Monday, June 24

North 24° 12.158’
West 110° 04.493’
Distance: 13.5 miles

We paddled 13.5 miles today. We are now 16.2 miles from La Paz and 561 from Pete’s Camp. We are still north of La Paz and will be tomorrow, too. Today has been great. We woke early, but with the shade of the palapa or shack we were in last night we stayed cool. We made coffee and just read and relaxed for a long time. When I made coffee, Mike said he didn’t want any. I made him a cup anyway and he drank it. Then he made more. We became so ambitious we made a list of Spanish words to memorize and spent a lot of time playing with the dictionary. When we took off at 2:45 the day was hot with little wind. The sea is full of life and we had a great show of rays jumping. Mike saw a Dorado and there was a lot of bait jumping and sheeting. After a couple hours we decided to take a break on shore. We saw a nice beach and headed for it. When we got close we saw that there was an American looking house on the beach. The house was deserted so we rested in the shade. After a half hour or so a Mexican man came to see what we were up to. His name is Roberto and he lives in the ranch house back from the beach. He gave us water and talked to us for a couple hours. He gave us excellent coffee and told us about the area. He said that there is a hotel at Las Cruces five kilometers to the southeast but that the food was very expensive. By this time it was after 7:30pm and we wanted to move on. We got back in the water by 8:00 just in time for the sunset and the moonrise. The moon was a huge orange ball in front of us. Roberto told us to be careful because there are orcas in this part of the Sea of Cortez and that they were seen here a few days ago. He claims that they have eaten four fishermen. I don’t know if it is true or just an urban legend, but it makes kayaking at night just a little more exciting. An hour or so later we heard American voices on the beach, so we decided to say hi. They were Greg, Nicky, and another guy who refused to identify himself even by first name. We decided that it would be fun to assume he was a Mafioso in the Witless Protection Program. Before we landed Nicky told the others that if we had come from San Felipe that he would buy us a drink. He ended up buying us two and then invited us to dinner. It turned out that Nicky runs the hotel which is part of a family-owned chain in Baja California. Dinner was an American steak – melt in your mouth tender – a fish taco, chili relleño, rice, beans, and tortillas and finished with ice cream and all washed down with another beer. Then he told us about a palapa we could use down the beach a quarter mile or so. The palapa was very nice with a wall, sand, and comfortable chairs. Life has been very good to us today. As Gail would say, “It’s good to be Chuckie.”