how could i forget?

as if it's not cool enough to be working in baja but the views are tremendous. this is coming back from afternoon dives.

gordon is a bit concerned about the chubacabra that is following our progress along the shore.

baja happenin´s

so things are picking up and moving along nicely. i know í'm a bit late with pics because of my damn pc but i got it limping along enough to download pictures but not enough so i can have audio to listen to all the WAIT!WAIT! DON´T TELL ME podcasts i downloaded before i left.

anyway, adam is one of my volunteers that is staying all summer. after working with him for a month i've come to realize he's great! he's responsible, he's reliable, he's conscientious. all the things you need in a volunteer. but i was blown away when the dude walked on water! who knew!


here's a pic from the trip down. i took some stills with the canon video. it takes ok pics i guess. here's one of the few i liked of an ocotillo bloom in the desert.


it doesn´t matter how many are down there or how many i've already seen and photographed i just can't stop myself from taking pictures of scorpionfish. and of course when i do see them i'm shouting through my regulator underwater in a scottish brogue "HEAD! MOVE YER HEAD IF YA CAN!" hee. cuz look at em. they're all head!


another cool fish. a leeeeeezardfeeesh. yes you must say it that way


on one dive these angelfish just kept following me and they would get really close. but as soon as i'd lift my camera they would dart off. but one time i got them up close. at first looking through the viewfinder i was bummed it was a little blurry but when i pulled it up on the computer i was actually really happy with it, how it is framed how i still see movement. i like it a lot now.


as you know i think fish are the coolest things EVAH! but i figure if you can't be a fish then the next best coolest thing are nudibranchs. they seem like these gorgeous little benign things but they're actually voracious predators with amazing defense mechanisms.



ok that's all i have time for today. enjoy!

no island

so yesterday i made the decision to not go to the island because the forecast predicted northern and northwestern winds at 12 mph with gust to 22 mph.

these are not good conditions for diving or camping on the island. we had some wind troubles last year in april and i figured it would be safer and more productive to keep working nearshore and at danzante. so that´s what we're going to do.

of course now, it's overcast with only a slight breeze. !"·$%·"

lol

oh well. i definitely have the island trips set up for may. and i have the permit for collecting larvae. had a bit of a scare yesterday. the director of the park emailed me and asked if i also had a permit from another agency and i didn´t know. so i did the next best thing and i panicked and felt sick and thought NOOOOOOO NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

of course i met with him this morning and everything´s in place and it´s fine. me smart.

posted a day late

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!!!!!

LOVE YOU! MEAN IT!!!

new site

while checking out a potential experimental site we were cruising along when all of a sudden this big school of jacks just started circling and circling us.

it was way cool.

as you can see

the dangers of working in baja

gordon has arrived

and he didn't bring any of the forbidden books so we let him stay.

still trying to get my computer to limp along. i'm hoping it works soon because i got some great pics yesterday and the water was just flat flat flat as can be. the viz was normal (guacamole) but the ride out and back was perfect.

we're looking to leave for the island on tuesday and stay through friday so i was hoping to have pictures up here to entertain you while i'm gone since my two readers have nothing else in their lives. lol

books

for those lovely people who will be arriving throughout the summer to help out, please be advised that you are absolutely forbidden to bring the following books:

- wicked
- in cold blood
- fried green tomatoes
- a year of magical thinking
- the time traveler's wife
- the curious incident of the dog in the night

i have them here. it took me two days to read them. i'm very bitter. see what not having a computer and photoshop to play with does to me and this blog?

lol

if you make the mistake of bringing a duplicate book you will endure the punishment of me reading it aloud to you.

you have been warned....

what would a baja trip be without

my computer crashing?

grrrrrrr

i loaded the canon video software so i could edit video and burn it to dvd and it said now restart and so i restarted and well, it never restarted.

so until i get it restarted there might not be any pictures on the blog... sadness abounds.

if i do manage to start posting pics again you can be sure one of them will be of my computer on the bottom of the ocean smashed to bits. @"#$% PCs.
MACS RULE!!!!!

it's been a little hard getting some work done during semana santa (holy week - begins with palm sunday and ends today, easter sunday). rafa is exhausted so he didn't want to work the dive shop or dive this weekend so he's not around so much. but he did say he'd fill tanks. we're building up to a routine and still getting organized but we've definitely been in the water.

water temp is about 69-70F. the boys are getting a little cold in their full wetsuits but i'm just peachy in my little shorty 3 mm. the guy that works the ramp at pto. escondido remembers me from last year talked to his boss and got us half price for parking and the ramp because i'm biologica. that was very cool.

so starting monday we're launching full force into the grind. diving in the morning and looking for adult cabrilla from fishermen in the afternoon.

viva baja!

camping at juncalito

the trailer wasn´t ready for us so we camped at juncalito. this is our jimmyrigged shade that mark (left, german) and adam (right, chinese-american) are hanging out. we left juncalito beach before the semana santa craziness began. we drove by it this morning and the entire beach is COVERED with tarps and tents and people.

did some orientation dives the other day and then today. this is the first official fish picture of the trip.

i love these guys. his head is no bigger than the tip of my pinky. and he´s chillin´upside down.

in the beginning...deja vu again...

there’s a line in a david bowie song that says “never tell god your plans.” I think my life supports that line! Nothing ever goes off as I plan no matter how hard I try. I’m not saying things don’t eventually work out…they sometimes do but NOT the way I plan them and it’s stressful. And trust me, I’ve tried the no planning at all thing thinking that would relieve my stress but things just end up even worse.

Everytime I tried to pack it would rain so hard it was ridiculous. And of course the van was way too tall for my gran’s garage so anything near an open door would get soaked in a matter of seconds. And there was always something that I still needed but wasn’t available or the place wasn’t open when I went to go get it so my to-do list kept growing, not shrinking.


The plan was to leave Monday morning. I had to run to the uni pick up some last minute things and then leave. Well, Sunday night I was nowhere near being done packing at midnight (well by then it was 1 am because of the time change – so not only was I falling behind, I had lost an hour) and when my alarm went off at 4:30 am Monday morning I just knew that leaving that day by 10 am was completely impossible. So I emailed Adam and then Mark to let them know I needed another day. Adam was relieved. I don’t know how mark felt because I never actually got a hold of him that day in spite of sending three emails and making about 10 phone calls. I tried leaving a message at his hotel but the man who answered the phone said “I don’t take messages, but you’re free to call back when he’s here.”

Oh I am? Why thank you! If I knew when he was going to be there I wouldn’t need to leave a MESSAGE.

Even with organizing and packing all day Monday and Tuesday morning I still wasn’t able to leave until 11 am Tuesday. I had showered and put on clean clothes and went out to hook up the trailer and it is pouring again. I was really worried about getting the van and trailer up this clay/dirt road in the rain. I was completely soaked by the time I had everything hooked up and said goodbye to gran. On the way to pick up adam it stopped raining for awhile. Then when I got out of the car to get adam and to re-arrange the van to put his stuff in it started pouring again. So I was soaked again and I could see in my mind’s eye my rain jacket hanging on the stack of 50 boxes I left in the garage that gran would later yell at me over the phone for (nothing from you sandy!!! You’re supposed to be MY friend not hers!!)

oh and thanks for the comments!

that's what they're for people!

keep 'em coming!

OY

so we camped a couple of days. we finally got the "trailer" and the " " are giant fingerquotes! lol. but it's ours and it's affordable.

the boat works. the motor works. the launch ramp price doubled! ouch!

gotta run and fill tanks! pictures to come soon!

YA LLEGAMOS

finally!

we're here in loreto

stinky, but fed and happy

oh and it´s totally NOT raining.

and oh my gosh

if it would just stop raining for like two hours

cross your fingers i can get this behemoth van and the trailer up my dirt road that now looks like a mile of clay and quartz riverbed after this month of rain.

ack

slight delay

oh man i tried i tried i tried

i always get so frustrated at this point because no matter how hard i plan no matter how organized i am in advanced something always happens to throw me off kilter.

well this time, the paypal fiasco just exacerbated whatever last minute drama and i just felt seriously overloaded.

i was supposed to leave today. i should be driving over the grapevine right now.

instead i'm still in my garage packing and unpacking and repacking and unpacking after running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get my financial situation in order before i leave the country

i woke up this morning and just looked at the pile in the garage and decided i needed to back up and take the time today to take care of the things i need to since i'm leaving for so long as opposed to stuffing 18 hours of activities into 4.

i think i made the right decision.

we shall see won't we.