STEPPING OUT…PAST 70 ARRIBA, ARRIBA chapter 6

ARRIBA, ARRIBA!

Chapter 6- The critters that we met

Welcome back, everyone!

I have no idea of what bird or animal represents Mexico, but the most dominant bird that we met was the Pelican. This noble bird glided effortlessly just above the surface of the water, searching for fish and when one was found, it literally stuck a wing in the water then plunked down with a splash to capture its prey. An amazing sight!

 

They guarded every corner and covered every fishing boat. Not too proud to take free handouts. The first night in Loreto we ate at a little cantina by the marina and watched the flocks of pelicans swooping in for delicious leftovers from the fishermen.

The next most seen mammal was the dolphin, but I’ve already shared our sightings of those.

We had the pleasure of seeing the Blue Footed Booby, a rare find, pretending to be a pelican!

We had the pleasure of doing some snorkeling and saw tons of colourful fish, but alas had no camera to take pictures. We did capture these pictures in the shallows;

   

  Sadly, I do not have a picture of is the Tarantula and the Scorpion that joined us in our campsite. I’ll tell you it made us think twice about leaving our tent at night.

In the day following our epic adventure, we took a boat ride to another island in the Loreto area – Coronado Island, which is the closest one to Loreto and considered a great place for snorkeling, diving, hiking and beaches. And the home the stinkiest animal that we’ve ever met—the Sea Lion. These fellows are huge and apparently very lazy, complacent, loud and great sun lovers.

       

Mexico is an amazing place and this was an awesome expedition. Mexico will see us again.

Adios!

Lynn

 

P.S. If you’re looking for an exciting read—try The Jantastic Trilogy – an adventure series set right here in the north. Fun for the whole family. Available on Amazon.

                                                          

                                               Book 1                                             Book 2                                                                              Disaster! Around the Bend             Disaster! Not my plan!

                              https://a.co/d/076UIT3Y         https://a.co/d/089vY5Yn

                                                                           Book 3

Disaster! Where’s my Canoe?

STEPPING OUT…PAST 70 – ARRIBA, ARRIBA Chapter 5

Chapter 5- On the Land

Welcome back, everyone!

The land was hot—very hot and dry—very dry. The last rain that graced the land was December 2025 and it was April now. So much for April showers bringing May flowers. Although an occasional flower could be found.

 

There wasn’t a rainy, nor cloudy day for the entire trip and the land reflected that reality. Most of the shoreline of Carmen was sand and rock set against tall cliffs and rocky outcrops, with very sparse vegetation. There were no trees, as we know trees, just short often struggling bushes and very little greenery. But despite being a thirsty, barren land, it was not entirely devoid of vegetation. Cactuses of all sizes dotted the hills, standing tall, like the trees we have in Canada, but more unfriendly with their spiny, prickly hides.

At times we ventured away from the beach to hike to the top of a ridge, but it was hot, dusty and full of plants that wanted to stick or bite you. The ground was covered in loose shale, that crumbled under your feet as you climbed, making the whole expedition a bit treacherous.

 

Camping was an interesting part of the adventure. That is the adventure of finding a space flat enough to set up a tent, with as few small rocks as possible and as much shade as you could find against the overhanging ledges.

Sometimes you were just so beat after a hot day of paddling that you didn’t really care where you put your tent. You just flaked out on the beach.

Not that a tent really seemed to matter, because there was almost never any dew. A fact that caused one of our guides to sleep out under the stars every night—no tent—no tarp. But once she got really wet because we were struck with what our guide called a ‘dew-nami’ and we woke up with everything wet that we had left on the beach to dry—including Maria! So, the rest of us put up tents.

 

This sandy beach was probably the best camping spot of the trip, if you didn’t mind a fine sand in everything from clothing to food. Some people are never satisfied!

Yes, camping was a challenge to the stiffening older bones and aching backs from too many rocky spots, but it was worth it for all the amazing sights that we enjoyed.

See you next time, where I’ll show you some of the critters that we saw.Like this stone bear—do you see it?

Lynn

P.S. If you’re looking for an exciting read—try The Jantastic Trilogy – an adventure series set right here in the north. Fun for the whole family. Available on Amazon.

Stepping Out past 70- chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Wow, just like the movie!

Welcome back, everyone!

Well, despite my doubts we were allowed on the planes—for a fee, of course. We travelled by car to Toronto, flew with Air Canada to Calgary, then with West Jet to Loreto, Mexico. That flying adventure took two days, but went fairly smoothly considering the amount of luggage we were toting.

In Loreto, we walked from the plane into a small, modern airport, where we were greeted by a young man, who was sooooo excited to meet us. He literally dragged us over to his booth, where, in broken English he enthusiastically told us about all the wonderful things he could do for us—from arranging the taxi (which he owned) to helping us fill every second of our ‘down’ time before and after the kayak trip.

Do you remember the Herbie goes Banana’s movie that came out in the 80’s? Well, this fellow reminded me of Paco, the orphan boy, in that movie.

Regardless of how it was organized, because of our ‘Paco’, we had the privilege of touring a magnificent resort nestled into the stark hills surrounding Danzante Bay, that we would otherwise not have seen. The Danzante Bay Golf Resort is a green oasis set amid the rock and sand, of that dry, cactus-filled land. We enjoyed our tour and we’ll go back again.

See you next time, as we hit the water on our epic kayak expedition into the Gulf of California to paddle around Isla del Carmen—all 15,000 hectares of it.

Lynn