Sunday, May 26

North 26° 15.367'
West 111° 23.878'
Distance: 17.8 miles

I paddled 17.8 miles today. I am now 65.8 miles from Punta Chivato and 397 miles from San Felipe. I am also 569 miles from home. I don't know what is harder to imagine - that I have paddled almost 400 miles or that this place is only 569 miles from my house. Today was yet another idyllic day in Baja, California. I woke up at about 7:00 am and read and ate for a little while. Fruit flies have ruined my bananas, but the rest of the stuff looks OK. Then I made coffee and sat in the shade for a while. Sitting in the shade with a slight breeze feels fantastic down here. When my shade went away I packed up and went for a little walk. I found an even nicer beach about 250 yards back up the bay. It still had shade, so I sat for another hour. About 12:15 I started my day's journey. I cut across the bay. The wind was at my back and the waves were perfect for surfing. It is hard work, but several times I caught the waves just right. I am sure I was going better than ten miles per hour for short bursts without paddling. Overall it is more work per mile, but it is great fun. There were five shrimp boats on the bay. After a couple of hours I made the point and there was a smaller bay with some sailboats. I wanted to go in and introduce myself, but I needed to make more distance since I want to be sure to be in Loreto by the time Mike gets there. A little later I decided to try out the lure Charlie made me last night. It sure worked! After 20 minutes I hooked up a nice bass. Maybe 20 inches. Five minutes later I hooked another. The second was bigger than the first, but either would have been a great meal for two. I threw them both back since I didn't need the meat. After that I stopped fishing because I didn't want to wear out the lure. Another 45 minutes and I found a beach to sleep on. Sand up to cliffs. By my calculation there will be about fifteen feet between the water and cliffs at high tide. Tonight is the full moon, but last night is the higher tide according to my San Felipe tide charts. The tides have become much smaller here and are not nearly the issue they were a month or more ago. I took a bath in the warm water. I love the water temp now and go in the water several times a day to cool off. I may sent the wetsuit home with Heidi or leave it in Mike's truck after Loreto. I have mixed feelings about ending the solo part of my trip. It will be great to have Mike with me again, but being by myself has opened me up to meeting tons of great people out here. Tomorrow I will probably get to within a couple miles of Loreto and the next morning I will be there. Being by myself out in these remote parts of Baja California has been an experience I will never forget. I just looked up and saw a big hermit crab lumbering by. What a great place this is and what a great way to live! There are a couple houses a mile or so away. It looks like there may be a road to them from here. In the morning I want to try to get to them and see if anyone lives there.