Feb 6--The Porpoise/Dolphin Tour

We awoke this morning from a most comfortable night's sleep on the beach loungers. Tom and Sarah were joined by little girl kitty who slept with them all night.

Lupe offered coffee. I asked if he had chocolate caliente. He did! We were drinking our morning beverages, not really looking forward to the big climb out of San Everisto. I said to Tom and Sarah that Brent and I had talked about how great it would be if we could take a boat to Punta Coyote. Sarah said let's ask Lupe if he knows anyone who could take us. Lupe said he could take us in his boat! He said in two hours we could go. Perfecto!!! He gassed up the boat, and pulled it down to the water with his truck. We packed up our stuff, and settled up with Lupe for the food and drinks, as well as paying him for the boat ride. We each paid him 250 pesos (about $12), 500 was for the gas,
and we gave him a 500 peso tip.

In order to fit the four bikes in the boat, we took the front wheels off. The bikes all fit toward the front of the boat (Tom sat up there too), and Brent, Sarah, and I sat in the middle and toward the back. We pushed off from the beach, and Lupe went to start the motor. Oops, dead battery. We went back toward the beach. One of the fishermen had just come in. Lupe used his battery to jump the motor. Soon we were headed out of the bay into the Sea of Cortez! It was an 18 mile ride down the Coast.

We were motoring along, when I saw a dolphin/porpoise off in the distance. Lupe steered the boat over closer. We saw it, and another one surface several times. So cool!!! We continued on. Soon, we saw more dolphins! I got some good photos.

As we continued down the Coast, we marveled at the layers in the rock--green, white, and pink. We also marveled at the fact that we weren't riding up those hills in the mountains! So much better in a boat on the water!

At one point, Lupe maneuvered the boat close to a rocky part of the shore to show us the fish. There were all kinds of fish! Lupe said it was a good place for snorkeling. We are going to get masks and snorkels in La Paz so we can do some snorkeling down the East Cape.

All too soon, we were pulling into Punta Coyote. We off-loaded the bikes, took photos, and said muchos gracias and adios to Lupe. What a great guy! We have a few Lupe-isms that we use now. "It's no problemo!" "Wow wow wow!" "Okay okay, this is Mexico!"

We wheeled our bikes up to the snack shack of Punta Coyote. Not much to offer, but cold Cokes. We drank our Cokes, and ate some cookies with guayaba jam. Tom mentioned that was our breakfast. The gal said, "Do you want some bread with peanut butter?" She said cookies and Coke was no breakfast. She came back with four sandwiches of deli ham and mayo! She wouldn't accept any payment.

There were three little boys, ages 3, 4, and 6--all brothers. They brought out a stick and a deflated ball. Brent pitched the ball to all three boys. The little guy hit the ball, and ran all the way around the house, and "slid" into "home plate". We all applauded!

Finally it was time to ride our bikes. We had 27 miles to get to San Juan de Costo. Along the way we passed a mining operation where they mine phosphorus. In fact San Juan de Costo is a sort of company town. They have busses that take the workers out to the site. There are also a lot of the workers who live in La Paz. We saw several of the red busses headed toward La Paz.

We stopped at the tienda and bought snacks. After eating a bit, we went just another couple miles until we saw a beach that looked suitable for camping.

It was pretty warm out, so we went into the water. Not far off the shore we could see something moving. The water was fairly shallow. We finally decided that it must be a whale. We never got a really good look at it, but it was definitely bigger than a porpoise, and had a tail fin.

Brent found a perfect little dried red sea star on the beach. Sarah and I went looking, but weren't so lucky. I did pick up a number of shells, and then took a photo with Flat Will.

Tom and Sarah built a fire, and cooked their dinner. It was very enjoyable to sit by a nice warm fire on the beach of the Sea of Cortez. Tomorrow we have maybe about 30 miles to La Paz. We can see the lights of the city from where we are tonight. It's a big city, the biggest we will have been in on the whole trip.