Friday, April 26

North 29° 20.980'
West 113° 43.038'
Distance: 13.2 miles

We paddled 13.2 miles today. We woke up late, had an egg, read, walked around, and just played for a while. The wind was bad this morning so we decided not to paddle today. After a while we made - well, Jay made - banana pancakes again. Yum! Last night we had tacos made from some of the smoked yellowtail, most of the rest of the cheese, tomatoes, avocado, and tortillas. Jay didn't much like them, but I ate 4 of them. After breakfast I did some fishing. I did the sorriest cast I have ever done and hooked a trigger fish on the first try. Then Jay tried a few and caught one. Then me, then Jay. 4 was enough for dinner so Jay quit. I caught one more which I threw back, then hooked something big. He bit off my leader and took my last Krocodile. I bet he would have been at least 12 lbs. He really tore the line off the reel. We cleaned the fish, then since the wind had improved and the tide had turned, we decided to move. Last night and today we saw fishermen around camp./ Two landed on the next beach over. I walked over as they were leaving and said "hola" but they just waved and left. A few miles down we saw a fish camp with two huts and five boats. It isn't on the map. A little later we saw a dead whale washed up on shore. Nice smell! The entire coast here is really nice. Pretty, deserted, lots of colors in the rock, lots of nice camping beaches. I am surprised that few people use this space. Much of it reminds me of Lake Powell. Sometimes I forget that the water isn't fresh. There are lots of off-shore rocks to paddle between and the birds squawk each time. The water here is colder - I guess it gets pushed up from deep in the Sea of Cortez. This beach is rocky with dirt up 25 yards from shore. It then goes into a canyon for a couple hundred yards. These make good camping beaches and my eye looks for them automatically now when I paddle. I was splashed with salt water all day today. Each time the water dries quickly from the warm, dry air. The result is that the front of my shorts are white with salt. I would really like to wash my hair tonight, but with the ocean being so cold I think I will wait for tomorrow. Jay plans fish tacos tonight with our fresh trigger fish. It should be really good. Follow that with a little tequila and some of that great wine and I will be sleeping well tonight. From this beach I can see almost the entire guardian angel island. We are about a quarter of the way down it. I think we will need three more days to get to Bahia de Los Angeles. Two more will get us to Punta la Gringa. Jay thinks they may serve food and beer there. That would be pretty OK with me. Today was windier that we have had. Sometimes in our face, sometimes at our back. It looks like tonight will have some wind, too. It has made writing this difficult.