "Grade from Hell", easier than having the RV do all that pulling - we need to keep the old girl in good shape for future trips. We have been thru 3 military checkpoints where armed men search thru the RV looking for drugs & guns, somewhat imtimidating. We spent 2 nights in Guerrero Negro where we went out on another whale watching tour - they say they get only 1/2" of rain per year & we got half of it! Out on the water for 3 hrs, in a 20 ft boat, big waves, windy & rain - but all worthwhile as we saw many whales, but unfortunately still didn't get to touch one. Maybe next year! We went out for Chinese food, actually quite good, & had to "beg" the RV office to exchange US dollars for pesos as the banks in town don't like our debit card.

We went exploring to Ojo de Liebre lagoon, scouting for next year - took a wrong turn & ended up in the working area of the salt flats. They flood huge areas of land with sea water where it evaporates, then they scoop up the salt - big business, it's exported all over the world, including Canada as road salt. We got a good picture of one of their HUGE trucks, sort of what Adam drives. Of course we added a chunk of salt to our rock collection.

We visisted El Marmol, an abandoned onyx mine where we found a school building made entirely of blocks of onyx. There was everything from huge boulders to small chunks, all colorful srtiped onyx - white, yellow, orange, & green. Of course we brought back a "few" chunks, plus purchased a wind chime & some earrings. We camped in the yard of the family who run the small onyx gift shop & we woke to a temperature of 8C inside the RV & frost on the car! This is as close to winter as we would like to see!

We are now in San Quintin, on the Pacific coast - miles of deserted beach, big sand dunes & the occasional fisherman digging clams or diving for abalone. We have been "adopted" by a lovely family with 4 young kids from Pennsylvania. We spent the morning tiring each other out, going for a long walk along the beach after watching their dad surf. We went into town for lunch, found a palapa resturant where they make crab soup in a tinfoil "boat" & cook it over an open fire - delicious & picante! We went for a drive thru the farm fields of strawberries, broccoli & ?? and were lucky enough to see a roadrunner.

The Mexican part of our trip is nearly over, our last stop will be Ensenada - we will drive there tomorrow & be sure to stock up at the fish market.

Pictures: sunset at Santispac over the RV, stingray in the water, kayaking x2, whale tour - panga, whale spouting & us (yes it was cold), HUGE salt trucks, desert cacti, crab soup on the fire, & their resturant, Pacific beach at San Quintin.

Still Loving it!