so much to say so little time...

ok well we're back from the island. which i was going to post last week that we're going to the island but blogger wouldn't load or something i don't know. anyway, i had two posts in the can on disk that wouldn't load with pictures as well.

the goal of camping on the island was to be close to the spawning area and go there everyday. well, like they say the best laid plans...it didn't quite work out that way.

i'll hopefully post more tomorrow. i'm beat but i just wanted to put up here that i'm alive. =)

FINALLY!

OK i'm probably going to jinx myself here but FINALLY got the motor fixed. Brad brought the spark plugs but then i spent the better part of this morning searching for the right size wrench to remove them (which was part of the same problem before). The old guy that fixed the motor had one and charged me $50 to clean out all the water but when i went to look for him since i had the spark plugs he wasn't there. so we couldnt dive this morning. BUT we are going fishing tonight. the winds have been way down and if it doesnt blow this afternoon we'll go fishing. and then we'll start diving tomorrow.

this was all a bit stressful thinking about camping on the island and being stuck with no motor. but we'll move ahead as planned for now.

reading

one of the necessary items for being in mexico is having good reading material. last time i did not bring enough, so this time i bought some used books at the library and magazines and then in target one day i saw this one. THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE. i can't remember where i had heard about it. in fact i was convinced i heard about it on NPR but a search there revealed nothing. but it's really interesting and a great read. here's some info on it. check it out if you're so inclined, or wait til i come back and i'll lend it to you.

http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/time_travelers_wife/review/

had to log back in

to share this.

i'm lmao. a jeff spicoli lookalike just turned away from his computer to the room and asked "dudes, how do you spell piñata?"

motor update

well, apparently i have the most special motor in the entire world, not one parts store i went to has the spark plug i need. apparently, most parts books list all the possible brands and sizes a motor can use and for my motor the book lists only one brand and only one size amongst a list of motors that can use 3-4 different brands and sizes and of course they don't carry the brand or size i need. *sigh*

apparently water got in the motor and in the carburetor. they cleaned it all out and ground the spark plugs a bit and the motor works but now my four stroke sounds like a 2 stroke. so hopefully brad can pick up the spark plugs and bring them. i had meant to stop at the marine store to get some but then i couldnt find it and it was getting later in the day and i was more concerned with getting insurance, crossing the border, and getting our tourist cards before everything closed.

anyway, special shout out to sam, yes i got your messages, that place sounds great, you're totally cracking me up. i have paid up until tomorrow for this place we're in now so if you can find out something quick that would be awesome.

ay yay yay

so i guess i should fix the sizes on the pictures on the last post but i'm tired. and we've barely been able to do anything!

pinche cosas!

well, we haven't had any luck finding a house, with a yard, with a kitchen...well, that i can afford. the room we have is not bad, just no kitchen so we've been eating dinner out everyday and just eating sandwiches and stuff during the day.

the first day in town when we had the room we went to hang out by the beach and jeff went for a walk. while he was gone, i hear all this honking and then someone yell my name and i thought, no way! who could that be? i turn around and it's the "filet guys" from last year where I would hang out and get the adult cabrillas from them. Sport fishermen would go out and fish and bring their catch there and the guys would filet for tips and give me the carcasses. I had just been thinking, I wonder if they'll remember me and then I heard the honking! They ran over from their truck and gave me a hug and the main guy, Galis, said "oh i told them you were here, i saw you and your little red boat (mind you this is all in spanish) and i said ah michele is here and they didn't believe me. how come you dont come to the palapa?" i told him we had been camping and looking for a house and just got a room at the San Bruno hotel but that we would be there tomorrow. well, the winds were so strong for two days that noone went out fishing, so no fish.

on one of those days i took jeff out on the boat to show him the area a bit more. the wind started early so we couldn't stay out long. The whole northeast side of Isla Coronado is lava formation. Pretty cool.


so we got back, slightly wetter than when we started. then two days after that we were going to go fish and we had gotten up very early, launched the boat, and the damn thing wouldn't start. so there are all these guys hanging around laughing at me. and then later when i went to get fish from the filet guys, they said what's up? and i said my pinche motor doesn't work and they said "yeah we know" and they all laughed. damn this is a small town! but then i thought, you know if someone steals my boat everybody will know who's it is.

so now the motor is at the mechanics, the second one we tried to find today. there's not exactly signs around, people just know so we keep asking. hopefully, they can fix it today so we can fish tomorrow. we shall see.

backtracking a little...

Pre-trip

On Friday I had two days to get my bills together, do my taxes, move all my belongings out of my room and into storage and put all this

into this

and put this

on this


I didn’t make it. I decided it was better to get an early start on Monday than a late, late start on Sunday and stay in California two nights. So we did just that. The drive was gorgeous, wildflowers everywhere

We grabbed some food and headed to San Clemente State Beach for the night. Jeff found this sign and, seriously, who ARE THESE PEOPLE THAT NEED THIS SIGN??? Ack!


Crossing the border was a breeze, and thank goodness, I wasn’t looking forward to explaining the hundreds of feet of fencing material and PVC, let alone the gallons of formalin I just picked up in San Diego for Brad. And we even got waved through all the military checkpoints which almost never happens when I have a giant van full of stuff coming through. The military never cares about the biology stuff, in fact they often ask me lots of questions about what I do, they’re just looking for guns or drugs, which I keep well hidden behind the formalin…

The second night we camped in Cataviña and woke up to this


Another day of driving from Cataviña to Guerrero Negro where we crossed the state border between Baja norte and Baja sur and also had awesome tacos. After Guerrero Negro you cross over the desert to the Gulf of California side and your first look of the Gulf is at Santa Rosalia.


My favorite part of the drive is along Bahia Concepcion. *sigh* so gorgeous.


The first night in Loreto we camped at Playa Ligui where our alarm clock was the panga fishermen getting their boats ready.

The next couple of days we camped at Juncalito

which was guarded by a vicious dog.

Actually, this poor dog broke my heart (well, they all do in Mexico, but this one in particular) because apparently he was abandoned by his owners after Semana Santa. I was so glad that the beginning of the trip this year didn’t coincide with Semana Santa because it gets crazy. Tons of cars on that tiny highway, the beaches are covered with people and trash and then they leave and left behind is tons of trash and this poor little guy. One of the permanent residents of Juncalito walked over to our campsite and said that the dog’s owners were camped here and then left her. He said he’s been trying to catch her but can’t. I had already put out a water bowl for her and was giving her leftovers, and just felt awful I couldn’t take her but we didn’t have a home yet either and I don’t know where she’d fit in the van. I felt even worse the next day when we left because she had slept at the corner of the tarp by my feet all night.

After 3 days of travel and 3 days of camping Jeff had the most awesome hair.

And after seeing this picture and thinking, hmmm, that’s what I always imagined Puck looked like, I don’t think you would be very far off…

We decided we were so over camping because of all the packing and unpacking plus I was already a bit nervous with all my equipment and not wanting to leave it unattended and Jeff being a bit bored guarding equipment while I went around and ran errands and looked for a house. I know he probably thought I was a ninny about guarding the stuff, but I knew what I was talking about, plus if we lost any of the equipment (boat, motor…) the trip would pretty much be over since I don’t have the cash to buy more or to pay for a charter everyday. I felt redeemed when another resident came over and told us to be careful because in the last couple of weeks some camps and permanent residents have been getting ripped off. He said that one guy even got his motor stolen off his panga. The people came in at night on a panga and loaded this guy’s motor in it and took off. I stuck my tongue out at Jeff but DIDN’T say “neener neener” because I’m very mature.

The other day we found a place that had a yard to park the van and boat in and a locked gate, but no kitchen. I decided that if we couldn’t find a cheap place to park and with a kitchen we would go back to that place for a week and just make do. So that’s where we are now, San Bruno Motel. It’s a very nice room and the owners are very nice. I’m sure when they saw all the stuff we were unpacking they cringed a little but I feel better having a secure place to lock up our stuff and we could bathe, and get some work done. If I can’t find a place soon, I may just keep this room to keep all our stuff in while we’re camping on Carmen.

ya llegamos!!

well, we made it here last night...finally!

Didn't get to leave Sunday like I wanted. Tons of things to do still and figured it would be better to get an early start Monday than a late start on Sunday and spend 2 nights somewhere in California.

The plan was that Jeff was going to follow me in his car and drive himself home in May. Well, that plan was scrapped when Jeff's rear tire caught on fire and so as full as the van was we made room for him and his stuff. Once we got into Mexico Jeff decided it was probably a good idea that he was in the van with me since crossing the border and Ensenada was a bit hectic and would have been difficult for him to follow and keep up. So it all worked out.

Picked up even more stuff for Brad at Scripps. He's going to fly in on May 17, so I said I would haul the heavy gear down. When we got there and saw exactly how much stuff he wanted us to bring we knew we were definitely testing the advanced packing skills of a baja ecologist (me) and river guide (jeff). But we got it all in somehow and made it across the border (green light! yay!)

I was a bit skeptical how successful we would be getting tourist cards in Ensenada since the aduana is on one skinny street and the bank was on another skinnier street so I was a bit sketchy on navigating the giant van and trailer back and forth to get the card, go pay for it, the return to pay. Well, there was no need to worry since now at the immigration they have a nice new building (brand new since last year) with the immigration, bank, pesca office and port captain so it was cake. The only thing that didn't change was the grumpy man who gave us the cards. lol

So off to Catavina to camp for the night. Made it about 10 pm. Crashed on a tarp under the most amazing sky. A sliver of a moon and a million stars. Then an early rise with the sun, coffee, a friendly visit with the owners dog and off we went to Loreto.

Made it yesterday afternoon for a fat dinner at cafe ole, find raphael at the dive shop and to search for a beach to sleep on. I'm hoping to find a place to stay soon since we can't really unpack and I need my bird guides and notepad. so many birds to write down. but for now, back to the beach for a day of swimming and rest and then off to work tomorrow.