Lazy Beach Days

We are now parked on an amazing beach as we journey northward – a favorite for us and many others -  Playa Santispac. Today there are 85 RVers here, some days as few as 39, plus 11-16 sailboats in the bay. Unfortunately it has been rather chilly and very windy – we finally got out in the kayak today and we have been here 9 days! Daytime high temps only 20-22C, lows of 12-15!

 

Santispac Beach, we are in the middle

snowy egret

On the way here we stopped for a couple nights in La Paz, a big city. Carnival had just ended but we got to experience a 2 day celebration for the kids, complete with midway, games of chance, a parade and of course, food! We sat and watched the set-up of the booths at an outdoor bar, then returned the next day for more food and the parade. We took over 30 minutes driving around to find parking, only 5 blocks away!

moving candy cart!

games of chance

more candy - big commodity here

parade float

wheee

more parade

a delicious snack - fresh fried bun with cream cheese & Nutella

the balloon man

We did get in a half day of kayaking at Balandra Bay & into the mangrove lagoon, lots of birds to see. The beach was almost empty when we arrived but very full when we left!

Great Blue Heron

heading into the mangrove lagoons

white ibis

black-crowned night heron

 We stopped at Tecolote beach where we have camped in previous years, just for a walk along the shore. We were surprised to see 61 RVers there, free camping,  many more than in other years, including 11 European rigs.

 

3 European rigs

Onward to Santispac, stopping at a couple spots to look for fossils (as per our new Baja geology book) - we found seashell imprint fossils from the Miocene era, over 10 million years old. We stopped at a small town, Las Pocitas, where an old fellow showed us his arrowhead and fossilized shark/Megladon teeth collection, very impressive!

 

a lot of fossilized shark teeth & arrowheads

sea shell fossil imprints

thru the mountains

Here at Santispac we have caught up with our old friends, Serge & Suzanne, taken in a couple of Happy Hours at Armandos Restaurant , bought fresh shrimp and scallops to take home, met a lot of new folks and enjoyed listening and dancing to a band called Eddy and the Slow Learners (actually very good, despite the name). We have picked clams at Requeson Beach, steamed them, ate a bunch and the rest are in the freezer for chowder at home. Using our spotting scope we can watch baby pelicans on an island – unfortunately too far away for good pictures. One of the two beach restaurants sells bakery goods 3 times per week – we don’t want for much, except maybe cell service and WiFi.

Robin digging for clams

the narrow sand spit at Requeson beach where we dug for clams

our bounty, only a couple inches deep

steaming & eating clams

We hiked up a fairly large hill across from us, gave us an excellent view of the beach we are camped on as well as the islands and the beautiful blue-green water.

the hill we hiked, across the bay

at the top

Santispac Beach in the distance

Robin doing his daily beach raking

we found/picked 8 scallops at low tide

the scallops, delicious!

We are sad to leave such a place but northward we must go – next to San Lucas Cove for a couple days, hoping to find more seaglass on the beaches of Santa Rosalia.

We are looking forward to getting home and seeing the family, as we continue to live the dream!    

there are all kinds of RVs out there - nice folks in this one

Costa Hummingbird