Category Archives: Sunrises

Home Again ….

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Sunrise : Sea of Cortez

How can I ever forget the beauty of Loreto? After a four week sojourn, I sit again, next to the sea and her fragrance hypnotises me. Gentle breezes caress the surface and small wavelets kiss the shoreline, turning beach stones over and over as if in a dance.

A blue monarch butterfly, and then a gold, flit among the flowers and the fat limes ripening on the trees that have exploded with growth. A hummingbird whizzes past my face toward the ruby colored stamens in the planter.

Recent rains have turned the dry lanky peninsula into a carpet of green, so verdant that from the sky, one could be fooled into thinking this was an oversized island of the Hawaiian chain. The sand in my yard has become a palm nursery. Hundreds of sprouted seedlings reach their first and second leaves toward the sunlight.

All it takes is water to change everything in the desert.

Season of Clouds

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Sky on Fire

Humid & hot.

The weighted sky water of summer. A thousand wardrobe changes in the day (and that’s just the sky!).

Color palettes shift from frothy white to angry greys with blasts of orange and red and gold sprinkled between.

The wind carries them from the north east, from the south .. back around again from the west. It shapes them— along with temperature, pressure, underlying terrain — into ragged forms, soft cumulous curls, a streaking line of stratus.   Thunderheads build .. threaten .. and then simply drift away …

The season of clouds. The heart of summer in Baja.

Building into the Sky
Between the Clouds
Golden Arrow
Evening Display
Golden Heavens
Palms against the Evening Sky
Dark and Light
Dark Clouds over Isla Carmen
Clouds hover over Isla Carmen
Heavy with the idea of rain

Flux & Flow

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21 June Sunrise

I love the weather!

What started as a sultry morning with still seas, has in less than 30 minutes, turned into a blustery morning. Soft winds, first from the west – unusual – clocked to the south, rounded to the east, turned to the north, and swung back to pour in from the south. Local weather station, El Jaral, shows a steady 20.9 KM .. White caps before 7:30 AM!

Except for the warm temperatures and the wind direction, more like a February morning … 30% chance of showers tomorrow!

So…. not a SUP morning, and decidedly not a good swimming, snorkeling, or fishing morning .. and even the beach walkers are hunkered down.

Life, like the weather : flux & flow.

Morning Count …

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Sunrise : Sea of Cortez

Glassy seas. Sultry temps. SUP morning.

Heron studies baby fish from his long-legged perch, while the osprey hovers mid-air before diving to grasp a tiny sardine in his talons.

Overhead, Magnificent frigate bird chases down a gull that has stolen its fish.

An ‘army’ of baby puffer fish gathers together in the shallows near a point to the north, and beyond them, baby stingrays – round, cortez, and bullseye. It feels as if I’m paddling through a nursery.
A trumpet fish, then a coronet. Tiny yellowtail.

Pelicans glide inches above the water, splitting their formation to pass on both sides of me.

On my return, the morning’s gift : A giant sea turtle, his back covered with barnacles, escorts me as I paddle home.

Dad’s Day

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Crofton Myles Cooper : My Dad

in the quiet this morning, i embrace listening …

last night i sat under the stars : listening …

my own voice replaced by …. the flap of wings…  the toss of stones… the slap of sea… the hum of foraging bees… the coo of dove… the chatter of fishermen…  my neighbor on her phone… church bells ringin in town. pelican splash… hummingbird whir … oriole chatter …

the palms in bloom. their feathery tendrils reach down and cast thousands of tiny black seeds .. all hoping to be born into big trees

dads day.

the empty space that once he filled .. i hear his voice, gravely, “let me tell ya kid …”

i see the twinkle in his blue eyes, feel his hand grasping mine .. the first steps .. the last steps …

Hot Sultry Mornings

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Dawn, Sea of Cortez

Dawn : Day 140 : Sea of Cortez

It’s hot. Spring has flashed to summer with the turn of a switch.

Dawn comes with still seas and air that carries the heavy scent of salted water.

From my writing perch, I watch orioles dash palm to palm, nipping at dried fronds for nesting materials. Small hummingbirds lap at red flowers, doves coo from the neighbor’s rooftop, and house wrens flitter between plantings and small trees.

A wondrous way to wake ….

Beach walkers – with and without dogs, ply the beach. A few youngsters hurry past on their morning run. Buster begs me to stop writing and take him on an adventure.

In the distance, the tinkle of the bottled water delivery man’s truck. It reminds me of the bells on the ice cream man’s truck when I was a small child in Long Beach, CA.

Behind the sweet tinkle is the loudspeaker of the day’s political broadcastings. A sedan of undetermined color circles the hood, a speaker mounted to the roof of his car, with a taped recording blaring into the otherwise quiet space. While my Spanish isn’t perfect, there is something about the tinniness and the volume of the speaker that renders the advertisement unintelligible. I grasp it’s for one or other of the candidates vying for votes in this year’s election.

Quiet already disturbed, trucks laden with soil to fill a neighborhood lot arrive, followed by a large bulldozer that begins to spread the earth.

Time for another cup of coffee – and put the day in order.

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.