Kayaking Isla Espiritu Santo - Day 1

Isla Espiritu Santo lies just off the tip of La Paz on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja California. La Paz, the setting for Steinbeck's The Pearl is a beautiful town, with a gorgeous walkway along the water. Waiting outside our hotel to be picked up for four days of kayaking I couldn't help but think I would have liked to spend another day in La Paz. Annasellie the guide from Baja Outdoor Adventures arrived promptly at 7:50, the kayak guy and I loaded all our gear into the van which then stopped at other hotels in La Pa to pick up the rest of our group and brought us to the BOA office. At the office we picked up snorkel gear, put together our paddles and left behind anything we wouldn't be needing for the next four days.

Everything we would be needing was loaded onto a motorboat that would ferry us out to Isla Espiritu Santo. On the boat ride out to our first camping beach we passed by an island of nesting great blue herons, and the trio of islands we would see again later Rooster, Hen and Whale Islands. After dropping our gear off at camp the boat took us out to the tip of Espiritu Santo where a colony of sea lions live. Annasellie spoke a bit about the sea lions, boobies, jelly fish and other marine life we would see. We were then free to jump off the boat and snorkel to our heart's content. It was a wonderful spot, sea lions swimming all around us, an archway to swim through with a ghostly jellyfish in the dark below and all sorts of coral and scores of fish of which I have no idea what most of them were.

After an hour or so of snorkeling we returned to our camp where Annasellie introduced us to Leah and Rafael our guides for the rest of the trip. After a quick lunch Rafael went through the camp setup and a rudimentary introduction to the kayak. All nine of us went out and did a quick wet exit, the KG did a roll to the oohs and aahs of the audience. Leah took us out for a short paddle beneath the looming red cliffs which would be our backdrop for days to come. Back at camp Mario, the cook had whipped up a pitcher of margaritas for happier hour and a dinner of chicken fajitas. The more fun members of the group played a game of Fun!Fun!Fun! while I sat out and watched the stars and wrote the day's adventures by the warm light of the lantern.

Continue the adventure:
Day 2; Day 3

Flicker Set