The house arrest has finally been lifted in Baja and it didn’t take too long for us to take off for a 2-night camping and fishing trip. We took the opportunity to get out of the house and away from Netflix and social media.
My Thoughts on Social Media
I normally don’t spend much time on social media because I am often out at sea and away from the internet. This time I got pulled into reading posts and watching videos while sitting at home. I use social media for staying in touch with friends and also for work, but I feel a bit dirty and somewhat sick when I read all the news that get published online. I think good journalism is a good thing, but so rare to find. It’s time-consuming and, very often, not economically-rewarding or even appreciated. Opinions are much easier to have as they get more supporters and reactions, especially when you use anger, hate, and strong words.
Telling other people about how things are while sitting in front a computer does not impress me. On the other hand, people who do more than just talk are the ones I like to listen to. Complaining and shouting without doing anything is addictive and poisonous. That’s why it’s so nice to get out and leave all of this behind for a while.
On our Way
We stopped at our friend Mayo’s place in La Paz to fill up our tanks. It was nice to see his friendly face and have a chat with him as we haven’t seen a lot of faces for months. We left La Paz and drove to a spot where it is ok to dive from shore. The Sea of Cortez is often too shallow to find depth from shore. Tanya wanted to do her Rescue Diver course and thought it would be a good time to do the practical portion of the course.
When we got to the entrance to the beach, we were surprised to see a gate and a guy with a radio, saying it closed at 7 pm… What?! We normally didn’t have that issue here. Beaches in Mexico are supposed to be available to anyone. Mexican law states that all beaches are under the public domain (unless you are corrupt and don’t care like in some areas in Cabo San Lucas). It’s a good law if visitors respect the beaches and leave them clean. The problem is that beaches are becoming harder and harder to reach when land owners close off the access to them.
Taking the Road Less Traveled
Since it was late and we were running out of daylight, we asked some locals about a road over some mountains that was open.
“Is the road okay?” we asked.
“Medio malón (a bit bad),” he answered with a smile.
Ok, medio malón. We had a spare tire, a portable pump and a repair kit, so we headed off. We drove up, up, up. Rocks had been falling down the mountain and on to the road, so it was definitely medio malón! We reached a bottleneck that was very steep and very rocky. We stopped and walked up to have a look.
I haven’t done as much off-road driving lately so I was careful. Also, looking over to the left I could see a steep drop that was almost vertical and going far, far down. That would hurt… Another thing that could happen was getting the wheels locked if we stopped midway, which would make the truck slide along that narrow road. We needed to commit and keep on moving once we decided to go for it. After checking things out and putting rocks in place to improve the road, we decided that Tanya should wait for me on the rise and I would take up the challenge alone in case something went wrong. Odin must have been watching because I got up the hill on low 4-wheel-drive successfully, albeit nervously. What a welcome change from my normal ‘luck’!
Almost Leaving My Wife Behind… which Almost Turned Me into Roadkill
I was so focused on the driving and how to set the wheels that I did not see Tanya. I thought What the hell, she walked off! and drove on to find her. A bit angry because she wasn’t where she was supposed to be and the sun was setting, I honked the horn and let off some howls. Being the deaf diver that I am, I didn’t hear her calling out to me. I just saw her angrily walking up the hill from where I came… Whoops!
“You didn’t stop where we agreed to meet!” she fumed.
“I didn’t see you where we were supposed to meet!” was my defense.
The hood was high going uphill and she is small… My excuse wasn’t taken too well.
Our Tacoma in a heroic pose in front the Big Dipper. (Can you find the North Star?)
It was too late to go on and dangerous in the dark, so we found a flat spot where to set up our tent and cook some food. The stars were amazing up here! Falling stars and satellites made us experiment a bit with star photography. Our little point-and-shooter with a million modes got us confused, so we didn’t have great success… I miss my Nikon FM2 wherein all I had to deal with were the shutter speed and aperture. I found the photo of our Tacoma in a heroic pose being my best attempt. Tanya said it was too grainy. I said it was artistic graininess on purpose.
The night was hot! The ground that had been heated up during the long day converted our tent into an oven during the night. Even the wind that was blowing was hot! It’s summer in Baja, for sure!
The Next Day
After a sweltering night inside the tent, I got up a bit before sunset and made some coffee. The sunrise over the Sea of Cortez was magical. It got too hot after a while, so we moved on, curious to see what we would find. This was a new spot for us and the child wanderlust in me woke up! The road wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t as bad as what we passed through the day before.
A Secret Cove: A Sweet Spot!
Down mountains and through creek beds we drove until we came upon a turnoff that led to a little cove by the sea. An old foundation showed evidence of people having lived here in the past. There was also a newer building, a small house that had been emptied out and abandoned. A tubing leading to the house indicated that there was probably water coming from the dried out creek at one point in time. It is a fact that the desert has become even drier in the last 20-30 years. The elders who have lived here for generations attest to that in my talks with them.
We geared up to get wet for the first time since March. (For Tanya, even longer.) Getting in to the water from the stinking heat was a shock! It was a freezing 27 C ! Well, it feels icy when you’re coming from 40-45 C weather…
Thousands of Mobula Rays and an Eagle Ray that is Rare to See in this Sea
The dive was beyond our expectations for a shore dive. There were schools of scads, trevallies, grunts and lots of other fish species that you see in the Sea of Cortez; even a couple of guitarfish and an eagle ray that is very rare to see here. The whole ocean was full of thousands of jumping mobula rays. I call them popcorns when one after another they jump up in the air like wanting to say I can fly! I can fly! Flapping their wings in the air but disappointingly landing back with a splat! Then splat! Splat! And another splat! Splat, splat, splat! Like popcorn, first one and then two, then a lot! It’s amusing to watch them both above and under the surface.
We spent our time resting in the shade, talking that we don’t do so much at home, reading a book, diving, catching some fish, and cooking. In the night we had the stars as our roof, making us humble when we realize that the universe is maybe not revolving around us, but we are just one part of all this; whatever it is… A gentle breeze freshened us up. Having no mosquitos or sandflies was a blessing and gave us a good sleep after a day of some exercise using our inactive finning muscles.
Getting Back to Normal after COVID-19: Looking Forward to What’s Next
We stayed out for 2 nights and didn’t see anyone. Not a single car passed by during our time here. It was worth taking this medio malón road that had not been blocked off to people. Spots like this were so much more abundant when I came here almost 20 years ago now. Places are getting fenced off more and more by people who are not even from here. That would make me angry if I were Mexican. I wish people would not be so selfish…
The road became better as we got closer to civilization. We stopped by a little house on the side of the road to buy some fruit and homemade sweets. The cats welcomed us when we got home. It felt good to finally get out of the house after a long time of confinement.
We will definitely go back to that hidden little cove again.
