Swimming with Sea Lions and Whale sharks

Got to the office of Marlin tours by 0850 and got fitted with flippers and snorkel. Being a wimp I also went for a wet suit, but Jill and Chris, being made of tougher stuff went without. Met Arturo our guide and Javier the coxswain of the boat before setting off to look for whale sharks. Due to not having a waterproof camera I unfortunately don't have many pictures of the day, but it was one of those days that I hope I will remember for ever. We cruised around the west shore looking for the whale sharks but they were not there so headed off to the sea lion colony about 20 miles north of La Paz past Frigate birds and a small colony of sea lions practising synchronised swimming. At the north of the island there is a colony of about 400 sea lions where we moored and went swimming. I hope I never forget what it was like to stroke a sea lion, to look them directly in the eyes and feel their gentle nips of my hand and arm. We swam with them for about 45 minutes also looking at the other brightly coloured fish that didn't seem to worry about being surrounded by this predator. A truly amazing experience. We then went to a sandy cove for lunch
where Jill posed looking beautiful on a tree trunk before heading back towards La Paz, past more stunning coves and strange rock formations, stopping again to swim amongst coral and tropical fish. Met a school of dolphins before finding the whale sharks. They are only juveniles but they were still about 20 ft long. We quickly jumped in the water and swum right next to them. Can you see the eye? Another incredible experience to end a most memorable day.

La Paz

The ride to La Paz wasn't the most inspiring. It had the longest straight that I think we have travelled on all trip. 37 miles without the slightest deviation. There was a bit of hilliness before we entered La Paz known for whales and the tail was being freshly painted as we entered. Stopped at Walmart on the way in and brought some tea, good old English breakfast tea made by Twinnings, as the tea sold in Mexico is mainly herbal, which I'm sorry to say doesn't hit the spot. Found the Pension California which we had been recommended and parked the bike inside. Went for a walk along the sea front or Malacon which was beautiful, full of sculptures, people out walking, bicycling and roller blading. The local dance school was giving a performance, Polynesian, jazz, local folk and shaking the tail feather. Monday saw us looking for things. We managed to get a security wire made up for connecting a pannier with all our valuables in, to a fixed object in a hotel room with an alarm padlock we brought with us. Tried to find a bookshop that had a Mexican phrase book but failed, and had a good look around. In the afternoon went to the ferry port with Chris, who we had caught up with at the hotel, to find out about getting to the mainland before visiting a beach and being offered a live clam to eat that wriggled and tiggled inside me. While at the beach signed up for a trip to Isla Espritu Santo

Towards La Paz

We had been given a card of a camp site in Villa Constitución so we thought we would stop there breaking our journey and look for the oil seal. Just as I was loading the bike the side stand finally gave up the will to live. Mk4 it seemed, was no stronger than Mk1,2 or 3. This time the top weld had split and the screw thread was seriously bent. Trying to get off the bike fully loaded and onto the centre stand was a real pain and then we both had to push like crazy to get it off the stand again. So getting this fixed became a real priority. We pulled into the camp site to be greeted by Mike and his son Nigel and within a half hour he had taken us to a welder and the fixing process had begun. Straightening Welding up with added support and inserting a solid rod to end up with a much stronger job all for 600 pesos, while Jill was fed interesting things by the misses. Here is the great guy who fixed it. Mike moved from England and married a Mexican. They have 2 kids and the eldest Nigel was Mike's interpretor as he spoke very little Spanish. Went for the upgrade and stayed in a 5th wheeler rather than camp as the site was very dusty.

Loreto

We set off on 1/12/10 towards Loreto at around 1000. As we drove down the Bahia Concepcion we past other beaches that had palapas (grass roofed shelter), some offering more shelter than others before the road took us into the outskirts of Loreto some 130Kms away. We drove around for a while checking out different motels before I/we settled on the Hotel Posada St. Martin at a reasonable 350 pesos. Jill wanted to go for the Iguana Inn next door that had a toaster and a microwave but it was 200 pesos more expensive. She wouldn't talk to me for 10 minutes but finally settled in at the Posada. I had a migraine coming on so spent a quiet afternoon walking around this very pleasant town and resting before going out to a very nondescript meal. Woke to a full blown migraine which slowed me down a bit, but after going out to get some milk for breakfast we went looking for a Mexican flag that we could stick to the panniers, without any luck. Went for a walk along the pleasant sea front past palapas that were unused as it's winter here although a pleasent 25C and the harbour The marine life theme is everywhere as the sea is part of a UNESCO site. The light house seems to have suffered from the prevailing winds. The centre of town was very pleasant situated around the main square with the town Hall at one end,
and the main market street leading off. Went to visit the Mission of Loreto which was the first mission in the Californias where every other mission sporned from. It had a very beautifully constructed alter piece and next door an interesting museum telling you a bit about the overthrow of the local Indians that used to live here and were a bit resistant to be told what to worship. There was a tree in the shape of a cross that was another sign to those who wanted to see signs to confirm their belief. They have great mobile phone mast here. I think they would look very good in England. Met Chris, a biker from Minnesota,who likes keeping his identy concealed incase he is set upon by boring people (Has a very good antenna that I could learn from) We went out to the Super Burro (means Super Donkey) that night to eat. Had the first good meal since entering Baja. Hadn't realised how much I missed potatoes. Chris had the Super Donkey steak which he said was very good, but your never too sure what goes into things here. The hot chocolate you could stand your spoon up in and here is the proof Hmmmm very tasty. We were going to leave the next day but I woke still with a migraine so decided to stay for another day doing washing, looking for a oil seal as the gear lever seal was dripping oil, but to no avail, and taking it easy.