Category Archives: Baja Living

Tsunami debris: Garbage wave could hit Hawaii, U.S. West Coast & Baja California

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The ocean does link us all,and whatever we toss into it, it simply floats through its cycles and currents. Think about her, before you toss random garbage, drain your car wash into the streets, or imagine that somehow, your actions don’t count …

Fukushima (global-adventures.us): Massive amounts of debris are floating in the Pacific Ocean; and between one and five percent of the garbage could wash up on the shores of Hawaii, Alaska, British Columbia, and the U.S. west coast. The ocean debris, estimated at 3.6 million tones, is a result of the magnitude-9 earthquake and the resulting tsunami in Japan (Global Adventures reported here). Several large buoys, possibly originating from Japanese oyster farms, already washed up on Alaska shores, and Nikolai Maximenko, a senior researcher and ocean current expert at the University of Hawaii, says that 0.9 – 1.8 million tons of debris could reach the islands in early 2013.

“In a year, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument will see pieces washing up on its shores; in two years, the remaining Hawaiian Islands will see some effects; in three years, the plume will reach the U.S. West Coast, dumping debris on Californian beaches and the beaches of British Columbia, Alaska and Baja California,”

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via Tsunami debris: Garbage wave could hit Hawaii, U.S. West Coast « Global Adventures, LLC.

Airline Angst

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SanTaco Airlines

SanTaco Airlines

Once upon a time Alaska Airlines flew daily flights from Los Angeles to Loreto – and “…the living was easy.”  During the buildup of Loreto Bay,  Delta and Continental both added flights.  Prices were low.  Flights were easy to obtain at the last minute, and travel to and from the United States was relatively simple.

Enter the dawn of the US housing crisis and airline traffic dwindled.  Delta and Continental pulled out of Loreto market, and Alaska : aka Horizon : cut flights to four days a week.  Then they switched from the 737 Jet to the much smaller load carrying prop Bombardier q400.  While the plane is more fuel efficient, it adds an additional hour to travel time.  Cost cutting measures insure that airlines stay in business, but lately, the cutbacks have had a ferocious effect.

Tie whale-watching season – mid-January through the end of March – to the needs of local fliers, and simply forget about a/getting a flight, and b/getting a flight at a reasonable price.  At least for February and most of March.  Unless you’ve got $1000 to spend round trip.  Gee whiz : I went to London and back last month for 1/2 that price!

So this morning, when my friend, Cynthia, sent me an email with the title, “New Flights to Loreto,” I couldn’t wait to open it!  Was there really a new option???  I almost peed my pants I laughed so hard, looking at the photograph she attached, with the new planes name, “SanTaco” proudly painted on the tail.  Can’t wait to book a flight – but better make sure to tie back my hair and wear sunglasses!!

beauty where we find it …..

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Baja : Pacific Morning

For the uninitiated, there is little that can be said to fully express the beauty of Baja California Sur.  From the moment one leaves the populations of Colonet & San Quintin, makes a requisite gas stop in El Rosario, and heads into the heart of undeveloped land of cardon, bojum, cholla, poloverde, cirrius and more …  the heart slows, the shoulders drop, and the mind begins to embrace again that primal space of undeveloped land.

Mex One zigzags across the peninsula in undulating rhythms, following for the greater part, the easiest passage through rough terrain.  That translates to switchbacks, mountain climbs and descents, and arroyo crossings.  Wide plains, dry lakes and craggy rock piles – the spewn evidence of long-ago volcanoes litter the landscape.  I’ve stopped counting the trips. I never fail to be inspired.  I am always stunned by her beauty.

For those who are afraid to travel, I am sorry.  So much the greater landscape and less crowded roads for me.  While the horrors of the drug cartels are not to be ignored, the city streets of any major metropolitan area has its own body and assault count.  I feel safer in my home in Loreto than I ever did in the states.

The Pacific side teases with waves that follow distant swells.  Spots like the Wall, Shipwrecks, the local spots of Ensenada .. and of course, Pescadero, Todos Santos and Cabo San Lucas beckon surfers from across the globe.

The east coast, the beautiful bountiful Sea of Cortez, is filled with dolphin, sea turtles, fish of every color and size, rays and whales – blue, pilot, fin and orca.  Sunrises, sunsets .. kayaking, paddling, surfing, hiking, sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling .. exploring ..  magic.  To be with and surrounded by such beauty is to me – pure magic.
And then there are the people – beautiful kind warm family loving folks.

Food!  Beverages!  Music!  Dancing!  Camping under stars and/or a full moon. Yes : Baja : I love and dream of you always.

the sound of morning

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Sunrise : Loreto

I woke before the sun had peeked her head above isla carmen and decided to walk the beach in it’s pre-dawn darkness.  In the distance, the wail of waking roosters echoed down the arroyo and mingled with the guttural purr of diesel transports getting a jump on the day.

At the water line, only the sound of small waves slapping on and moving beach stones broke the zen-like silence.  Morning – before morning – exquisite.

The shadowy shapes of foraging shorebirds began to appear, thankful, as was I, that the winds of yesterday had momentarily waned, and the sea was once again a lake like mirror of glass.

The palms were still.  The residences of Loreto, for the most part, still ‘snug in their beds.’

When the sun finally crested the horizon, it was as if the sky cried out – “I’m here! I’m here!”  – welcoming with broad arms the beginnings of a new day.

To wake with such exquisite peace seems to me – the ultimate luxury.

Buster’s Road Trip

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Buster Checks out the Sea of Cortez

Buster Checks out the Sea of Cortez

Buster’s become somewhat of an expert on the twists/turns small towns & large of Mex One between the border and his home in Loreto.  Some of the journey bores him – so he just sleeps. But other sections he’s all nose/ears and eyes out the window with some running sniff/woof commentary that I struggle to decipher.  He’s my boy though – and he sure loves Mexico, as the photos here illustrate.

Buster Analyzes the Campers at Santispac

Buster Analyzes the Campers at Santispac

Walking the dog .. I mean the pony .. I mean …

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Pony approaching “Crossed Palms”
Passing Casa de Catalina
Running Down the Beach

There are lots of dog walkers in Loreto, and the long stretch of beach in front of my house is a favorite for both its easy traversing and the distance between town and points north. Early mornings, there is a parade of fitness aficionados, and the bulk of them have dog companions.

A few mornings ago, a young boy ran past the house. Not unusual, and because he was running I fully expected a dog to be somewhere in the vicinity. Imagine my surprise and great glee to discover that he wasn’t running his dog – he was running his pony.

Chalk up another one for living in Baja!

Rembrandt Skies

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Rembrandt Skies

Rembrandt Skies

The rain was more than I could have asked for. Dark ominous skies for two days – and then the drops, light as first and then a heavy downpour that came in spurts, but lasted through the night. In the morning skies that painters dream about.

The rains in the night cleared the air (not that it needed to be cleared) and in the morning, the fragrance of the desert freshly gifted was water was hypnotic – better than any perfume imagined.

We wait now – for the green cover that follows desert rains. The brown and seemingly barren desert will burst into a carpet of plant life that sprouts in celebratory response to moisture.

As for the skies … clouds dissipate and mornings revert to placid seas and clear dawn explosions of darkness to dawn.

Cow Poop and Midnight Rock Throwing

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Beach Cattle

Okay : the unfenced range cattle are entertaining as they wander down the beach during daylight hours.  They piss off the dogs, but can be dissuaded from ‘home’ invasion by yelling, the blast of a hose, or a kind of ‘run-at-em’ motion.

At night – Not the same deal.

Last night, the dogs were just going off!  Shorty & Diego were barking at the top of their doggy vocal chords – and relentlessly.  Inside, Buster joined the howling chorus.  Yes, the dogs were doing their one job – GUARDING!

I’d been asleep for a bit over an hour – and in that groggy deep space where even though I knew I should get up, I kept hoping the dogs would simply settle down.

Then the phone rang.  Jeanne, next door, said, “They jumped my wall and they’re eating everything. The cows!  Now they’re in your yard.”  She was walking outside with her portable phone giving me a blow by blow report of the cattle escapade.  “There’s poop everywhere!”

“I’ll be right there,” I responded.  I’ve just got to throw on some clothes.

When I opened the front door, Buster tore off toward the tinkling bell one of the cattle has on his neck.  I rounded the corner behind him, just as Jeannie heaved a rock.  I dodged the rock and the cow made a dash out of the yard – right toward me.  Horns and all.  I leaped behind the F-150 and the cow kept on going.  One down, one to go.

I stepped into the yard and tried to shoo the second one out the now open fence, while Jeanne searched for more rocks.  How the fence got open, I have no idea.  Maybe the cattle pushed it open, but when the second intruder cleared the gate, I pulled it shut and reset the chain.

I reset the cylinder, sent a ‘good night’ to Jeanne, along with some shared belly laughs at our cow filled ‘hood’ and turned back to the house – only to step right in a fresh mound of cow poop!  GOODY!  Now I had to shower and wash my slippers and listen to the cling-cling of the belled-bull wander off into the night.

Still beats the 405 at rush-hour.