We’re beat!  I mean it…when both girls ask to go to bed early, you know we’re beat.  Today was our big adventure day, and boy what an adventure it was!

We awoke bright and early, ready to head over to Isla Coronado, a small volcanic island just off the coast of Loreto for some snorkeling and wildlife viewing.  Yesterday was a fantastic pristine day with calm winds and lovely weather.  We were hoping it would last.  It didn’t. 

We woke this morning to the sound of a breeze in the trees.  An early morning breeze is not common, and definitely is not what you want when you are about to head out into the open ocean on a 100 hp single Yamaha engine fishing boat.  Others were heading out too, but none of us were too concerned.  That’s us below.

Everyone was happy and ready to go.  It is important to now notice the relatively calm seas at 9 a.m.  Keep that image in mind.  On the way out to the island, I was able to get only a couple of decent shots once we hit open water.  That’s our island destination, La Isla Coronado.

The ride was pretty bumpy, with swells running at about 2 to 3 feet.  Not too bad, but enough to shake you up on the way.  I’m proud to say that none of us got sick, but Clara got a little scared.  She got over that quickly once we hit the island.  The trip out took about 20 minutes.

The Island reminded me a lot of Vieques in Puerto Rico.  It was dry and desolate, but we had a beach to ourselves.  That’s it below.

Just above the beach onto the main part of the island, you immediately hit dry desert scrub.

In all its desolation, it was quite beautiful.  The snorkeling was okay, most of the sea life was in an around some boulder fields that stretched from the island into the sea.

We packed our lunches with gourmet PB&J, again.  But we had great fun.  That’s us below having a blast, going snorkeling and just playing around.  We also were able to bring a kayak from the hotel, but the wind was stiff enough that using it was quite challenging, and a good workout.

The water was crystal clear, as you can see.  It was a little cool, but nothing too hard to handle.  We saw a good bit of marine life including lots of birds, purple colored starfish, lots of sea urchins, and lots of fish.  We saw some puffer fish, and I was able to get one to nibble on my fingertips.  Sarah had a blast snorkeling, and she is ready to do it again!  We are very pleased that she had such a good time.

But, our fun had to come to an end, and that’s where the real adventure started.  Well, really it started about halfway into our trip, when a boat carrying some "Federales", or Federal Police stopped at our secluded "private" beach.  They were looking for 3 kayakers that were lost in the heavy surf between Isla Coronado and Isla Carmen.  That’s Isla Carmen behind Mardi in the picture above. Apparently the heavy surf was beating them up pretty badly, and they had a few rescue parties out looking for them.  We could tell that the surf outside of out protected cove was getting a lot bigger, but we really found out when we had to leave to head back.

The worst part of the trip was crossing the channel between Isla Coronado and the mainland of Baja.  In the course of about 4 hours, the swells had increased to about 6 to 8 feet, and our little boat had to run the gauntlet.  Sarah was enjoying the ride, and Clara had passed out due to exhaustion in my lap.  Our captain, however, was quite experienced, and did a superb job maneuvering the boat between large swells.  For the first half of the trip back, we essentially ran parallel with the swells, riding the troughs as much as we could.  Then, for the second half of the return, we surfed the crests home.  No really, we did.  Our little fishing boat was riding the tops of the swell all the way back.!  Very exciting!

It was too rough for our captain to return us directly to the hotel, so we ended up stopping at the marina in Loreto.  On our return, the marina was flying a "red flag" warning telling all boaters to stay out of the water…they tell us now!  We ended up hitching a ride back to the hotel on the back of the boat trailer.  Sarah thought that was the best.  4 gringos and a Mexican captain, riding through town in the boat up on a boat trailer behind a pickup truck looking like a bad excuse for a Thanksgiving Day parade float.  Classic!

So what did it look like when we got back.  Check out these photos.  The wind was cranking at about 30 mph, and the seas were quite rough.  The palms are really taking a whipping.  The photos don’t do it justice.  Compare these photos with those from this morning, and you’ll see the big difference.

Unfortunately, as of 9 p.m. tonight, the search parties still are looking for Victoria, the last woman missing from the 3 kayak party.  She apparently is a tri-athlete and has great stamina, but the reports she gives from her radio sound like she is really beaten up.  They have a weak signal from her on the radio still, but she has been floating at the mercies of the currents for 11 hours now.  We do hope they find her.  Sarah said a prayer for her.

More tomorrow, we’re really tired!

Jonathan