Tag Archives: Sea of Cortez

A Pelican Morning

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Sultry morning with coffee on the beach. Pelicans glide and rise and circle and dive. Silhouette shapes mirrored on the windless Sea of Cortez. Sometimes rising from up from their dive with a fish in their gullet, more often not. They float for a bit, then as if in formation, then take off clumsily, one at a time, glide inches from the water’s surface, circle upward, eyes pinned on the water below, and dive again searching their breakfast. The flap flap of their wings echoes across the bay. Bait fish ruffle the water at the seas edge. A night heron stalks on long stilt-like legs.

I sip cooling coffee, it’s deep roast flavor a pleasure in my mouth. The air almost steamy. Summer is upon us.

Revised Management Plan for Loreto Bay National Park

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PARQUE NACIONAL BAHIA DE LORETO

New Park Management Plan for Loreto Bay National Park

Mexico’s Federal Register published the revised Loreto Bay National Park Management Plan in April, 2019. This supplanted the 2002 version, and expanded to 510,472 acres protected waters and lands.

The plan is the result of a thousands of hours in 10-year process of scoping meetings to build capacity and consensus.  These meetings were held with the participation of scientists, fishermen, tourist service providers, trained facilitators, conservationists, economists, and several non-profit organizations.

The newly released plan divides the Park into 7 different sub-zones and expands the areas of protected and no-take zones.  The objective of this plan is to protect habitats critical for biodiversity, rare ecosystem, and satisfy the needs of local fishermen and visitors to the area.

To learn more about the details, click on the Eco-Alianza link below.

http://ecoalianzaloreto.org/revised-park-management-plan-declared-after-ten-year-wait/

Mex 3 – Road Construction a’la Baja

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Zigzagging through the Foothillls
Cones Mark the Highway
Bridge “Underview”
Before Lake Chapala – Unpaved
Paved Portion Mex 3 toward San Felipe
Bridge Construction
Newly Paved Segment of Mex 3

Traveling the highways of Baja are – well – different than driving stateside.  When a huge rock slide close off a section of Mex 1 – the main north/south artery that connects Tijuana with Cabo San Lucas, the locals got to work.  In the USA, next steps would be emergency vehicles, flashing red lights, and weeks of no passage.  In Baja, next steps are a couple of guys with pickup trucks and ropes who move the offending obstructions out of the way, followed by maybe a friend with a bulldozer pushing some of the dirt aside.  I.e., roads are the lifeline .. and the residents don’t wait for the government to fix things.

Mex 3 – a southern route from San Felipe along the western edge of the Sea of Cortez has long been an out-of-the-way route that that terminated at Mex 1 near Lake Chapala. Mostly rugged washboard miles with an occasional paved section that washed out during hurricanes, the road was merciless on tires, suspensions, and overall mechanics of vehicles.

During the last two decades, small fishing villages have given way to retirement homes for gringos from the states, and the road has become more popular.  Gonzaga Bay, originally a landing strip with fly-in homes, now sports an upgraded hotel and multiple restaurants.

In their continuing effort to enhance access to all parts Baja, the government has set about ambitious road development projects, and Mex 3 is one of them.  The included photographs illustrate the scope of this project, the fact that a little dirt never hurt an intrepid Baja traveler, and the vast beauty of the landscape.

Just as Mex 1 was a dream before it opened in 1972, Mex 3 will provide an alternative to the crowded western route.

Crescent Moon ….

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Sultry summer nights.

Palms against the Evening Sky

Palms against the Evening Sky

To the east, the mainland sends up a show of lightning.  Bursts of reddish colors paint the undersides of thick storm clouds.  Loreto is humid, but no rain or thunder for the moment.

The repaired lighthouse in the marina casts a welcoming green white light as the top spins in its glass housing, guiding mariners safely home.

Overhead, starts punctuate the space between the clouds.  The low level of city or neighborhood lights provides enough dark sky to enjoy a palette of twinkling white. Distant suns and planets.  The extension of our our small earth-based universe.

Suddenly, a larger break in the clouds, now backlit with white.  A tiny crescent moon, bathed in shades of orange, casts a shimmering pathway across the surface of the Sea.  It appears as if I could almost walk to Isla Carmen on a carpet of watery light.

Yes, sultry summer nights on the Sea of Cortez, as we step toward fall …..

Buster & the Fish

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Buster (the Bajanese) loves to SUP with me, and our morning paddles are a great solace for both of us.  Paddling up the coast we have been gifted with turtles, dancing rays, leaping fish, skimming pelicans, diving terns & osprey.  The light on the water some mornings, a reason to pause in honor of the stunning beauty of the Sea of Cortez nestled against the small city of Loreto.

Yesterday, Buster was in rare form.  He stood tirelessly on the ‘bow’ of my SUP board searching for anything that moved. When we both spied the small fish (already in it’s last gasp) he was unstoppable.  He lept off the board and could not be cajoled back.  Each time he reached to catch it in his mouth, the fish would swivel and turn – both spooking him and enticing him on.  But he was close. Oh so close ….

Buster Hunting
Sighting the Fish
Chasing down the fish.
It’s My Fish

This was ‘his’ fish, and I was not to spoil the moment.  I tried paddling away.  He didn’t seem to care.  I yelled at him to get back on the board (we did have a flight to catch). Finally, I had to yank his sweet wet hairy body from the water and keep his head turned away from the fish.

Yes, we left the fish in our wake. And yes, the little hunter had his day.  And yes, we made our flight, sadly leaving Loreto – so we could once again return.

SUP, Sea of Cortez

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soft light
still waters
the sky the color of the sea

blue footed boobies make like diving jets
silvery fish dance and skate on the water’s edge

yellowtail and small dorado race from shallow to shallow
stingrays ruffle the sand
puffer fish skitter across the sandy bar
shimmering cerulean sardines leap en masse

pelican wings glide millimeters from the water
cormorants beaks glow golden against black feathers

my paddle eases my board quietly toward the light
no real destination but exactly where i am ….

SUP. the Sea of Cortez
Isla Coronado
Costa de Loreto
My Shadow
Isla Carmen
Loreto & the Sierra Gigantica

pre-dawn ….

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Sunrise, Loreto 21 January 2015

Sunrise, Loreto – 21 January 2015

roosters crow in the distance … so blessed to be in space where i can hear their call to morning

dogs begin their own conversation one house to the next .. a woof/bark that reaches all the way to Buster, who adds his voice to the symphony of canine expression

in the hour before light, each sound echos across the flat basin that flows to the sea from the foot of the sierra

i hear the chatter of early beach walkers, their figures shrouded in the dark,  their voices announcing their presence before i can make out their shadowy forms .. girl talk, boy talk, start the day talk.

the crunch of footsteps on the gravelly sand – the neighbors and their dogs out for morning ‘duties’

pre-sunrise light paints the sea and the sky with corals, periwinkle blues, deep reds and brilliant yellow gold

a pelican splashes

the wind begins to ruffle the surface of the tranquil sea

a cruise ship waits to unload their guests for an exploration of our small town of Loreto.

morning. wednesday. for those of us with breath, we begin again.

Always Dreaming …

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Even when I’m not in Baja, I dream of her. The starkness and beauty of her deserts. The rugged cliffs of her mountain ranges. The two faces of her seas – the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. Blessed with a 2 hour reach of either side, I can trade surfboard for SUP board – cold fish for warm fish – crashing waves for serene waters.

Last evening, I paddled the Sea of Cortez and was rewarded with leaping fish and soaring birds. Here’s a small sampling:

Soaring Pelican
Baby Yellowtail
Incoming Pelican
Elegant Frigatebird
Blue Footed Booby