Road Construction 101

Posted on by

One of the aspects of highway travel in Baja is the constant flow of road work.  It seems that just as soon as the crews finish one section of Highway One, they tear up another.  Often, what they tear up seems as good as what they replace it with – other times, the unbearable potholes and melted asphalt are graciously replaced with new graded road beds and fresh topping.

In the states, to complete road projects it seems always necessary to close routes entirely, or funnel traffic into diversions.  Baja road crews just chew up the old stuff, bulldoze it over, and shift travel to a dirt bed while they work on repaving sections.  The results can be miles and miles of dirt roads where just a week or so before there had been pavement.  Ie, make sure you have a spare tire and are adept at changing a flat!

2-Lane Mex One
Miles of Dirt – Mex One
2-Lane Mex One
2-Lane Mex One
Road & Pier Construction – Santa Rosalia
Santa Rosalia
Bulldozers at Work
Construction Work
Traffic
Truck Backups
New Dirt Highway
Trucker – Mex One

On Mex One, this in not an option (or any of the ‘major’ Baja highways).  For most of the 1500 miles of roadway, there is just the snaking two-lane road that heads from Tijuana in the north to San Jose del Cabo in the south.

If necessary, a dirt road is bulldozed parallel to the road being repaired.  This is often boulder filled, or worst, soft sand which leaves drivers wishing for 4-wheel drive and praying that they don’t need it.

Roads don’t close in Baja due to floods or rockfalls.  Maybe temporarily, but the creative population always manages a work-around.  Three years ago when torrential rains wiped out 6 major bridges overnight the traffic was stopped for 24 hours.  But after, ingenious bulldozers began to drag heavy tractor trailers and anyone else brave enough to cross rushing flood waters from what was left of pavement on either side of the arroyo.

Rock fall?  Give locals an hour and they will have either pushed the offending boulder out of the way, or cleared enough of the associated debris to allow passage.

Season of Clouds

Posted on by

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

Heaven’s Palette

Posted on by

After the rain : and before the next. The sky breaks out her palette of colors beyond the brush and pigment. Hues and shades that catch in the throat with their beauty. A veritable cloak of golden light that beckons, woos, dances on the edges of the mind.

Under my feet, the sand, the desert – already paying hommage to the life gift of water from the earlier deluge. Everywhere the scent of moisture. Pools, small lakes of water. Arroyos that have found the sea after too many months of drought. The rushing waters sing with their ebb and flow …..

Gifts from the Sea …

Posted on by

Morning paddle out past the point and back. I had headed out with nothing really in mind except some exercise. Chewing on life issues and decisions that need to be made, I was preoccupied and distracted. I should have known the sea would change everything.

On the horizon, small black protrusions. Marlin? No, too close to shore. Nor were they the fins of sleeping seals. Instead, a pair of small bat rays had caught my eye, ‘flapping’ their ‘wings’ in an undulating pattern as slowly they made their way through the glassy early seas. In the distance, one of their buddies did a couple of back flips. When one crossed under my board, I tried to grab a photo – but the image doesn’t do justice the the ray’s elegant form.

Bat Ray : Sea of Cortez

But the rays presence triggered a clearer focus of the richness around me. Overhead, the gentle glide of the Elegant frigatebird. Nearby, a cormorant surfaced, a small fish gleaming from his beak. A school or rainbow runners, their hypnotically blue fins trailing, raced under my board, likely chased by a bigger fish. Several jellies drifted just below the water’s edge, the flower patterns in their gelatinous bodies so lovely from above.

And then, surprise of surprises – a marine show! A medium size fish began to leap and skip across the water – chased by a large green and yellow dorado, who leaped in equally high arcs following his prey.

Such wonder and beauty so near “mi casa.”

What was I worried about earlier?

Beautiful Dreamer

Posted on by

Beautiful Dreamer

Sultry morning. Long slow paddle in mirror-like seas.

Undulating jellyfish lazily propel themselves along the surface of still water. “Common” Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), these are the most familiar of the species. Four gonad rings – usually purplish/pink – are visible through the translucent body. In the blue-green sea this morning, they appear more golden in color. Short numerous tentacles hang from the margin of the bell. The large quantity makes me reconsider an early swim. While the sting from these is considered mild, a sting is a sting is a sting ….

Besides the undulating jellyfish, artic terns, blue-footed boobies, Elegant frigate birds, and long-necked cormorants populate the morning count. I find myself in such awe of my surroundings that I cannot lift my camera. Rather, when a group of pelicans approaches, their wingtips mere inches from the surface of the sea, I simply hold my breath, listening to squished sound of the air between the water and their bodies.

Farther up the coast, three sea turtles lift their heads in curiosity. My board and paddle are stealth-like compared to the noisy engines of the pangas. The largest of the three lingers on the surface watching me, and I paddle toward him. I find that turtles are relatively shy, and this one is no different. As I approach, he lowers his head and dives beneath the surface. I see his broad green body as he glides underneath the shadow cast by my board. His tips his head once, and our turtle-human eye contact is complete.

I paddle farther, thinking of the turtle and the conservation efforts across the globe by groups like Grupo Torugero, or in Loreto, Eco Alianza, whose missions are to protect the natural world and those species that have become endangered or nearly extinct. Funny, this role of mankind on the planet. We seem to constantly push ourselves – and this planet that we love – to the brink – one way or another, before we can become conscious enough of our actions to change and alter our course.

HOT!

Posted on by

Afternoon Thunderheads

It’s HOT! Summer has arrived in Loreto with the full force of sunshine and humidity. And it’s only July!

Mornings are steamy, but perfect for long beach walk or paddle if the wind holds down. Evenings and the patio beckons with sea breezes and a constantly changing palette of sky/sea/earth colors. Palms rustle. Woodpecker darts between the palm trunks. Orioles flitter between the fronds. A tiny hummingbird savors long-necked red flowers.

Heron wings past. Terns dive and chatter. Gulls squawk with their unmistakable gutteral call.

Summer. Sea of Cortez and the desert …..

Flux & Flow

Posted on by

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 …

Posted on by

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.