Cabo for Christmas

Before we left the beach at Tecolote we managed to get out in the kayak for some fishing - again me fishing & Robin paddling. Once we found a good spot I managed to catch 7 fish & kept the 4 biggest ones. They were all sea bass/cabrilla, two different types, all small but good eating. We left Dec 22 to head to Cabo, stopping in Todos Santos for lunch & a limon ice cream. The hiway was wonderful, four lane all the way!

We were a bit disappointed as the campsite that we had last year was occupied, but we set up next to friends from last year. Go figure, in the morning we decided to move to a different site as that one had no sun. We are happily set up in a large site, complete with an ocean view & lots of sunshine. It is calm enough to keep our awning up all the time, and we have power to use lights to decorate. We bought a small waterfall for our yard in Edmonton somewhere in the US, so now our "yard" has a working waterfall. Of course I needed some plants so we now also have 2 palm trees in pots & 2 petunias for some color. The big palm tree has now been pruned by Robin and he rakes our sand daily. We did put out some Christmas decorations on Christmas Eve.

We were happy to be included for a Christmas dinner that a couple in a house here in the area was having. We met them last year, friendly folks from BC. We enjoyed turkey & all the trimmings and some good company. Our lobster will have to wait, probably for our New Years Eve supper.

We have been walking most mornings, gets pretty hot, 24-28 most days. We have been to the beach 3 times already, once walking to a close one, then twice to Santa Maria beach. We took the kayak out once and were treated to a spectacular show of flying "bat" rays. They are manta rays that leap out of the water & fly through the air. They travel in groups & several are flipping & flopping at once. We got within 15 ft of them, took some decent pictures & a movie. Not easy to focus in a kayak in the ocean, we had some big swells and waves. We also were lucky enough to see some whales at a distance lifting their tails out of the water & then slapping it down and repeating this many times. Our new binoculars came in handy to watch them.

We spent one day wandering around the touristy areas of Cabo San Lucas, actually Robin's idea. Didn't buy anything except breakfast & lunch, I had amazing smoked marlin tacos for lunch, we will be going back for more of those! We sat in a restaurant facing the marina, drank a bucket of beers with chips & salsa as we watched people coming in with their catch of dorado & marlin.

Robin has resumed his carving, today we walked up in the hills looking for suitable pieces of wood. We are doing a lot of reading, really enjoying our Kindles. Costco is fairly close, nice to have the conveniences.
Yesterday we heard of the main hi way south of Tijuana collapsing, due to small earthquakes & rain. This won't affect us as it's not the route we take. We won't be doing much driving for a month or two, other than local exploring and beach days.
Our internet stick is working well which is good because the WiFi here is not good & my iPad is virtually useless, so no FaceTime or Skype. Good old fashioned telephone calls for us. PS, to clarify, we both swam with the whale sharks, Robin seems to have figured out how to wear the snorkel mask without his mustache causing problems.
Hoping everyone had a great Christmas and wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Whale sharks at La Paz, an Oasis HD Experience!

We may not have TV anymore, but we keep having Oasis HD moments! We decided to be brave & venture out on the whale shark tour and it was unbelievable! The day began by me donning a wetsuit, Robin declined, and then heading out in a 26 ft panga (boat), complete with a tiny bano (bathroom). We did not have long to wait as a group of about 10 whale sharks had been spotted so we put on our snorkelling gear & jumped into the water. I must admit the water was pretty disgusting, full of plankton & poor visibility, so swimming almost blind, and then coming face to face with a 20-30 ft. whale shark less than 5 ft. away was frightening to say the least. Whale sharks are the world’s largest fish, growing to a length of 40 ft. & a weight of 15 tons. Thankfully they pretty much ignore the crazy people who chose to invade their territory. My biggest fear was swimming over top of one, then it lifting it’s body up & whacking me. They feed with their mouths wide open sucking in water which passes thru it’s “gills” & they keep the good stuff. They can process 1500 gallons of water per hour. They feed head up & tail down, but swim horizontally. They have several fish swimming right along their bodies, cleaning them. We spent close to an hour swimming with the group, never far from at least one or two – surreal experience! I used my camera in it's waterproof case, but the sharks were so close it was hard to get a good picture!

The day was far from done; we headed off towards Isla Espiritu Santo to a sea lion colony for snorkeling with them. On the way we spotted a humpback whale, passed amazing layered rock formations and stopped at a frigate bird colony. There were hundreds of birds flying or perched and the males had their red neck pouches all puffed up as it’s mating season. These birds are huge – 3 ft. across with a wingspan of 7 ft. The sea lion colony is home to hundreds of them, all making noise at once. We snorkeled with them, the young ones are especially curious, swimming underneath us & going right up to the boat, another fantastic experience! On the way back the captain stopped so we could watch a group of manta rays splashing & swimming, then to watch turtles poking their heads up in another bay. Lunch was ceviche served on a lovely beach. The whole day tour was only $60 each!

We spent another beautiful day kayaking at Balandra bay as it is more protected from the wind & waves. We explored a mangrove area & of course Robin had to paddle down a passage way until it almost closed in on us. We stopped at 4 or 5 little beaches, had a picnic on one and enjoyed the sunshine & 26-28C temperatures.

We are camped at Tecolote beach, tucked into the sand dunes just back from the ocean, listening to the waves lull us to sleep. It has been windy, the one calm day was the whale shark tour, but it is warm. We have walked the beaches and today hiked up into, then over the hills to the next bay, of course picking up a few more interesting rocks. Yesterday while walking along the beach we spotted an 18” manta ray feeding in the shallow water, flipping up its wingtips up & out of the water as it swam. We stood very still, in ankle deep water & it kept passing 3 ft. in front of us as it circled thru the area. Another Oasis HD moment for sure!

Sorry to disappoint you Pat, but we have not done any decorating for Christmas. We will relocate to the campground in Cabo before the 25^th, maybe then we will pull out a few things. The holiday will be a quiet one, thinking of our families & enjoying some lobster on the barbeque.  We wish everyone Feliz Navidad & Ano Prospero 2014. Also Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Thanks again for the comments, we definitely appreciate them.

Heading South

Left the beach at Santispac after 2 glorious weeks, made some new friends, caught up with folks we met last year, drank a lot of cervesas & vino and generally had a great time. I had my hair cut for the princely sum of 80 pesos, less than $8. We bought ground beef, actually watched the guy cut it off a large chunk, trimmed it & put it through the grinder - not a common sight in Canada. We did some exploring, checked out some beachfront homes, other beaches, hiked along a now dry riverbed that showed evidence of a tremendous amount of water flow earlier this year & collected a few more rocks.

Went back & dug more clams, lots more kayaking, including Robin finding & collecting scallops that we needed to have Chicho (a helpful local) teach us how to clean. Way too much work, we bought the next batch from Chicho, all cleaned & ready to cook. We needed to add money to our internet stick, very tricky with a woman who spoke no English.

We visited Wendy & Randy and were very impressed with the home that they have bought in Mulege. We enjoyed supper out with them, then had to drive home in the dark - the first rule in Mexico "never drive at night", but we were fine. It was nice to see the town lit up, Christmas decorations everywhere. We still are having trouble getting used the whole siesta thing - shops close from 1:00-4:00, then are open late.

Driving in Mexico continues to be an experience, from workers sweeping & painting the hi way ditches by hand, to crazy bicyclists in the middle of our lane, going up a hill (required a quick stop, not easy in a "house"). The part that drives Robin crazy are the vibradores & topes - small strips of concrete across the road designed to slow you before curves & the huge hills of concrete meant to slow you in towns. They often "sneak" up on you, but if you miss slowing for a tope you may leave part of your under carriage behind!

We have taken countless pictures of birds and tried some underwater shots - the best is of a Cortez angelfish. Amazing how close you can get to things in a kayak. We followed more dolphins. We got caught out in the kayak when a big wind picked up, got pretty wet getting back to shore, luckily we have built up good muscles from paddling. We had another successful fishing trip, caught a red snapper, delicious barbecued whole.

We hiked up the hi way above the beach at Santispac for a few good photos.

We have headed south, today are in La Paz at a campground, caught up on laundry & filled with water, did some shopping at Walmart. Nice drive here, the roads are better than last year and everything is so lush & green. We stopped to buy a sack of oranges from a roadside stand - 20 lbs for 60 pesos ( less than $6.)
Found a large green bug on our awning today, close to 4 inches long!
Tomorrow we head out to Tecolote beach for a few days of sun, sand & kayaking. It is quite a bit warmer here & hopefully less windy. We will probably head to Cabo before Christmas.

Happy holiday shopping, glad we can avoid the craziness! Living the Dream!