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.