Welcome to the world of KAYAKING

We have been talking about buying kayaks for some time, but the new ones were expensive... while in La Cruz, Banderas Bay, we learned of a boat in Nuevo Vallarta with two kayaks for sale!  A good buy with seats and paddles included, we decided to take the plunge... well, Alice had already taken the plunge in 2008 when she fell out of Barry's kayak on her maiden voyage... but back to our kayak story. The boater was kind enough to drive his boat over to the marina near our anchorage and deliver the kayaks since we had no vehicle for transport.  Getting them onboard was a trick, but in time Bill had stainless steel holders made and now they grace the bow of Grey Wolf nicely.  It is a two person job to get them in and out of the water, but we are tough!

Alice and friend Gina took off one morning for an adventure in Bahia Concepcion. She was so very kind to tow her kayak with her dinghy from their anchorage some distance away~ what a gal... she was rewarded with her whale shark sighting that day!  We went along the shallows and saw tons of seaweed, some coral, Sargeant fish, and starfish.  On the way back we checked out a good-sized rookery island where both seagull and pelican chicks were hopping about under the watchful eye of their parents... a very neat experience~  I'd considered taking a camera but was afraid it would wind up in the drink~~ what a shame...

Catching the Local Critters in Action~

At the end of our kayaking in Bahia Balandra, Alice began snooping for shells in the shallows near the beach.  Then she spotted a school of long, slender silver fish swimming near three Angel fish! A quick trip to the dinghy and she was back in time to take pictures of 3 Angels and one silver fishy- see him?

A feeding frenzy of dolphins on their breakfast run was quite a sight one morning... They were just far enough away that even with her zoom lens Alice did not get a close-up photo.  Some of them were really 'feeling their oats', as the farmers might say!  Remember, this is a dolphin, NOT a fish...

We have spent time in the Sea of Cortez four different years and this is the first experience we have had with a whale shark!  One was sighted in the bay during Loreto Fest and we did see his fins... When we were anchored in Bahia Concepcion, however, this big boy (15-20 feet long) came swimming by our bow!!  Our friend Gina happened on him the next day while out in her dinghy and she cut the motor and drifted around him close enough to see into his mouth and she pronounced that he was toothless- wow!

Traveling in the Sea of Cortez- 2010

It was fun to catch up with sailboat friends Randy and Gina on 'Balena', seen here hauling their dinghy onto the deck in preparation for leaving.  We hope to see them in Puerto Penasco in the summertime.

We were anchored at Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion for two weeks.  While we were there Barry's dinghy went out.  The two brothers worked numerous time to see if they could fix it, but their efforts were in vain.  They ruled out the battery but it may be the starter or the cables... to be continued. Barry finally had to resort to using his big banana (yellow) kayak to get around to shore and to Grey Wolf!

The morning we left Puerto Escondido there was a mass exodus of Loreto Fest boats. Two trawlers are visible just ahead of us and both a sailboat and Barry on 'Grumpy' followed us out.  It was a great day for traveling, as you can see by the calm of the water ahead of us.

Loreto Fest 2010

April 30-May 2 was the annual Loreto Fest- a Cruisers Party produced by and for the cruising community in the Sea of Cortez and land-based friends, as well.  Barry's friend Naomi flew in from Omaha, Nebraska for the event and to travel with us for a few days to the nearby islands.  We were able to pick and choose those events and workshops we wanted to attend.  We saw some old friends and made some new ones, too!

The Ups and Downs of the Sea of Cortez

Shortly after returning to Grey Wolf from our Copper Canyon trip we decided to head south to catch up with Bill's brother and head on to Loreto Fest.  The wind had been blowing out of the south which is not good for us to go south, so we waiting until it turned around.  The first day was fine, but about evening the wind decided to blow out of the WEST and knocked the stuffin' out of us.  The anchor 'jumped' out of it cradle and smashed through the right front porthole, sending glass and seawater all over our stateroom ~ but we were not aware of it for a while, so a ton of water rushed in as we were in high seas... UGH.  Everything that could fall, did.  We ducked into Bahia de Los Angeles as soon as we could fight our way south and anchored for several hours while we did damage control and Bill cut a plywood window and glued it in the gamping porthole.  Then we traveled on calm seas until the middle of the next night when we were again assaulted by west winds!  That time Alice had been sleeping on the salon sofa and awakened to the violent lurching of the boat... only to be tossed across the room and into one of our director's chairs. Fortunately she was only bruised- nothing broken, but she was certainly shaken by the experience.  The rest of our trip south was fine and we were blessed by the chain of good boater friends who suggested getting Plexiglas in La Paz, getting the Plexiglas for us, and shipping it to Loreto Fest on a northbound boat! Now we are secure again with a decent-looking porthole!

Copper Canyon Slideshow ~ Click on photo, please!