Walking

Cabo Pulmo 191114

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I slept a little better over night but when I got up I learned someone had filled my sinuses with banana creme again. I rose before sunrise and we got some pictures of the sunrise over the sea.

The gulf of California was only 80 miles wide but I don't think we could see the Mexican mainland from this side. Even from the airplane I couldn't see the other side of the gulf. One evening the clouds were illuminated in a strange way with a bright cumulus group rising over a dark band near the horizon which could have been mountains. I took some pictures through my binoculars but I think they were just dark clouds.

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Amanda and I set out on another walk while the others were still in bed, heading north along a trail cut into the mountain. At the trail head they had a sign that was all but bleached white in the sun telling us "you are here in this featureless void".

A short way up the hill the trail grew rougher and more overgrown and we came across workmen's tools scattered along the path as though they'd given up, dropped what they held, and went home a few days earlier.

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We saw a few more species up in the scrub brush and it was nice to be away from other people. Beyond the ruined house there was a rocky beach and from the peak we could see another, even more secluded rocky beach. We climbed out on the rocky point and looked down into the water with our binoculars. The dark shapes of large fish cruised around below. Following the trail along the hillside high above this beach we came to a point where it seemed to merge into a dirt road and a cutting in the hillside as though someone intended on building a house overlooking the ocean.

Though we later learned the trail continued on in a big loop, we turned around and headed back. It was hot and the water by the secluded beach looked inviting but there wasn't a path leading down to it - only a rocky ravine where water flowed off the mountain. We were considering going back to get our kayaks and come back when I ventured a few steps off the trail and found we could pick our way down on the exposed rock.

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Down at the rocky beach we did a little snorkeling but I had to stay on the surface because every time I dove down, even if it was only a few feet, I would get shooting pains in my sinuses like someone was forcing the banana cream deeper into my skull with a nail.

Despite being unable to dive, the snorkeling was great and I regretted not bringing my gopro. We joked about swimming in the nude because the beach was so isolated but a half hour later as we crawled out of the water a dive boat was driving nearby. I suspect they wanted to yell at us about swimming here but could do nothing because we were already out of the water.

We collected some of the plastic flotsam that had washed up on the beach and carried it out with us as we left. Back at the house I prepared rice and beans and Amanda and Kayla went out for another dive.

While they were gone I took the lizard stick and went out on a walk, heading south out of town and along the sandy road leading to the arroyo. There were many lizards out in the heat of the day but all the larger ones were super skittish and I only saw them in passing as they raced into the underbrush. The smaller zebra tails were more abundant and I caught a few though my noose was set for larger game.

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The plants along the road were acclimatized to the desert but they grew as thick as a jungle. I'd never seen a desert landscape so choked with vegetation. Leaving the trail and going cross country would be impossible even if I didn't care about being torn up on the sharp thorns.

Horses 00:38 (9.3MiB)

As I came around the corner into the dry wash I saw two white horses walking in the sand with several crested caracara tootling around near their feet. The birds flew up into the nearby cardón cactuses as I approached and the horses ignored me as they went about their horsey business.


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There was an irrigation hose extending from the brush into the arroyo and I followed it back along the overgrown trail until the weeds and bugs grew too thick to continue. I tried to take some pictures showing how crowded the vegetation was in this desert but I wasn't very successful.

The bugs grew more annoying as the plants grew thicker. There were flies, gnats, and mosquitoes even in the hottest sun and my arms and legs were covered in itchy little bites. The gnats kept landing in my eyes. It was so irritating I resorted to waving my handkerchief in front of my face every few seconds like some southern belle.

Roadrunners 00:30 (7.5MiB)

After turning back from the crowded trail I turned aside and picked my way through the cactuses and entangling thorn bushes up onto the rocky hill that overlooked the arroyo. I was hoping the change of landscape would reveal some different lizards but it was getting late and too cool for them to be out and I saw a pair of roadrunners instead. They were hanging out on a small ledge overlooking the arroyo and I got some pictures and video through my binoculars. I'd never seen roadrunners remain stationary for so long and I got some video, although only after the second one stepped back behind the ridge.

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Afterwards I hiked up to the top of the hill and peered over the other side. I wanted to hike over the top and come down to the path farther along but there was an active farm hidden in the valley below so I turned and started back down the hill but when I was about halfway down, a white pickup with two men came driving slowly up the wash. I wasn't sure if I was trespassing and I didn't want to explain myself so I decided to sit down and rest a while, halfway obscured by a bush.

The truck advancing along the wash seemed to follow my footsteps and stopped at the point where I turned off the road to follow the irrigation hose into the brush. I couldn't tell if the men in the cab could see me but I waited and after a while they put the truck into reverse and slowly backed out of view.

Around this time I heard the high pitched squealing of some small mammal or bird being killed in the brush to my left near where I'd last seen the roadrunners. I wanted to see what was happening but I wasn't ready to blow my cover. I decided to wait a few more minutes before continuing on down the hill in case the truck was waiting in ambush and as I waited I used my binoculars to scan the vegetation on the other side. I saw a fox picking it's way through the trees. Joy saw a fox too, in a different part of the park on the same day, and a few days later Kayla and Rian startled one as they walked along the beach towards Arbolito.

When I finally came down off the hill the truck was nowhere to be seen and I followed the arroyo back to the road. I had to backtrack a few times when the sand ran out into a thicket of cactuses but I eventually found where the wash met the road and made my way back to the house.

I spotted a weird looking bird among the turkey vultures circling overhead. When I described it later, Amanda, like the legendary bird pervert she was, immediately wondered if it was a zone tailed hawk. We saw another one a few days later and she confirmed her earlier suspicions. Zone tailed hawks are raptors that hang out with with the harmless turkey vultures to lull their prey into a false sense of security.

Back at the house we met with the rest of the crew and discussed the events of the day. Rian said he went swimming and saw a black sea snake floating vertically in the water as if it were asleep. He also said he came across two ravens digging through an exposed turtles nest, breaking the eggs and killing the prematurely born creatures. He chased the birds away and reburied the nest.

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Joy and Karen walked to Arbolito, a few miles south down the beach. They had to scramble over the rocks when the tide came in and Joy abraded her feet so badly they were bleeding. They saw rays and sea turtles and Joy said swimming along with the sea turtles was like being a disney princess.

Amanda and Kayla's dive master was named Fabio and he took them out to a submerged pinnacle covered in thousands of fish.

At the local taco and beer place we ordered in Spanish, "Uno pacifico y dos pescado tacos; maize, por favor" the tacos were 38 pesos (about $1.50) and the beers were $2 per bottle. The tacos came plain with several pieces of fried fish and you were directed to a bar where you could add as much guacamole, cucumber, cabbage, hot sauce, and peppers as you wanted.

During their dive and a few times while we were swimming, Amanda complained about getting stung by some unseen creature and we learned later they were transparent jellyfish or their immature polyps. As the tides shifted during the storms some parts of the beach grew so dangerous we couldn't swim at all.

When she wasn't diving, Kayla spent her time working. She was part of a group of physicians doing research and publishing papers and this meant she could work remotely as long as she had an internet connection. She had a weak connection through her phone and though the house supposedly had wifi it was very low bandwidth. That morning her work group decided to switch to a different voice app and she was unable to download it over our limited connection. This was stressful until she discovered she could go to the nearby cafe over the dive shop and use their wifi.

Before going to bed we played a couple rounds of skull and Joy told us about a magic show she ushered for.

"So the man takes a woman and puts her into a cage in the center of the stage. Then he puts up a curtain around the cage and it's right out there in the open where we all could see. And he says his magic words and waves in arms and then they drop the curtain. They drop the curtain right, and THERE'S A TIGER IN THE CAGE!"

57 Images

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