Frigate birds

We paddled by a large nesting colony of Frigates. The males have red chests to attract mates, we were able to pass close by

Last morning

Sunrise in La Paz . We liked Mexico a lot, we always felt safe and found it very clean, zero trash on the beaches and the water front of La Paz spotless. We saw them washing the sidewalks and brushing them clean early one morning. We will go back again.

Sunrise

Sun coming up over Sea of Cortez

Coral cut

Karen getting a coral cut attended to

Diving

I dove at a sea mount 10 miles off coast looking for hammer head sharks . Photo looks back towards land from dive site

Food

The Mexican staff were great cooks, home made salsa, wonderful spicy dishes, cold Presidenta beer, local soft cheese, sea bass we caught

Kayak trip

We paddled up the coast of the island. The bluffs are pink sandstone, the ancient sediment from the Colorado River carving out the Grand Canyon

Camp site

Our camp site was right on top of the San Andreas fault. Notice the mountains in the background: the peak on the left is intact , those on the right are loose boulders, shattered by the earthquakes from the fault below.

The desert

Just behind our beach front was a beautiful desert, filled with various cactus and exotic plants. A very rare ring tail cat lives here, we saw their foot prints . The tall cactus is the Cordon , the other is the candelabra cactus,

Santos camping

A few more pics of our camp ground

Santos island

Our camp was on a uninhabited island , a World Heritage Site due to its unique biodiversity and pristine state. Besides tents for us guests, there we're two cook tents plus other misc tents. Our beds were cots with sheets and Mexican blankets. We ate under a sun cover, we had a 2 mile beach to ourselves

Island

Today we depart for Santos Island for our camping/kayak adventure. We had dinner in La Paz last nite and met our fellow campers, five other couples. They all seem to be in there fifties. We leave the resort this morning in two small power boats for a 3 hr ride to an unihabited island in Sea of Cortez. We will use the island as a base camp to , kayak,dive,hike, etc, There will be no Internet. I will be back in a few days and log in here with an update.

La Paz bar

This bar looked interesting ,Karen vetoed entering

Lunch

We stopped at a resturant that we were told was good. We both had grilled fish, rice and a salad . The salad was all local with nice ripe tomatoes . Meal came with hot corn tortillas ( although tempted, we didn't touch the salad, raw veggies/dressing can be crawling with pathogens ) . The meal was delicious . The menu involved a lot of guessing , prices in pasos.

Grocery store

We bought a bunch of hot sauce , selection was huge, and very cheap; 50 cents to $1.00. Lots of interesting tortillas etc too.

Back streets of La Paz

We wondered around looking in shops

Streets of La Paz

We spent the day in La Paz , a beautiful seaside town. Lots of Mexican families spending a Sunday in town . Very few tourists like us. Most shop keepers spoke no English.

Resort

There doesn't appear to be a lot of guests

Breakfast by the pool

The ceramic tile pool was beautiful . That's a swim up bar at the end

Baja resort

Our room overlooks the infinity pool. Beyond is the Sea of Cortez. I wondered around the resort at sunrise. Beautiful details everywhere

Mexico

We made it to Baja. After a 3 1/2 flight to Dallas we flew almost 3 more to Cabo at southern tip of Baja. We are 800 miles south of Calf border. Immigration was weird, all arriving luggage was x-rayed (looking for guns??) Cabo is an uninteresting tourist town clearly set up for gringos. We were anxious to head 120 miles up coast to La Paz on the sea of Cortez Our 2 hour bus ride ended up taking 5 hours. It was me and Karen, a Mexican women, a man who sang Mexican songs with his iPod and an insolent driver who ended up dumping us in streets of La Paz instead of at resort as promised. We got a cab. Coast line was beautiful and empty, lots of cactus.

More Last Supper Photos