Fishing and Sea glass

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a couple weeks since I wrote anything on here – too busy doing not much of anything, but loving it!

sunrise at San Lucas Cove

Tres Virgines volcano

The next stop for us was Campo Rene near Punta Abreojos, somewhere we hadn’t checked out yet in previous years. A small camping area on the Pacific coast situated on the edge of a huge mangrove lagoon, supposedly great for kayaking and fishing. When we pulled in there was a small plane parked next to a palapa – they have their own dirt airstrip. Surprisingly the road out there was paved, thankfully, as it was 75 km. off the main hiway. It was an excellent area for birding, especially as the tide went out and several large sandbars appeared for the birds to hang out on. We spotted both white and brown pelicans, ibis, night herons, osprey, long billed curlew, several kinds of egrets and too many shore birds to count. We took the kayak out every day but the fish were not really cooperating – I did manage to catch some spotted bay bass after another camper took pity on us and gave us some useful info!

reddish egret in a crowd!

young white ibis

the Pacific coast

sunset on the mangrove lagoon

The local Mexicans all belong to a fishing cooperative in Punta Abreojos so we checked out the store attached to their plant – lobster tails, fish, abalone, oysters for sale. We picked up a kilogram of lobster tails (5 tails) for about $40 and a couple cans of smoked oysters. We drove to the next town on a dirt road across the tidal flats where they sell from a different co-op – cans of abalone for 1190 pesos, $80 (same size as a can of beans!)

very expensive seafood!

fishermans beach in Punta Abreojos

a lot of beautiful churches here

the sand/dirt road across the tidal flats, took it for 12 kms.

We saw a lot of birds, a few turtles and even a couple of dolphins feeding. A peaceful, quiet place to hang out for 5 days. Plus of course a few shells to collect as well.

yellow crowned night heron

Next stop – San Lucas Cove campground, where we are hanging out for two weeks. We discovered this place in 2012; met some wonderful people and we keep coming back. It is on the shore of the Sea of Cortez, on a bay, lots of palm trees and probably the best shower building on all of Baja. The price is right, only $60 US per week! The folks here are friendly, especially Vi & Eric from the NWT – Eric is a fisherman and is kind enough to take me out fishing in his 10 ft inflatable boat. There is only room for 2 and I enjoy fishing more than Robin – in his words “He likes catching, not fishing”. We have been out twice, we caught 2 sierras, a bonita & a yellowfin croaker the first trip and 5 different fish the 2^nd – sierra, spotted bass bass, rooster fish, barracuda & lizard fish our second trip. Definitely good fishing!

Living the Dream!

heading out fishing

my fishing buddy Eric & the roosterish that I caught

heading into San Lucas cove

my 2 sierras

We have been out in the kayak across the bay only once, 1.5 km across, where Robin did some beach combing on the spit of land and I tried unsuccessfully to catch a fish.

the camp is across the bay

vultures

 It has been windy and not really kayak weather so we have driven into Santa Rosalia, 15 km north, to beachcomb a couple times along the black sand beaches. We were surprised to find amazing seaglass and lots of it – I will have raw material for jewelry making for years! There is a large copper mine just north of the town and we are finding some interesting rocks with beautiful green & blue coloring which are associated with copper, hopefully some will be decent quality to cut & polish once we get home.

black sand beach

Seaglass, a small sampling

There is a small restaurant on the edge of the camping area run by a Mexican couple, the place doesn’t look like much but the food is wonderful. I had a shrimp meal served in big clam shells, smothered in cheese and delicious!

Bahia Restaurant, on the beach

I finally decide to try having our laundry done by a Mexican lady (quite common here) – I took 4 loads, including sheets & towels to her house and picked them up the next morning. She charged 100 pesos, about $7 Can. and everything was neatly folded and I didn’t have to sit round in a laundromat where it would have cost more! I could get used to this!

As this is a small campground there are not many vendors who stop, just Luli, the shrimp lady and Miguel & Isabella, a couple from Oaxaca who sell handmade carpets. We bought placemats from them last year, everything they sell they have made, including dying the wool. We decide that we needed a rug for the RV, it looks great and it’s nice to be able to buy from the person who actually made it.

our carpet

We are here for another 5 nights, lots of time for sunbathing, catching up on reading, visiting and generally being lazy, plus hopefully some more kayaking. The motorhome has become “home” and is not giving us any issues. We will be in Cabo by mid December so will wait with any Christmas decorating until then. That’s all for now, Feliz Navidad.