We woke to the sound of a Panga motor reving up… getting louder and louder meaning it is traveling faster and faster… Whaaaat the craaap? I stick my head out of the companionway to see a Panga entering the bay and heading straight for the beach! At full speed! In my horror I watch as he gets closer and closer to the beach. At the last second I heard a sound (which I later find out was the hydraulic motor lifting the motor out of the water)and watch as the panga launches out of the water and on to the rocky beach above high tide mark. The Pangero effortlessly jumps out of his panga and heads up to the fish camp greeted by his buddies as another panga comes racing in to do the same thing. I’m still not sure if this tactic is ingenious or dangerous I think to my self. But I think we need to go talk with these fisherman. They have to have stories to share.
We off load the dinghy and prepare to go into shore. We are in a beautiful crescent bay lined by a white but rocky shore. A lot like tiny gravel. There is a sandier area on one side of the bay so we head there. It is an easy beaching but we have to heave and hoe up passed the high water mark where everyone with dinghy wheels effortlessly rolls their dinghies up. We start using the fender method and although it is awkward we make it up passed the danger zone. It doesn’t stop us from wondering if the dinghy wheels are worth the investment.
A lovely walk along the beach greats us as we head toward the fish camp. We marvel at how beautiful it is looking out of the bay into the sea. Yes we have made it! It is still surreal and hasn’t sunk in yet what we have just accomplished. As we approach the fish camp one of the fisherman calls out to us and waves us over. He introduces himself as Jose! Jose is just as popular in Mexico as Joseph is in America. We go over and he offers us some fish that he is frying in a cast iron skillet over the fire. Yes please. We explain we don’t have anything in return but he waves it off while pulling a funny face. He says no problem. We eat with him and in our broken Spanish and his broken English and a game of charades we tell our story and listen to his. It was an enjoyable time. He told us where to hike and how to get to town and also tells us we can have a “small” fire on the beach.
Over the next several days we spend time walking the beach, hiking up above the bay and walking to the RV park. We meet some x patriot’s there in the RV park from Idaho. They talk about how they have been coming here for 20 years to that very spot. They have seen the changes and worry how much longer until this spot is over run with development. For years people have been escaping the confines of cities to camp along the beaches of the Baja. Un touched, rugged, and undeveloped pieces of land that everyone can use. But as the resorts begin buying up land and more land is sold the war against public beaches begin. In Mexico the law is that all beaches are public up to 20 meters inland from the high tide mark that is equal to 65 feet. Private upscale resorts don’t like that. They are greedy and want it all to them selves and constantly try and keep locals and tourist that aren’t in the resort off of the beaches. But they can’t. Although we wish we could have been down here earlier like in the 80’s or 90’s we are grateful there is still some authentic areas and friendly people to talk to.
Los Frailes has an old water well. It is one of only a few along the Baja. Aside from that there isn’t water along the Baja. You can often see water collection devices in the small villages along the way. As we pass the well and the RV park we hike inland. Along the arroyo we pass empty land spotted with cactus until we come to a water fall. It was more of a slow leak down the mountain side but finding water in such a hot place was a treat. The rock formations are interesting and make for nice shade along the way.
We also took the hike up above the Bay. It was a straight up loose rocky trail but the views out over the Sea were spectacular. You could see down into the Cabo Pulmo Reef. The only living coral reef in Mexico and the one of the few in North America. Turning to the South West you can look down over Bahia Los Frailes, the fish camp there and the RV Park and the arroyo that took us to the water trickle. I forgot to mention that the day we hiked to the water trickle we had met a couple that were land explorers from Sweden who jumped at the chance to walk with us. It made the walk that much better having new people to share laughs and stories with.
Alas it isn’t all fun and games. There is always work to do when you have a boat. Like owning a home you have maintenance and up keep. The night of the bon fire we noticed our anchor light has became extremely dim. Weird. We replaced it when the mast was down with an LED bulb that should last for ever. But of course up the mast we go. Or really I go. Then when I get up there and change the bulb to our dismay… it doesn’t work either. After some old fashioned marriage bickering he lets me down so he can go up. I go and spend the next hour and a half getting Sam up there to investigate.
Looks like the connections were not connecting and a little tape would do the trick. With the bulb changed and the connections cleaned up. He taped it all together and I let him down nice and slow. I can not deny that the thought of leaving him up there for a minute crossed my mind but in the end I calmly and nicely let him down.
We spent about a week in Los Frailes watching the whales breach every mooring and evening. This is the place where we first heard the whales speaking to each other. Sitting down below and hearing those sounds resonate through the hull was fascinating. And the day we began hearing mom and baby was thrilling and wonderful. Toward the end of our week mom and baby had began making laps in the bay around the boats. We got to witness the little one learn to breach and splash around. Simple magical.
As our time in Bahia Los Frailes came to a close. We began making plans to head to Bahia Muertos. Lucky for us our new boat buddies are headed in the same direction. We will see Fred on Kaylee, Andy and Kathryn on Anna Maria, and Dean and Barb on Nanook again! After having so much time alone just the two of us a little company hasn’t been bad.